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.

Thursday, September 12, 2019

BK Butler Tube Driver

Apparently it's tube week. Here's the Tube Driver made famous by David Gilmour. It uses a 12AX7 which is pushed by a dual opamp followed by a Fender-style tone stack. I kept the power section from John K's version of the Blue Tube. Fits easily in a 1590BB. Here's the schematic for reference.



30 comments:

  1. One-Two Punch! Very nice!!!

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  2. Is the 10k trimpot for tube bias and if so could you use a 10k pot so it can be adjusted without opening up the pedal for adjustment if so what lugs go where?

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    1. It is for biasing the tube, you can wire that trimmer as an off-board pot, and lugs 1-2 would go to the V- (brown trace) with lug 3 going to the blue trace/tube pins 3/8.

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  3. Changing all the power supply I think the sound will be different from the Bk. Someone who built it? What are the differences with the original?

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    1. the power supply does not make a difference in the sound. i have three original blue tubes and they sound exactly the same as this one.

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    2. thank you for assuring me that feeding at 9v ac or 14v dc does not change the sound

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  4. Hi, Thank you for the layout.
    Is there any way to add more output volume ?

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  5. There appears to be extra holes around the 10k trimpot area on the pcb layout should I remove these before printing as I can't see what they are for?

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    Replies
    1. They’re there for trimpots with different pinouts. You don’t have to remove them, just drill whichever holes you need for the trimpot you’re going to use.

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    2. Thanks again for the reply I thought I'd better ask as I couldn't work out what I'd missed

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  6. One last question the 12ax7 is a nine pin tube but I can only find 8 pin connections on the board, pin 9 or the heater centre tap is not there where should I connect it or is it left unconnected?

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    1. the center tap is not used (just leave it disconnected).

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    2. Thanks johnk I was going to connect it to ground but i shall leave it unconnected then

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    3. no problem. if you look at this gut shot of one of my working builds, you can see that it's not connected:http://johnkvintageguitars.homestead.com/Effects/Bluetube/903B-02.jpg

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    4. Lovely build johnk very neat I like the way you've split the board up to make more room in the enclosure for the tube I've re-laid the circuit out in diptrace but its still quite large I didn't think of splitting it up I might have to try your way (if you don't mind)

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  7. verified! It realy working, sound like there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q00e9xfg2L4.
    I used soviet tube 6н2п, & used dc\dc converter to get 6v from 12 for heater.
    Such Hendrix tunes!!!

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  8. have a trouble with whistling LMC7660. how to kill that 10khz whistling, who knows?

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    1. i took lmc7660 from my old clone centaur & everything good working without whistling! Chinese chips!!!

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    2. Hi, can you double confirm that the lmc7660 works in this circuit? According to the data sheet it has a max supply voltage of 10.5V where the LT1054 has a max of 16V. Considering the 12V supply on this, I would imagine it would be a problem, and the chip would at very best stop working after a short while. I'm just in the process of deciding to build this or not and I only have LMC7660's in my box. I'm just concerned they wont work at that voltage.

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  9. Is the 47uf cap on the bias trimmer oriented wrong or is it me?

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  10. Just for confirmation: powered by 12V DC or AC?

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  11. howw does it work the pedal wich is the clippping stage i would like to kno all the topology of the pedal plz

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  12. Turn that 47uf cap near trimpot around and it's verified. Work great.

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    Replies
    1. Actually, the polarity shown is correct. I know it feels weird having a positive leg go to ground, but remember that brown trace is -V, so that gets the negative leg.

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  13. It wouldn't work at all until I reoriented that cap..... Once done, it worked rally well. Go figure!

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  14. I'm going to turn it around again as per schematic and see what happens.

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