Holy !%#?$@!....

[duhvoodooman***]

....it works!! And first time I plugged into it, too!

I'm referring to the "Build Your Own Clone" TS-808 Tube Screamer overdrive pedal kit I bought & built. If you have decent soldering skills and you can follow directions, you can do it, too. Lots of fun, I might add, if you're a little on the geeky side, like me.

It even comes with two different IC chips--the stock TS-808's JRC4558D and a "high fidelity" RC4558P chip that several of the "boutique" pedal makers use--and an IC socket so that you can swap 'em at will.

The thing sounds great; plenty of grind on tap, but without sounding harsh or grainy. Very impressive.

Here are some pix and a couple of clips. I haven't painted/labeled the casing yet, but will probably get to that at some point. The clips were recorded using my LP and my Strat, played through the Tweed 4x10 model on my AD30VT. Gain setting on the amp was just under half, so that it would stay fairly clean. The LP clip has three pairs of riffs--the first in each pair is without the TS clone, and the second with it. I finished up the clip with the start of my latest EVH learning project, the first part of Panama.

For the Strat clip, I played the lead-in to SRV's Pride & Joy, first clean, then with the TS clone at about 60% gain, then a third time at full gain.

LP Clip

Strat Clip

[tot_Ou_tard]

Way freakin' cool Vood! I was just going to dig up that ol' BYOC thread & ask if you had made any progress.

You did a nice clean job & holy $@#%^^$ it sounds great.

Do you have any design plans for the box?

Cause y'know...if *I* had a vote...

I'd call it Mojo Hand.

I can just see you going into the boutique pedal biz:

Voodoo Pedals!

[Robert****]

That is great, VDM. It's so fun to make your own stuff, and of course especially when it works really great too. Congrats.

Now you gotta paint it in some fun colors! Take a look at www.drscientist.ca for inspiration.... hehe... or not.

[sunvalleylaw]

That is really cool! How good at soldering do you have to be? I am not, but I can learn.

[SuperSwede]

Sounds great DVM, but the "Voodoo Screamer" needs some yellow paint!

[tot_Ou_tard]

Ooops, I forgot that there already is a company called Voodoo Lab which makes pedals.

[ted s]

Very cool DVM, nice paying as well !. Yup, gotta name that puppy and give the case some flash.... I like tot's mojo reference.. maybe .. " Voodoo Mojo Box " you can paint it red and glue some chicken bones on it.

[duhvoodooman***]

Thanks for the feedback & name ideas, guys. Some really good ones there, plus I thought up a couple, too. Maybe I can prevail upon on of our gracious admins to set up a poll for me, and all you Fretters could vote on which name you like best!

So far, here's what I've got:

Mojo Hand (Tot)

Voodoo Screamer (SS)

Voodoo Mojo Box (ted s)

And a couple of my own:

Duh Voodoolizer

Voodoo Blue-Do

Witch Doctor

Any more to add to the list?

[ted s]

Voodoo Screamer... (with chicken bones of course)

[warren0728]

i've seen t-shirts with a mojo hand logo...so that's taken....
http://www.mojohand.com/2alrightm.htm

and of course voodoo itself is already taken....so.....

How about combining voodoo and mojo and call it a vooJo?

ww

[stingx]

I just listened to your clips and I have to tip my hat off to you. I think you did an excellent job putting that pedal together and it sounds great to these ears. I never heard of these kits until your post and you've gotten me awfully curious now to try my had at building one. Please post back again with pictures of how you painted the pedal. I'd like to see the finished product.

[tot_Ou_tard]

Very cool DVM, nice paying as well !. Yup, gotta name that puppy and give the case some flash.... I like tot's mojo reference.. maybe .. " Voodoo Mojo Box " you can paint it red and glue some chicken bones on it.

Chicken head knobs....*REAL* chicken heads!!!

OK, OK, but go with ted_s & use bones for knobs.

At the very least Vood, label the gain knob

"Mojo"

And under that put an arrow with the word "more" in the direction of "more Mojo".

You can dial in just the right amount of Mojo & when you need more Mojo, well then you've got it on tap.

Any more to add to the list?

If we had a vote....

[duhvoodooman***]

Thanks, StingX.

