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Jen (Gretsch Playboy) - Harmon Booster

Posted: 22 Feb 2012, 13:46
by nightraven
an interesting pedal made in Italy in the mid 70s (my guess) and there seems to be little to no documentation of it anywhere on the 'net. it's basically an overdrive pedal that borders on fuzztone with the controls dimed and having a dirty amp to start with. very underrated IMHO - i think it's loads better than Tubescreamers and the various copies. maybe a worthwhile candidate for a trace?
i cracked it open today and as you can see broke one of the faders a bit while prying off the caps.

i159.photobucket.com/albums/t151/nickorly/P1010072.jpg
i159.photobucket.com/albums/t151/nickorly/P1010073.jpg


i can take more pictures if anybody is interested...

Re: Jen (Gretsch Playboy) - Harmon Booster

Posted: 22 Feb 2012, 14:18
by digi2t
Hi nightraven,

If you can draw up the schematic, I would be more than happy to draw up a vero layout. I'll probably not build it, but I find it nice to share a vero as an alternative to the enthusiasts. I love these rare-ass pedals :D. Besides, I find TS's highly over rated [smilie=sleep.gif], so any alternatives are always interesting.

Cheers,
Dino

Re: Jen (Gretsch Playboy) - Harmon Booster

Posted: 22 Feb 2012, 14:34
by digi2t
Hi nightraven,

If you can draw up the schematic, I would be more than happy to draw up a vero layout. I'll probably not build it, but I find it nice to share a vero as an alternative to the enthusiasts. I love these rare-ass pedals :D. Besides, I find TS's highly over rated [smilie=sleep.gif], so any alternatives are always interesting. Also, one could always bread board, and tweak the circuit to his/her liking.

Cheers,
Dino

Re: Jen (Gretsch Playboy) - Harmon Booster

Posted: 22 Feb 2012, 14:53
by nightraven
hey Dino, i'd love to help but the only thing i know how to do is take photos :lol: i'm a total beginner at electronics so it'd be up to somebody else to draw up a schem!
also on another note, the guy i got this pedal from ages ago has a Project V fuzz ;) small world

Re: Jen (Gretsch Playboy) - Harmon Booster

Posted: 22 Feb 2012, 15:59
by jrod
I've seen a schematic for this somewhere. :hmmm:

I think it was on the DAM forum but it looks like its been taken down.

Re: Jen (Gretsch Playboy) - Harmon Booster

Posted: 22 Feb 2012, 18:12
by digi2t
hey Dino, i'd love to help but the only thing i know how to do is take photos i'm a total beginner at electronics so it'd be up to somebody else to draw up a schem!
also on another note, the guy i got this pedal from ages ago has a Project V fuzz small world
Alright man, no prob, I'll see what I can do with the pics you've posted. Just a bit tough with those sliders in the way.

Sidebar...If you have a chance though, could you shoot some more pics of the Project V? Specifically the area around the Drive and Edge switch connections. I'd like to verify the connections and resistors/capacitors. From the other pics, there seems to be some resistors that are hidden underneath caps or resistors. Please thank your friend from me in advance, if he's cool with it. The ultimate coolness would be a sound, or video clip of the Project V in action, running through the different settings. Then I could really compare my clone to the original. Like I said, that would be WAY cool!

Thanks for all your work to date.
Dino

Re: Jen (Gretsch Playboy) - Harmon Booster

Posted: 22 Feb 2012, 22:18
by nightraven
digi2t wrote:Alright man, no prob, I'll see what I can do with the pics you've posted. Just a bit tough with those sliders in the way.

Sidebar...If you have a chance though, could you shoot some more pics of the Project V? Specifically the area around the Drive and Edge switch connections. I'd like to verify the connections and resistors/capacitors. From the other pics, there seems to be some resistors that are hidden underneath caps or resistors. Please thank your friend from me in advance, if he's cool with it. The ultimate coolness would be a sound, or video clip of the Project V in action, running through the different settings. Then I could really compare my clone to the original. Like I said, that would be WAY cool!

Thanks for all your work to date.
Dino
sending PM........... :thumbsup

Re: Jen (Gretsch Playboy) - Harmon Booster

Posted: 22 Feb 2012, 22:59
by teleK
Discofreq is gonna love this...

Re: Jen (Gretsch Playboy) - Harmon Booster

Posted: 23 Feb 2012, 01:30
by jrod
Yeah, the schematic on the DAM forum is gone.

I do remember it having emitter followers at the input and output with a gain control at the input.

The rest of it kind of reminded me of the Univox Super Fuzz (minus the clipping diodes), but was not exactly like it, it just kind of looked similar to me.

Part of the schematic looked exactly like the attached photo. Also, the tone control is BMP style.

Re: Jen (Gretsch Playboy) - Harmon Booster

Posted: 23 Feb 2012, 23:17
by kaycee
Is it this one on the left?

http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main. ... N.jpg.html

I'm sure that I have a vero from somewhere of it...

Re: Jen (Gretsch Playboy) - Harmon Booster

Posted: 23 Feb 2012, 23:22
by kaycee
Or maybe I'm confusing it with this one:

https://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic ... 03&p=26335

Re: Jen (Gretsch Playboy) - Harmon Booster

Posted: 24 Feb 2012, 08:18
by nightraven
kaycee wrote:Is it this one on the left?

http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main. ... N.jpg.html

I'm sure that I have a vero from somewhere of it...
this is the one :thumbsup

Re: Jen (Gretsch Playboy) - Harmon Booster

Posted: 24 Feb 2012, 09:44
by Bernardduur
I saw such a transistor method in the 'Tube Bender'

Link

Could it be similar / close????

Re: Jen (Gretsch Playboy) - Harmon Booster

Posted: 06 Mar 2012, 01:08
by mmolteratx
Mine should be here in the next couple days. I'll reverse it then.

Re: Jen (Gretsch Playboy) - Harmon Booster  [schematic]

Posted: 06 Mar 2012, 20:25
by sonicvi

Re: Jen (Gretsch Playboy) - Harmon Booster

Posted: 09 Mar 2012, 02:27
by sinner
Thanks a lot SonicVI. Here's what I did based on your schematic

Hopefully it's correct

Re: Jen (Gretsch Playboy) - Harmon Booster

Posted: 09 Mar 2012, 12:50
by sonicvi
I dunno about your layout, but the schematic is definitely correct. I've built many clones of it from this schematic.

http://stompboxes.co.uk/forum/viewtopic ... ter#p76119

Re: Jen (Gretsch Playboy) - Harmon Booster

Posted: 09 Mar 2012, 19:19
by sinner
I like your builds, I've seen many of them including those. What transistor gains you could recommend?

As per my layout. It could be fucked up, I was doing it between 2am and 4am, I had huge headache and I couldn't sleep. I'll give it overlook later

Re: Jen (Gretsch Playboy) - Harmon Booster

Posted: 09 Mar 2012, 20:22
by sinner
Whooohooo, this sounds cool :shock: Now I'm sure I'll overlook it again :mrgreen:


Re: Jen (Gretsch Playboy) - Harmon Booster

Posted: 09 Mar 2012, 20:28
by azrael
I looked up the BC318C, it's PNP? Do you just build it with a modern transistor that's NPN?