Stompboxes

Steam to Stompbox Lovers ... like a kinky feeling without even thinking rationaly about the tone.

[steampedal]

Fairfield Circuitry BarberShop

[steampedal]

Fairfield Circuitry BarberShop

[steampedal]

Fairfield Circuitry Barbershop Overdrive

Have you ever sat in a barber's chair wishing your tone was as slick as your freshly shaved upper lip? With the Barbershop Overdrive on your pedalboard, you could keep your moustache and sound good doing it. The Barbershop is an original design, not a clone. Raw, gritty, warm, smooth, open and transparent are all terms that have been used to describe this overdrive. It sounds great with any setup, but truly shines when used to dirty up a tube amp.

Drive: 

Sets the interstage gain of the amplifiers. More gain 

means more distortion.

Sag: 

The Sag control reduces the voltage to the amplifiers 

as you turn it counter clockwise, giving additional 

control over the character and feel of the saturation. 

The lower the Sag, the browner the sound. Full voltage 

is applied when the control is set fully clockwise. It is 

at this setting that the pedal has the potential to be 

its cleanest and loudest. 

Volume: 

Controls the output volume of the pedal while keeping 

the effect unchanged.

Power: 

The Barbershop Overdrive can be powered by either 

a 9V battery or a typical 9V AC/DC adapter 

(9VDC, center negative).

Like most pedals, the input is switched in order 

to turn the pedal ON when a 1/4” jack is in place. 

If using a battery, to avoid draining it unnecessarily, 

always unplug the IN jack when not in use.

[steampedal]

Hartman Analog Flanger

[steampedal]

Hartman Analog Flanger

[steampedal]

Hartman Analog Flanger

The Hartman Analog Flanger is a meticulous recreation of one of the early greats, the EH Electric Mistress (not the Deluxe, not the Stereo, the original). The Hartman achieves vivid but transparent sounding flange and static-filter effects and combines them with heavy-duty true-bypass switching, LED indicator, and the ability to run off of a single 9V battery. Incorporating components critical to faithfully reproduce the signal path of the original, the Hartman exploits the tighter tolerances and lower noise floor of modern components for clarity and superior sonic fidelity. Great care was taken to establish a power supply and signal trace layout that minimize the problems with crosstalk, clock-noise, and oscillator bleed-thru that plagued many originals. The Hartman Analog Flanger completely eliminates "volume-drop" issues inherent in the original non true-bypass design. The Flange/Filter (effect "on") signal is exactly as loud as the true-bypass signal, or even boosted slightly.

[steampedal]

Crowther Audio Prunes & Custard

[steampedal]

Crowther Audio Prunes & Custard

[steampedal]

Crowther Audio Prunes & Custard

Guitar and Bass Magazine 2006 overall pedal of the year, this harmonic generator-intermodulator combines distortion with odd-order harmonic overtones.

The Prunes & Custard is a two-stage circuit. There is a preamp stage ,  
the gain of which is adjusted with the Drive control.
 
This stage is followed by a special waveshaping distortion circuit. There is some treble roll-off between the preamp and the special distortion circuit.

The frequency at which this treble roll-off happens can be changed with the  Guitar/Bass switch.  
 
The special distortion stage produces strong harmonic overtones, mostly odd harmonic.
Higher harmonics are progressively introduced with increased Drive  
settings and signal level, so a decaying bass guitar note can sound  
like a mean swept filter.
Playing double notes, like 4ths or 5ths can produce some strong  
intermodulation effects, rather like a ring modulator, but more  
musical, albeit more distorted!
The Mix control is a balance between the preamp stage output, (CCW)   
and the special distortion stage output (CW).
For bass guitar, the Mix control would usually be set at around 10 to 12 o’clock.
 For guitar, a high  Mix setting, along with reduced Drive can give some rather pleasant overdrive effects.
Where the  Drive and Mix controls are set are set to higher settings,  the sound can become all harmonics, with very little fundamental signal, and in some situations may sound a bit thin, especially for bass guitar, but setting the Lo Freq.contour switch to the right takes some low frequency from the Preamp side of the Mixcontrol and mixes it back with the special distortion side.
 When used as an effect in a live mixing or recording situation, the P&C can be driven from a spare aux send or channel direct out and  
returned to a spare input channel. In this situation the Mix control  
would be set to maximum, and there is the added flexibilty of being  
able to apply EQ to the distortion effect, and to use it dynamically  
within a mix. This is quite useful for (yet another) overdriven snare sound, and for toms. To avoid things getting too out of hand, inserting a noise gate on the return, and maybe keying it from the send signal can be a useful idea.

