Orange Amplification - Dark Terror head

Tube or solid-state, this section goes to eleven!
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DesertCruiser
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Post by DesertCruiser »

I got myself a Dark Terror a couple of weeks ago and I decided to trace it. For the naked eye it looks like a black Tiny Terror with an effect loop and a couple of extra tubes, but all the controls are all the same. I thougt it would be interesting to see what differed on the inside and found that the main differenses was the pre stage (obviously), the loop and a couple of things in the power stage. That may not leave so much unaltered if you look back at the TT circuit but at least the transformers are the same :) Oh, the cicuit is put down on a double sided PCB. Well, here you go!

Corrected Schematic
Last edited by modman on 22 Jul 2015, 22:54, edited 3 times in total.
Reason: attached schematic
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andregarcia57
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Post by andregarcia57 »

DesertCruiser wrote:I got myself a Dark Terror a couple of weeks ago and I decided to trace it. For the naked eye it looks like a black Tiny Terror with an effect loop and a couple of extra tubes, but all the controls are all the same. I thougt it would be interesting to see what differed on the inside and found that the main differenses was the pre stage (obviously), the loop and a couple of things in the power stage. That may not leave so much unaltered if you look back at the TT circuit but at least the transformers are the same :) Oh, the cicuit is put down on a double sided PCB. Well, here you go!

https://img97.imageshack.us/img97/9011/darkterror.png

is checked?

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diagrammatiks
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Post by diagrammatiks »

I like it. Standard orange shape control.

That cathode follower for the effects driver is interesting.

It's actually significantly different then the TT or the DT.

4 stages instead of 3. No post phase inverter master volume.

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Post by SD456 »

Thank you very much for this schematic!

Does anybody have a layout for this amplifier ? I cannot find any.

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Dr Tony Balls
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Post by Dr Tony Balls »

Good lord. Theres a lot of stuff going on in this amp.

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Post by DesertCruiser »

Please excuse me for bringing this old thread up again, but when I was going to try to cut the feedback loop in the PA the other day I took another close look at the circuit board and found some flaws in the schematic posted above. Here is the corrected one:
https://imageshack.us/f/829/darkterror2.png/
Orange Dark Terror schematic corrected
Orange Dark Terror schematic corrected
and why not post some guts while I'm at it :)
https://imageshack.us/f/842/20130322144419.jpg/
https://imageshack.us/f/94/20130322141422.jpg/
https://imageshack.us/f/835/20130322141148.jpg/
Orange Dark Terror traces
Orange Dark Terror traces
Orange Dark Terror components a
Orange Dark Terror components a
Orange Dark Terror components b
Orange Dark Terror components b
Look at those loosely twisted heater wires :-?
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Post by JiM »

I've found that the Dark terror preamp is really similar to the high-grain channel of the Rockerverb preamp.
The only differences are :
  • obviously the tonestack vs. shape control
  • the cathode resistor of V3 (1.5k for Dark Terror, 2.2k for Rockerverb)
  • the way the FX send is coupled with the cathode follower.
  • I don't have the supply voltages of the Rockerverb, these may differ
These are supposedly the differences between the Dark Terror and the Jim Root Signature models. Can anyone confirm ?
I only give negative feedback.

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Post by bjosephs »

Hey DesertCruiser,


I made a log in to this site specifically to thank you for posting this schematic. I loved the DT when I played it but not enough to drop the cash... so I built the preamp into a pedal box. I used the whole front end, the output is taken from the junction of R19 and R20.

Pictures:

Image
Image

Sounds just right!

Thanks for taking the time,
Brian

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agordillo
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Post by agordillo »

Hi bjosephs,

I cannot find in your preamp box the power supply. Where is it?

I suppose that you use high voltages (around 250V). Don't you?

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Post by elkulon »

bjosephs: Nice work, we would appreciate a demo... :horsey: :horsey:

agordillo:I believe that power supply is the pair of cables (blue & orange/brown) coming from the upper left corner...
They go all under the left jack, and goes to somewhere I can't see, but that's a starting point...

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Post by DesertCruiser »

bjosephs wrote:Hey DesertCruiser,


I made a log in to this site specifically to thank you for posting this schematic. I loved the DT when I played it but not enough to drop the cash... so I built the preamp into a pedal box. I used the whole front end, the output is taken from the junction of R19 and R20.

Pictures:

[ Image ]
[ Image ]

Sounds just right!

Thanks for taking the time,
Brian
Hey bjoseph, that looks really good, I like the clean layout with those terminal strips! As mentioned above, I guess you've got some freestanding power supply next to the box. I bet you could, if you tried, squeeze a supply in the pedal itself if you use a simple external 12VAC (say 1 amp) transformer that feed the heaters and another small transformer connected backwards (you feed the low voltage secondary winding with the 12vac and obtain a high alternating voltage on the primary). That small transformer should have the same secondary voltage as the other i.e. 12V and 230V or something on the secondary. Of course that will vary depending on where you live but here in europe we are fortunate with high mains voltage, pentodes and the metric system :wink: Then you rectify and filter this high voltage and feed the anodes with it. I have managed to obtain 270-300V using this method, depending on load current and power rating on the transformers.
Of course this is only a humble suggestion, if your current arangement works good and you're happy with it then that's just fine, I just thaught this could make it a little more portable :)
I'm glad to see that my work have been helpful to anyone, hope to get the oppurtunity to hear it!
Cheers, Jacob
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Post by bjosephs »

Hi guys,


Thanks for the compliments. The power supply is inside the box now, it was external while testing. It a little 20mA Nixie clock swich-mode power supply from ebay. I get about it 275 volts from it. The whole pedal runs on a 1 amp 12vdc wall wart (actually I'm using a laptop style ps that was originally bought for a robot project) which feeds the heaters directly and the input of the smps. In contrast to the SLO100 preamp I made before it (using ac heaters and an electro harmonix transformer), this one is dead quite. I wish I could find a good smps that would turn out closer to 400vdc.


Regards,
Brian

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Post by copachino »

just one thing, how do you protect the circuit from any short or something, i want to build something like this but, it scares me the fact that any leak or short in the metal case can be dangerus

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Post by bjosephs »

Re: Orange Dark Terror Schem!
Post by copachino » 03 Mar 2014, 13:11

just one thing, how do you protect the circuit from any short or something, i want to build something like this but, it scares me the fact that any leak or short in the metal case can be dangerous
Hi copachino,


I found some 1/6" sheet HDPE and drilled some holes in it. It's sandwiched between the solder side of the power supply board and the inside of the housing.



Brian

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Post by orcl2 »

bjosephs wrote:Hey DesertCruiser,


I made a log in to this site specifically to thank you for posting this schematic. I loved the DT when I played it but not enough to drop the cash... so I built the preamp into a pedal box. I used the whole front end, the output is taken from the junction of R19 and R20.

Pictures:

[ Image ]
[ Image ]

Sounds just right!

Thanks for taking the time,
Brian

Hi, can you post a sound sample from you preamp?

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