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.

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Earthquaker Devices Tentacle

Had several requests for the Tentacle, but it's just more or less a Dan Armstrong Green Ringer clone. But I had the idea of making a Green Ringer layout with the bypass footswitch board-mounted so we'll just call this layout the Tentacle. Should fit easily in a 1590A. If you'd rather a fabricated PCB to build on, check out the Darkmantle on the store.


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14 comments:

  1. ArielOctober 31, 2019 at 5:46 PM

    Hi, the image to transfer is in the drill templates section. Regards.

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  2. ArielNovember 1, 2019 at 2:23 PM

    Verified! It works great, it's the second octave that I do!! I have a request, REVV G4 please! Thank you!!!

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  3. VictyNovember 3, 2019 at 6:20 PM

    Any advice to adapt it for bass?

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  4. dmitrogenNovember 5, 2019 at 4:28 AM

    Is there a schematic for reference? Thanks in advance!

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    Replies
    1. Effects LayoutsNovember 5, 2019 at 9:49 AM

      http://guitar-fx-layouts.42897.x6.nabble.com/file/n34610/EQD_Tentacle_schem.png

      Delete
  5. javipurasSeptember 16, 2020 at 7:19 PM

    best replacement for 2N5089?? thanks for the great work!

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    Replies
    1. Effects LayoutsSeptember 16, 2020 at 8:43 PM

      Anything medium to high gain hFE should be fine. 2N5088, MPSA18, BC549C etc

      Delete
  6. Dave BOctober 25, 2020 at 4:10 AM

    Thank you for the layout! I used it to create a double octave up with selectable Si/Ge clipping diodes in both circuits. Sounds beautiful. In this demo I played an acoustic Martin into a 65 Princeton Reverb: https://youtu.be/1euyGmRCjUA

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  7. Miguel Gª SalvadoresMarch 5, 2021 at 5:33 AM

    Hi, noob question, but there's a 47n capacitor in this schematic that is not in the layout. Is it better to omit it and just go ahead with the layout template?? http://guitar-fx-layouts.42897.x6.nabble.com/file/n34610/EQD_Tentacle_schem.png

    Thanks!

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  8. Jonathan BröseNovember 9, 2021 at 5:20 PM

    Try BS170 (same position) or 2N5088 (inverted) in Q2. They sound amazing! Q1-Q3 2N3904.

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    Replies
    1. Jonathan BröseNovember 9, 2021 at 5:22 PM

      Personally, I prefer the 2N5088. But give it a try!

      Delete
  9. joaquinNovember 19, 2021 at 4:37 PM

    Hi, it's the third time i try to build it, every time with a different pcb, checked everything, and it doesn't work, just no sound, build it with 2n5087, 2n3906, 2n5088, bc549c every possible combination, changed the 100nf next to q1 for a 47nf ad nothing, i don't know what i'm doing wrong, i even tried out one i found in stripboard, and nothing, and it's not my first build, i've built nearly 10 pedals here, all perfect, this pedal hates me :,v

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    Replies
    1. UnknownJanuary 4, 2022 at 1:38 PM

      I dare say your transistors could die from static during soldering. Google this moment. I have faced this problem myself

      Delete
  10. Mark HammerNovember 24, 2024 at 2:35 PM

    The chief drawback in the original Green Ringer, carried over to the Tentacle, is the absence of a "sensitivity" control. On my builds, I put a 10k pot in series with a 10uf cap, and run that in parallel with the 6K2 emitter resistor on Q1. That allows for the gain of the input driver stage to be varied, permitting sounds from mere "boing-ey" octaving, to more obvious octaves. Not as fabulous as a Foxx Tone Machine, but much more robust octaves than the basic Ringer.

    Of course, adding gain to the input obligates being able to adjust the volume of the output, so as to achieve effect/bypass balance. I do this by replacing the 47k fixed resistor to ground on the output, with a 25k log pot, that has a 22k resistor between its' ground lug and ground, yielding a useful range of volume adjustment.

    Finally, if you look at many octave fuzz circuits, you'll often see a diode pair going to ground. People understandably, but mistakenly, think this is for producing the fuzz. Not so. It does increase distortion a bit, but its chief function is to act like a quick and dirty peak limiter. Understand that a LOT of harmonic content is generated on pick attack, and *all* of that is doubled by the rectifier in such octaving units. This makes the octave of the note itself hard to make out until the string and harmonic content starts to decay. But by that point, the volume has declined, and the octave doesn't stand out quite as much. The diode pair "clamps" the maximum volume, so that when the octave starts to become more apparent, the volume hasn't perceptibly declined very much. I've added a diode pair to ground just after the 100nf output cap on several builds, and it improves the usability of the octave considerably, just like it does on things like the Foxx Tone Machine and Fender Blender.

    Add these three mods and you'll be pleased by the improvements.

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