For any of you who might be inclined to try one of these kits, I recommend them highly, but realize that they involve a LOT of fine soldering work. Every resistor, capacitor, diode, transistor, etc. that you see on that green PCB had to be soldered into place, as well as every wire. The board is set up nicely with small metal eyelets for every solder point. The toughest part is the very small size of the space you have to work with. I just took my time and double checked every solder joint that I did, and everything worked out fine. But be forewarned--THIS IS NOT A GOOD PROJECT FOR LEARNING TO SOLDER!!

In addition to giving you two slightly different IC chips, they also give you (1) two different kinds of diodes so, that you can alter the stock symmetrical clipping mode to different degrees of assymetrical clipping, and (2) two different capacitors for one of the board's cap positions, which alter the tone. The stock cap (0.047 uf) gives a midrange "hump" that is apparently characteristic of the original TS-808, and the second (0.22 uf) flattens out the frequency response some and gives significantly stronger bass.

The difference between the two IC's is quite subtle, to my ears, with the stock chip being a bit sharper in its tone than the "hi-fi" chip that's also included. The stock chip has a little more aggressive edge to it that I prefer.

I went with the most assymetrical clipping that I could get from the two types of diodes provided, after reading that the assymetric clipping was (a) more tube-like in character, and (b) SRV preferred it! Reading through the BYOC forum, the most common mods of the TS-808 clone involve mounting different types of diodes (including yellow LED's!) on a small piece of perfboard (available at Radio Shack) and wiring them up to a 3-position DPDT toggle switch, allowing you to switch between clipping modes. I may try that at some point, but I'm happy with the sound I've got for now.

I initially installed the larger cap for the stronger bass response (that's what you hear in the first clips I posted), but I decided after playing through it for a couple of hours that it was too bassy/boomy, so I switched to the smaller stock cap today. Much stronger midrange! And since the guitar is basically a midrange instrument (at least it is, the way I like to hear it!), I think it sounds much better. The big cap definitely tended toward muddiness on chords down at the end of the neck. A cap of a rating in between the two (like 0.10 uf) would be interesting to try; might give a nice compromise between the two extremes. I may very well try that.

Posted below is a link to a clip I recorded to show the difference between the two IC's (listen carefully!) and between the two caps (very obvious). These are recorded with my Epi Dot on the bridge p'up through my Vox AD30VT, using the Tweed 4x10 model and some reverb. The same riffs are repeated four times. The sequence of hardware is:

1. RC4558P IC + 0.22 uf cap
2. JRC4558D IC (stock) + 0.22 uf cap
3. JRC4558D IC (stock) + 0.047 uf cap (stock)
4. RC4558P IC + 0.047 uf cap (stock)

Take a listen & see what you think:

http://duhvoodooman.com/audio_clips/TS_Clone_test.mp3

[duhvoodooman***]

Chicken head knobs....*REAL* chicken heads!!!

LOL!! Now that would get some attention!

OK, OK, but go with ted_s & use bones for knobs.

Cool idea. Know anybody who sells bone knobs??

At the very least Vood, label the gain knob "Mojo"

Now, that's a keeper of an idea!

If we had a vote....

Hey, this time you do! And the other Fretters, too!

[sunvalleylaw]

Sounds like if I want the TS 808 unit like yours, I might be better off getting it assembled for $115.00 ;-)

[Katastrophe]

How about "Duh Voodoo Stomp?"

Looks great, DVM. I wish I had the soldering talent that you have!

[tot_Ou_tard]

Mojo Screamer.

& the light'll tell you if your mojo's workin'.

Turning up the mojo gets your mojo risin'.

For the geeks in the house.

Tube Screamer's Secret:

http://www.bteaudio.com/articles/TSS/TSS.html

The Technology of the Tube Screamer:

http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folder...ch/tsxtech.htm

[Hogfullofblues]

Man, sweet tones and the build just looks super professional!

I like Da Voodoolizer! How about some glow in the dark skull knobs?

http://www.customshopparts.com/knobs/

[stingx]

Sounds like if I want the TS 808 unit like yours, I might be better off getting it assembled for $115.00 ;-)

I originally thought that since these DIY units are already priced at $75 bucks that to spend a few more to get one already built is a no brainer. I paid under $100 for my TS9 and then another $45 bucks to have it modified at keeley electronics. I think though, that this is not really about money, it's more to hone skills and the ability to take this to another level. I have an interest because I like experimenting with tone and would love to mutate these projects into something else that you can't buy off the rack. Plus the satisfaction one gets after completing the build is a nice feeling. Good on you, duhvoodooman. I really like how it ended up and the sound is great.