Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: MOTM

WARNING: DIY content

I've got a another DIY for MOTM project up my sleeve. My present and future
DIY stuff is something that I never expect Paul to even THINK about
releasing. I mentioned the "T" word to him once and he said, some comment
like, " no stinkin' tubes in my motm." That is not an exact quote.
However, it was sufficient for me to conclude that hell would freeze over
just before the release of the first motm tube module.

I like tubes for certain things. I don't think they make a very good synth.
If you do, go pay mega-bucks for one of them "all-tube synths" and tell me I
am wrong. But, I do like what happens to audio signals that are pushed out
past the linear portions of the tube's characteristic curves. I like this
gentle distortion and interesting harmonics that start to show up much
better than the "cheap distortion" that is acheived by operating the plates
at very low voltages (aka PAiA tubehead).

So, I have decided to start breadboarding and playing with a tube overdrive
circuit. I was planning something simple, but would love to hear from any
MOTM'ers that are into DIY and like tube stuff. What I was planning was to
use some common dual triode like a 12AU7. The audio would run through both
triodes. The module I was planning would have 3 or so inputs that mix
together (just a convienence feature). There would be two outputs. One I
would call "warm" and the other "drive." The warm output would have passed
through only one triode without any overdrive. The second output would come
after the signal passes through both triodes with the second one providing a
significant amount of variable overdrive.

Of course, the inputs and outputs would be buffered to interface with normal
signal levels. The only control would be a "drive" control to provide for
the amount of overdrive. I was thinking about separate selector switches on
the input and output to select between "line" or 10v p-p" levels.

Anyhow, right now, this is just a concept. But, back in my school days, I
did a lot of work with tubes and think I can make something like this work.
Obviously, a separate power supply would also be required for the higher
voltages needed for decent tube operation.

So, I would appreciate any ideas and suggestions off list from any DIY'ers
think thingk something like this would be cool.

Stooge Larry

Disclaimer: I am not an engineer. I claim no expertise in circuit design.
I have nothing to sell.