Red Llama Mk.II gut shots.

Duckman · Post by **Duckman** » 19 Mar 2012, 02:08

Ok, now with cap values

MoonWatcher · Post by **MoonWatcher** » 23 Mar 2012, 16:26

The Rotagilla wrote:I wouldn't have bothered but this thing is noticeably quieter at idle than other Llama layouts I've built.

The IC is a MC14049UBCP.

Who manufactures that MC14049UBCP?

The reason I ask is that some inverters are a lot quieter than others. The (now obsolete) Fairchild CD4049UBCN is whisper quiet compared to others.

I think the Texas Instruments CD4049UBE is the noisiest one of tried. It's enough to make someone completely turned off to building more than one Red Llama project, let alone other inverter stuff.

I'm assuming the IC in your pedal is made by ON? But I really don't want to assume. I'm going to have to mail order a handful of these things to find out if one chip is really more quiet than the other, and don't want to end up on a wild goose chase. I noticed that ST Micro currently produces one too, but I've never had anything decent by them (my 741 ST Micro was hiss city).

I don't think it would be worth Dunlop's trouble to use an obsolete version of this chip (like one made by Motorola or something), but the fact that the MkII uses those Mal 150's makes me a little nervous. I know those caps are current production, but they are just a goofy choice (although they do look cool).

Thanks in advance. I've got about 6 TI 4049's that I'm ready to just throw in the trash.

The Rotagilla · Post by **The Rotagilla** » 28 Mar 2012, 00:17

MoonWatcher wrote:
The Rotagilla wrote:I wouldn't have bothered but this thing is noticeably quieter at idle than other Llama layouts I've built.

The IC is a MC14049UBCP.
Who manufactures that MC14049UBCP? I'm assuming the IC in your pedal is made by ON?

Sorry it took so long to respond. Yes, it's made by ON.

MoonWatcher · Post by **MoonWatcher** » 28 Mar 2012, 03:58

The Rotagilla wrote:
MoonWatcher wrote:
The Rotagilla wrote:I wouldn't have bothered but this thing is noticeably quieter at idle than other Llama layouts I've built.

The IC is a MC14049UBCP.
Who manufactures that MC14049UBCP? I'm assuming the IC in your pedal is made by ON?
Sorry it took so long to respond. Yes, it's made by ON.

No problem, and thanks so much. A quieter 4049 is a most welcome thing. I hope the ON chip is the reason that the new Llama is quieter. It's a cool pedal to work the guitar's volume control with, but not if the background noise is so high!

The Rotagilla · Post by **The Rotagilla** » 15 Apr 2012, 19:11

MoonWatcher wrote:The (now obsolete) Fairchild CD4049UBCN is whisper quiet compared to others.

I sourced some and they arrived yesterday, I'll report back.

The Rotagilla · Post by **The Rotagilla** » 22 Apr 2012, 01:33

The Rotagilla wrote:
MoonWatcher wrote:The (now obsolete) Fairchild CD4049UBCN is whisper quiet compared to others.
I sourced some and they arrived yesterday, I'll report back.

No less noise with the Fairchild CD4049UBCN, go with the MC14049UBCP.

Seiche · Post by **Seiche** » 27 Jul 2018, 14:09

So after having built a RL and some research, the 25th anniversary and the Camel Toe side of the RL both have a tone control/Hi cut. How would this work?

tzdvl · Post by **tzdvl** » 16 Jan 2021, 16:33

Seiche wrote: ↑27 Jul 2018, 14:09 So after having built a RL and some research, the 25th anniversary and the Camel Toe side of the RL both have a tone control/Hi cut. How would this work?

Info and schematic for the Red Llama 25th Anniversary reissue with Hi Cut control here:

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=31099

tzdvl · Post by **tzdvl** » 17 Jan 2021, 17:35

The Rotagilla wrote: ↑15 Mar 2012, 07:29 The IC is a MC14049UBCP and all the resistors appear to be standard Llama value except for the circled one...

The Rotagilla wrote: ↑17 Mar 2012, 02:43 All values have been confirmed.

While researching implementing a tone control for the Tube Sound Fuzz/Red Llama, I ran across this thread.

After carefully examining the gut shots here, and schematics for the Red Llama MkII found elsewhere, I have discovered that this thread contains a major error...

: Resistor.png (36.29 KiB) Viewed 1132 times

The current limiting resistor (R6) from the +9v supply to the circuit is NOT 1K ohms, as in the original Red Llama.
R6 is 100 ohms. The color bands (brown,black,black,black, brown) indicate 100 ohms/1%, NOT 1k.

: RL MkII Power Trace.png (130.44 KiB) Viewed 1132 times

In addition, the board traces CLEARLY show that R6 is present ONLY in the connections to the unused inverter inputs.
Pin 1 (vcc) of the MC14049UBCP is connected DIRECTLY to The 9v supply, NOT through R6.

In other words, there is NO current limiting resistor present in the main 9v supply to the 4049 IC.

This is strange, and very different from the design of the original Red Llama, the 25th anniversary reissue, the Craig Anderton Tube Sound Fuzz, or any other 4049-based overdrive designs I've seen.

I wonder why Way Huge decided to eliminate the dropping resistor in the MkII?
And might this partially explain why the MkII circuit is so quiet?