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.

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

DeadAstronaut Tremshifter

Merry Christmas Eve-Eve, everybody! Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday. Here's an awesome tremolo circuit designed by DIYSB member DeadAstronaut. Cody asked me if I could do an etch-able layout since DeadAstronaut has sold out of PCBs for the effect. Check out the original thread on DIYSB for the schematic and more info.




Edit 3/2/16: Added missing resistor in the filter LFO and corrected traces in trem LFO.

37 comments:

  1. Seems I missed a 220k resistor in the filter LFO section and added an unnecessary 1k in there too. I've fixed it now. I'm afraid you'll have to make new boards though. Sorry about that!

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    1. Damn!! well it all makes sense now I guess.
      I'll report the outcome as soon as I finish the new version. Thanks a lot for the correction man, you are awesome.
      Maybe you could help us someday with the Abductor II Delay PCB? That'd be great.

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    2. Before you get too far, I spotted another error in the trem LFO. 6.8k resistor going to the Trem Speed from the wrong IC pin (it was off 6 should have been off 7). It's fixed now. My brain must have fallen out of my ear when I laid this one out. :P

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    3. Man get some sleep or something! Thanks a lot. I'll be doin' it this weekend. Hope it works.

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    1. A quick update, I'm pretty sure the one from the transfer library is still the wrong one.

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    2. Gah, you're right. Must have forgotten to fix the transfer pdf. It's fixed now. Sorry about that! Must have gotten distracted with my day job. haha

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    3. It happens. There's no big deal, tho.

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  3. Just a quick update, it's me or is a mistake on the PCB trace connecting the negative pole from the 4.7uF capacitor from ground, to a 220k resistor to the 5 lug on the trem Opamp?

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    1. That's the way it is in the schematic. Only difference between this and the schematic is which side of the trem IC is used. I swapped them cuz things just fit better in the layout that way. But that will have no impact on functionality.

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    2. Ok checked that but I mean.I think there's a little drillhole missing there...

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    3. OH! Yeah there is one missing. I'll fix that. Thanks for catching that

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    4. Thanks a lot man!! please please, pretty please do the Abductor II Delay layout!

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    1. Any update on whether or not this works?

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    2. Yeah it works, but the tremolo is very very subtle. I don't know if is something wrong with my build, or with some values/componente in the layout due to a lack of free time to debug it.

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    3. Did you cover the LED/LDR combos with shrink tube or tape?

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    4. Yup, I did. But the LED's from the tremolo LFO, both the pilot LED and the one in front of the LDR seem to light very very dimly (does that word exists) while the LED's on the filter section works well.

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  5. Argh! I just etched and drilled the old version. Do you think it's still usable without too much trouble?

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  6. I built from the etched PCB and verified. All good.

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    1. I will add that I went to A500K pots for the rate controls, added a cap switch to swap in a 1u cap or 10u (far right electro) as I found that it needed a bit higher rate actually (rather than lower others have wanted). Finally I used VTL5C3's for the vactrols.

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    2. Thanks for the build report! Some useful mods here.

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    3. Hi Tx do you have a video working

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  7. I've built a few pedals, but so far none with LDR's. I wondered if anyone could help me out with some advice on which to buy as i'm limited locally. If you could take a look at the link and let me know which ranges might work I would really appreciate it. Thanks for taking a look.

    http://www.maplin.co.uk/c/components/resistors#Category:Light Dependent Resistors&sort=relevance&page=0&productsPerPage=50

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  8. Build it and i 'm having the same problems as Alex destructor. There is a problem somewhere.maybe in the schem?i don't know..

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    1. i've used the right leds and now it works as it should. red for trem amd filter leds.blue for D1 and green for D2.

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    2. Hi. Do you have a video working?

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  9. I have the schematic and the LFO tremolo zone is not ok.

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    1. hi man can you send me the schematics or the layout for the pcb pleasseeee??? i tryed this and the trem LFO don't work...

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  10. download from hear
    https://deadastronaut.wixsite.com/effects/tremshifter

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  11. Please the version with pots mounting! :D

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  12. In the project you ask to add, 22-47UF for Slower Filter sweep. But where is this capacitor specifically? Thaks

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  13. Sorry to dredge up an old thread, but I just built from this layout and I'm having a hard time getting this thing going. So far I can tell from the rate LEDs that the LFOs are both working... sort of. The Filter LFO is working, but not affecting the signal. This may be due to the other main issue I have... the Tremolo LFO is stuck at the fastest rate of speed. Through all this, none of the signal is actually being affected by either LFO. So I'm assuming the problem I'm having with the Trem LFO is the culprit for all the issues. But I can't for the life of me figure out what's wrong in that trem LFO section, especially why it's not affecting the signal or why it's stuck on the highest speed.

    I think one clue that will lead me to something is that when I put the shape toggle to the center "off" position, it cuts the signal/trem out all together. So I'm going to check that area next, but wanted to post in case anyone else had this issue and could shed some light. Thanks!

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