This is a library of perfboard and single-sided PCB effect layouts for guitar and bass. I'm not an electrical engineer by any stretch of the imagination, just a DIY'er who likes drawing layouts. It is meant for the hobbyist (so commercial use of any of these layout is not allowed without permission) and as a way to give back to the online DIY community.

Monday, August 8, 2016

DOD 230 Optical Noise Gate

Not a lot out there on this one. It's a optical noise gate DOD produced in the late 70s and works best at the beginning of your signal chain. The original had a very strange way of bypass switching, but I've omitted this as your true-bypass method of choice is probably much superior. Originals used a VTL5C2, but experiment with LED and LDR combos, and possibly the value of the resistor feeding the LED (10k right above the LDR and Q1).

at
Labels: , ,

19 comments:

  1. BerkicauAugust 8, 2016 at 9:35 AM

    another layout using LDR.
    can one of these be used?
    http://sfe-electronics.com/134-ldr

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Effects LayoutsAugust 8, 2016 at 10:04 AM

      Yeah, should be fine.

      Delete
    2. JohnAugust 26, 2018 at 4:53 PM

      Hi Berkicau,

      This link doesn't work, what kind of ldr is that? And did it work?

      Delete
  2. n.dAugust 9, 2016 at 12:44 AM

    Can I use a tl072 instead of the tl022?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Evan GoldsboroughJuly 13, 2017 at 8:21 PM

    Verified. I used two Tl72 and a green LED with a 5/500k photo resistor. So far I prefer the one knob noise gate. The attack on this one seems slow and the threshold seems low. I'm not sure how the selection of of Octocoupler and threshold pot effects this. More noise gate layouts would be awesome if you feel so inclined. I would love to do a comparison vid!

    ReplyDelete
  4. JohnAugust 24, 2018 at 3:00 PM

    For the LDR can I use a 5mm 100K ohm-200K ohm LDR that I used for the Earthquake Depths pedal (also on this site)?

    ReplyDelete
  5. JohnAugust 24, 2018 at 3:08 PM

    I also have these from Tayda, could they work?

    Photo Conductive Cell Resistor LDR 650nm RADIAL KE-10720
    (Wave Length/Frequency: 650nm)

    ReplyDelete
  6. UnknownSeptember 17, 2018 at 1:05 PM

    Works great. I used 1m photoresistor and red led in optocoupler, and tl072 instead of both OA. Threshold needs to be adjusted, because it's work on very high level.

    ReplyDelete
  7. UnknownMarch 1, 2019 at 7:26 PM

    Hi all! Could you please explain: how to wire LDR correctly?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Pabloc82June 13, 2019 at 8:05 PM


    I did it, use lm358 and tl072, LDR 1M and Green led, and apparently everything works fine, only that it increases the volume a little, to what can it be?
    I was modifying the resistance of 10k, and changing the value of the pot, but I still have that problem.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Pabloc82July 2, 2019 at 7:17 AM


    I can not find the error and I can not solve it, I checked all the components and it's all ok, but when I activate the effect, the volume of the signal goes up

    ReplyDelete
  10. SynesthesiaSeptember 13, 2019 at 10:46 PM

    Schematic?

    ReplyDelete
  11. primavera onlineAugust 9, 2020 at 6:57 AM

    porque o som limpo sai muito baixo?

    ReplyDelete
  12. primavera onlineAugust 9, 2020 at 6:58 AM

    e com o krank tambem sai muito baixo

    ReplyDelete
  13. UnknownAugust 24, 2020 at 11:16 PM

    You can e use 2 tl072 and this work okay..

    ReplyDelete
  14. Jun dJanuary 28, 2021 at 5:04 PM

    Im possibly positive about this dod 230 that it will works fine . Same as the dod fx 30 that works fine and it really eats those noise beast!keep on lead burnin'!!
    Jun fr Phillipines

    ReplyDelete
  15. liamshanMay 19, 2022 at 1:09 AM

    i build this last night and it works it reduces the noise to about 85% i will try also the mxr noise gate!!!thanks for the layout!!!
    vin from philippines

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)