wierd ring type thing... or Armstrong Green Ringer

[R.G. Keen]

>... it sounds closer to the current Roger Mayer Octavia
>(smooth, trebly, somewhat subtle) than the Tychobrahe Octavia (psycho).
>Both designs are Roger Mayer's, mind you - the Tychobrahe was a ripoff of an
>original 60's Mayer Octavia.  

Wow - I didn't know that! Did Roger really do the design that wound up in 
the Tycho box? Where can I find out more on that?

The Tycho is entirely a different design. It uses a two stage amplifier to 
drive undistorted signal into a step-up audio transformer, then rectifies
the signal from a centertapped secondary for audio output - true, real full 
wave rectification. The RM Octavia uses a transistor phase splitter, but
the two diodes are differently biased, so one is more equal than the other.


>Anyway, the Green Ringer, when I tried it,
>seemed very subtle, and didn't really produce distortion, just the
>rectification effect.  It would be good for feeding the input of your
>favorite fuzz, to get a rectified fuzz with the EQ you like (it would be
>real nice going into a Big Muff - then again, I think EVERYTHING is better
>going through a Big Muff.  I have 3, and I often use them all at once, on
>drums, synths, etc.).
On the Big Muff, I recently discovered by looking at an old Colorsound Tone
Bender that the tone bender is the legitimate father of the Muff - the circuit
evolution is very clear.