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Author: kellyhensen
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Episode 518: Guitar Vacuum Tube Distortion Pedal

 

Clem found his way into Electronics through modding guitars. An since he has some vintage Tubes in stock, he decided to make a project that takes him back to his roots bloody roots. A 3 stage Tube-based Distortion Pedal for that authentic warm fuzzy rock'n'roll sound, but it turns out this DIY stompbox can also put out a pretty brutal sound when paired with a modern Amplifier.

 

Supplemental Content:

 

 

Bill of Material:

 

Product Name Manufacturer Quantity Buy Now
Rotary Potentiometer, 10 kohm, 1 Turns, Linear, 200 mW, ± 20%, P160 Series TT ELECTRONICS / BI TECHNOLOGIES 6 Buy Now
Phone Audio Connector, 3 Contacts, Jack, 6.35 mm, Panel Mount, Nickel Plated Contacts, Metal Body Switchcraft 4 Buy Now

 

Additional Parts:

 

Product Name
Compatible Tubes: ECC83, ECC82, ECC81, 12AU7, 12AX7
Attachments:
schematic.zip

Anonymous

  • Takes me back to my schooldays when we used to visit a TV repair shop and ask to rifle through the bin of old valves/tubes pulled from TV sets.

     

    ECC82 was a great find, ECC83 was rare but turned up now and again.

     

    Great video, thanks for the nostalgia trip!!

     

    Neil

  • in reply to DAB

      wrote:

    ...Some purist claim that only tube based audio amplifiers give you the best sound....

     

    They are wrong . But I adore analogue sources and valve amplifiers.

  • in reply to mayermakes

    Once you understand the operation theory, there is good correlation between tube based applications and semiconductor applications.

    I found systems still using tubes up to present day.

    Some purist claim that only tube based audio amplifiers give you the best sound.

    I know that in TV sets, a tube based UHF receiver was better than the solid state amplifier well into the 1990's.

    In avionics, I was seeing tube based systems up to the time I retired in 2003.

    I know the Russians did some incredible work with tube based technology.

     

    In RF, tube and solid state devices were used in many systems, depending upon the requirements you had.

     

    DAB

  • in reply to DAB

    the transition times must have been weird, what to learn what to focus on, you will get in contact with a whole older ecosystem and need to dive into a completely different realm to keep up with changes.

  • in reply to DAB

      wrote:

     

    ... It takes me back to my tech school days where we did everything with tubes as semiconductors were the new technology and the curriculum had not been upgraded at the time I went through the classes....

    When I went to school the tubes hadn't been taken out of curriculum yet. The focus was on semiconductors, but there was still a mandatory tubes section. Our teachers tried to fill that as much as possible with CRT theory - a technique that was still the current state-of-the-art in first half of the 80s

  • Good show.

     

    It takes me back to my tech school days where we did everything with tubes as semiconductors were the new technology and the curriculum had not been upgraded at the time I went through the classes.

     

    DAB

  • in reply to spekis

    thanks, there could indeed be some projects building upon this.

  • The most awesome stuff I've seen on this site. Tube distortion effect was the reason I started electronics. Can't wait to see more projects of guitar effect diy. Keep up the good work.

  • in reply to phoenixcomm

    Can you point me to the specific shots you are refering to?
    I think I don't really get what improper techniques you exactly mean. I use a lto of different methods depending on material components and number of hands I have available during filming.

  • in reply to kmikemoo

    A project like this is a good entry into using tubes as it is a low voltage low cost application.

    I figured it would not make much sense if people could not hear the difference, so I opted to prime  the video with a little demo.