Level  Controls the overall output volume

Mix Aacts as a balance between the preamp output and the distortion stage output. For “normal” use for bass guitar, this would be set at around a 1/3rd to 2/3rd. (“10 O’clock to 2 o’clock”)

Drive Adjusts the gain of the preamp stage from unity to around 100x (0 to +40 db). Of course with sufficient input/drive, the preamp stage can be overdriven.LF Retain
takes some low frequency from the preamp.

[steampedal]

Dual Band SMX Optical Compressor

[steampedal]

Fea Labs Dual Band SMX Optical Compressor

[steampedal]

Fea Labs Dual Band SMX Optical Compressor

This design is a direct result of many requests to model the very popular Trace Elliot SMX dual compressor pedal.  This optical compressor is the original FEA Dual Band Optical Compressor with the variable Attack, Release and Crossover Frequency controls removed.  This compressor does not have the limiter function that the full featured FEA Dual Band compressor has. The crossover frequency, attack and release times are set to the same values as the Trace Elliot SMX dual compressor pedal.  The FEA and Trace Elliot compressors have vast differences of internal circuitry and functionality.

Note:  The color of the case is British Racing Green and was selected in honor of Trace Elliot who lives across the pond and inspired the design of this particular compressor.

FEATURES:

Small footprint - 4 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches

Signal path contains TI Excalibur™ series audio amplifiers.

Dual optical compressors for separate Low frequency (LO) and High frequency (HI) dynamics control.

The frequencies above 5KHz are routed around the compressor circuits and are mixed back into the output amplifiers at unity gain to preserve clarity.

Output GAIN controls for the HI and LO compressors.

Both bands exhibit soft-knee compression at lower RATIO settings and hard-knee at maximum RATIO settings.  The COMP LED indicates when the THRESHOLD has been reached.  This LED does not indicate the RELEASE response.

The compressor side-chains use precision full-wave rectification of the audio signals in the THRESHOLD circuits to improve tracking. This also reduces the possibility of “pumping” with very low frequencies.

HI BYPASS foot switch. This allows the compressor to only control the Low frequencies (if desired) and to pass the High frequencies to the outputs unaffected. There is a red LED to indicate the HF BYPASS is on.  NOTE: With HI BYPASS active the HI GAIN control is inactive.

ACTIVATE foot switch places the compressor unit in the signal chain or in Direct Bypass mode. In Direct Bypass mode the signal at the input is directly connected to the outputs and does not pass through any electronics.

The compressors have minimal components in the signal paths to maintain the utmost signal quality. The signal compression is accomplished with only resistive components (Light Dependent Resistors or Photocell). All resistors in the circuit are low noise 1% metal film type. The signal coupling capacitors are tight tolerance, quiet, multi-layer and metallized polyester film type. The amplifiers used in the signal path are JFET input, low-noise, low-distortion “hi-fi quality” devices.

The power supplies onboard voltage charge pump allows the circuitry to operate at 18volts (+9 and –9 volt rails) from a single 9-volt battery or DC power adapter of 9 volts. This allows the signal plenty of headroom from active electronic guitars and aggressive playing techniques (i.e. pop and slap).

The “switch on” power supply current is less than 1µA (micro amp) on the signal ground at the INPUT jack. This is approximately 45,000 times (-93dB) less than the commonly used method of connecting the battery’s negative terminal to ground via the sleeve of the plug inserted into the INPUT jack. The “switch on” sensing method used in the FEA Dual-Band SMX Optical Compressor keeps nearly all of the circuit’s generated white noise and transient currents out of the INPUT stage signal ground. Extreme measures have been taken to keep the power and signal paths as clean as possible.

The power and grounds for the signal path circuitry are separated from the side-chain power and grounds to protect the audio signal from spurious noise. The power for the signal amplifiers is exceptionally clean, filtered twice for each rail and all filter stages are oversized.

