ampage Tube Amps / Music Electronics	For current discussions, please visit Music Electronics Forum.

ampage archive

Vintage threads from the first ten years

Swell device

:

5/31/1999 11:13 AM
Terry	Swell device I am making the swell device off of Justin Philotts beginnner page (because i am a beginner) and i built it but does not swell rather it gives a rather nasty sounding overdrive .......any reason's why it might do this?

5/31/1999 1:27 PM

Yeah.

It's not a true swell device. It's a fuzz with a DC offset that makes the input of a tube amp go into bias blocking and gradually unblock as a note sustains.

The thing is working as designed - or rather copied - as the circuit
is the same as a fuzz device published in a 1967 issue of Popular Electronics. Give up on this for what it says it does. There is some limited "swell" effect under certain special circumstances, but only under those special conditions.

5/31/1999 3:13 PM
Terry	Thank you for telling me that, i would have never known and would've gotten frustrated w/ it and trashed it or something! but since it's already made, is there anything i can do to make it a real swell pedal or is there any schemetics out there for a "real" swell pedal? also what are the specail conditions you were talking about? _thanx_

5/31/1999 7:35 PM

quote:
" is there anything i can do to make it a real swell pedal"

quote:
"is there any schemetics out there for a "real" swell pedal?"

Yes. The " target="_blank">http://www.ee.ualberta.ca/~charro/cookbook/audio/guitar/bosssg1.gif"> Boss "Slow Gear" is a real swell pedal. I traced this one out in about '95, I think.

You can click directly on that link, but you might want to see the selection of other schematics at GEO" target="_blank">http://www.eden.com/~keen/oldschems.htm">GEO as well.

quote:
"also what are the specail conditions you were talking about?"

Very fresh battery, just the right amount of pickup drive, directly driving a tube amplifier with a DC coupled input tube grid. Enough so it's not generally useful, especially since most people like somthing else in the chain of effects into the amplifier.

5/31/1999 7:58 PM
Terry	oh well, now i have extra parts for more pedals (i'm going to trash the so called "swell"...) the schematic for the "boss slow gear" looks quite complicated and i am only a beginner, is there not any easier ones or perhaps even an autowah?

6/1/1999 8:11 AM
roger	You can help the "swell" device work by driving it with a loud distortion device. Again, it won't be a "slow Gear" but it will work as described. The circuit is used in the tail end of a Prescription Experience pedal, which is a Foxx Tone Machine with this swell circuit after it. A loud octave fuzz, with the tone rolled down, and yes, a fresh battery, will yield the best results.

6/1/1999 10:10 AM
Terry	Thanks for the advice but i already trashed it , saving the parts of course.......i am currently looking for a "real" swell device or autowah (either one) which is not extremely difficult to build .....any suggestions would be welcome

Page 1 of 3