Vsex Winkle Probe: Zvex Wah Probe

Zvex: Interesting FX... The "Probe" series that he runs has been a source of mystery for many moons - until now! Thanks to the Freestompboxes forum members (~arph and others!) who disemboweled their own probe controllers and donated them to the DIY world :-)

Here's a demo video if you've never seen one in action before:

Here is the schematic of the actual "Probe" controller, you can see that it is a series of inverters driving a simple LED driver - this LED driver is used to control an optocoupler (Also called a vactrol) which is basically a LED stuck to an LDR wrapped in black tubing. The LDR section is then used to control a parameter of an FX unit...

[Note - missing capacitor value at the base of the second transistor - 22nF]

Here is the schematic of the old Colorsound Wah pedal, inductorless as you can see. Zvex uses this circuit with a few mods in his Ohh-Wah, Seek-Wah and Wah-Probe FX.

All you need to do to build a Zvex Wah-Probe work-a-like would be to build up a Probe controller using the above schematic and connect it's control vactrol LDR in the position specified in the Wah schematic below!


There you have it, a proximity controlled wah-wah pedal - absolutely useless for that "cocked-wah" sound ;-)

Valve Junior = Supro?

Well yes indeed - you can turn an Ephiphone Valve Junior into an incredible little amp that sounds just like the small combo's that have become famous thanks to Jimmy Page and his use of them on the Led Zepplin II Album.

With my "Suprono" Mods the rather mundane stock Valve Junior circuit turns into an absolute little firecracker, great singing overdrive and sustain which leads off into a hellish feedback! Here are a few pictures of my prototype - I'm awaiting a shipment of high quality parts with which I will finalise my build, upgraded caps, resistors, tubes and, eventually, a nice new output transformer! It's going to be an absolute beast :-)

Here you can see the front panel, modified grill face and retubed with the original cream tubing - it now looks like a real mans amp and not an amp for babies ;-o

Also note the added control pot - this is a treble cut tone control, just like the originals. You can also see the two inputs, one "regular" input, great for jazz or blues with it's mellower sound and a "treble" input for searing rock leads :-)

Sorry for the poor photo quality - my digital camera is out of action. Hopefully I'll get it mended soon so I can get high-res shots up to please all your eyes!

Son of a Clay Jones Overdrive

Well, after the uncovering of the CJOD as nothing more than a Landgraff Dynamic Overdrive/Tubescreamer 808 I wanted to try the circuit out, so out popped the breadboard. I built it up, OK sound - too many parts though. So I rustled up this for you guys, it's a cross between a Clay Jones Overdrive and Jack Orman's "Son of a Screamer" circuit.

As you can see the input and output buffers have been removed, this has very little impact on the sound and, if anything, actually makes the unit sound better - nomore dirty transistors ;-) The rest of the circuit is identical to the CJOD.

So, if your looking for a quick fix for that original Clay Jones Overdrive tone - here you go, a unit that has less parts and sounds just as good if not better :-)

Here is the schematic:



Here's a couple of videos of this circuit in action (The pedal was built by DEAJ, great little builds!):

Clay jones OD = Grandlaff Dynamic Overdrive! Schematics Gallore!

It's finally over - the myth is silenced. The Clay Jones Overdrive is nothing but a clone of the Landgraff Dynamic Overdrive, which is a clone of them age old Tubescreamer 808. Anyone want to take my CJOD off my hands for $1500? Here's the pics to confirm the facts and also the Clay Jones Overdrive schematic to play with ;-)

Here is the degooping of a Black Market Overdrive, which is a clone of a clone of a clone... Whammy from the Freestompboxes forum bought one, and decided it was time to open it up - Whammy, your a legend! Thanks for putting the boys to bed :-)

And now, the pictures everyone wanted to see (and equally as many didn't!):

Gooped, mojo inside?

Out comes the circuit...

Off comes all that nasty goop. Here you can see that the pedal is clearly a TS with 5mm Red LED clippers and an OPA2134 opamp.

PCB reverse. Anyone still convinced it's not a TS808?

And here is what you've all been waiting for - the Clay Jones Overdrive/BMOD schematic!

Yes, it's a replica of the Landgraff Dynamic Overdrive, which is a replica TS808 - Scheme drawn by Clay himself! Just use 5mm Red Led's for the clippers and an OPA2134 Burr Brown opamp and your there - $1500 worth of tone at your feet. Here is a full scheme drawn up by Soulsonic;

I can finally sleep, everyone can see how silly this has got. The ghost is silent, the skeleton is in the cupboard.

A special thanks must once again goto the Freestompboxes Forum members.

For more info on this subject check out my good friend Martin's blog post at The Illuminist.

EDIT: It seems as expected there are still people going around trying to denie that any of this is real/makes sense/the BMOD is nothing like the CJOD. Can we all stop being silly? Here is a picture posted up by MoreCowbell on the Freestompboxes forum, it's the proof you need to see...

The History of the CJOD/BMOD Degooping...