HI and LO/FULL output jacks are configured so the outputs of the individual compressors may be routed to different amplifiers or effects. The HI output is useful if you wish to use effects made strictly for guitar and route a clean LO signal to another amplifier or mixer. If only the LO/FULL output jack is used, both the HI and LO signals are mixed together for a composite full range output signal.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS:

Crossover Freq.:

350Hz

ATTACK:

HI  2 mS LO 22 mS

RELEASE:

HI 70 mS LO 123 mS

RATIO:

2:1 to 7:1

THRESHOLD:

-37dBu to ∞

Make-up GAIN:

0 to 20dB

Maximum Input:

7.5dBu

Maximum Output:

16dBu

Residual Output Noise:

-66dBu from 10Hz-20kHz (un-weighted) with no compression and output gain set to maximum. **This is the absolute worst case noise scenario.**

Frequency Response:

10Hz - 17KHz +0.5/-3dB (100Kohm output load)

Input Impedance:

1M ohm

Output Impedance:

1K ohm

Power adapter noise rejection:

40dBu @ 60Hz >90dBu @ 2KHz

Current consumption:

Approx. 28mA

Battery life:

Approx. 15 hours of continuous use

Power adapter (not included):

9VDC  2.1mm  negative center pin

[steampedal]

Matchless Hot Box

[steampedal]

Matchless Hot Box

[steampedal]

Matchless Hot Box

Date: October 1, 1995 Publication: Guitar Player Author: Thompson, Art 

Solid-state distortion boxes far outnumber their tube-driven brethren, and Matchless has sought to narrow the gap with the Hot Box ($399). If you're hip to Matchless amps, you'll appreciate what their first entry into the wacky stompbox biz has to offer. The Hot Box is a floor-mounted, two-channel tube preamp that packs a neat, point-to-point wired circuit and dual Sovtek 12AX7s within its heavy, chrome-plated steel chassis. In typical Matchless fashion, the guts are pure old-school hi-fi, with the carbon-composition resistors and custom-made polystyrene caps soldered directly to terminal strips and/or the U.S.-made pots, jacks, and footswitch. The wiring is bundled and tied in classic British fashion, the resistor and cap leads are insulated with Teflon shrink tubing, and strain-relieved shielded cabling is used in critical noise areas. 

The Hot Box features an internal high-voltage power supply (wall-warts go home), and the unit powers up when plugged into an AC outlet. As on Matchless amps, the control panel and logo are backlit via a trio of internal incandescent lights. 

The Hot Box is always active--when you plug in, your signal goes through a tube regardless of whether you've selected the overdrive mode. This is cool, though, because the tube buffering yields a slightly brighter and beefier sound compared to plugging straight into an amp. According to Matchless' literature, you can also use the Hot Box like an active direct box to go straight into a recording or PA mixer. The clean channel doesn't offer EQ, but there was enough gain on tap to easily blast our Fender test amps. Pressing the Box's mechanical footswitch silently switches the unit to its highgain channel. No channel-status indication is provided, so you have to audibly pay attention to what mode you're in--let's hope this oversight is corrected soon! 

Channel 2 features gain, bass, treble, and output-level knobs. These passive controls are extremely effective, very interactive, and darn reminiscent of those found on the Matchless Lightning amp. The range of tone colors must be heard to be believed! At full bore, the Hot Box delivers mondo sustain with just a touch of treble boost, but the wide-ranging gain knob allows subtle distortion if desired. 

Channel 2 is also very dynamic, so even if you're soloing in a sustained-out mode, the circuit will clean up nicely by simply backing off your guitar volume. 

The Hot Box packs a highly satisfying variety of smooth tube textures. its bonesimple controls make it a snap to dial in tight, crisp overdrive, round, buttery blues/rock sustain, or intense, scooped-mid "grunge" growl. At $400, the Matchless may seem pricey, but you'd pay about the same for an old Fuzz Face or Ibanez TS-808. The Hot Box is definitely the Rolls-Royce of pedals, and as with other Matchless products, you get what you pay for. 

[steampedal]

Napalm Splenda Splitter / Blender

[steampedal]

Napalm Splenda Splitter / Blender