VFE Fiery Red Horse  [traced]

General documentation, gut shot, schematic links, ongoing circuit tracing, deep thoughts ... all about boutique stompboxes.
Post Reply
User avatar
drbob1
Cap Cooler
Information
Posts: 452
Joined: 21 Dec 2010, 20:30
Has thanked: 7 times
Been thanked: 40 times

Post by drbob1 »

Interesting overdrive with dual "diodes in the feedback loop" op amp gain stages, including one setting where both op amp stages have single diodes for very asymmetric clipping. Sounds kinda cool and especially cool that he describes the circuits and shows shadow masks and gut shots on the website: http://www.vfepedals.com/fiery-red-horse.html

Ballsy move, cool guy!

User avatar
coldcraft
Diode Debunker
Information
Posts: 725
Joined: 11 Jul 2009, 01:00
Has thanked: 38 times
Been thanked: 85 times

Post by coldcraft »

Quite possibly the best Muff-style Fuzz for the money! VFE pedals are a great buy!
Black Dynamite wrote:you need to shut the fuck up when grown folks is talkin.

User avatar
mmolteratx
Degoop Doctor
Information
Posts: 508
Joined: 19 Dec 2009, 01:50
Has thanked: 93 times
Been thanked: 619 times

Post by mmolteratx »

What? There are no op amp stages in that pedal... It's very clearly a Muff.

User avatar
roseblood11
Tube Twister
Information
Posts: 1887
Joined: 23 Aug 2008, 14:21
Has thanked: 366 times
Been thanked: 313 times

Post by roseblood11 »

Sure, he confirms that one the website.

Many interesting pedals there, just variations of well-known circuits, but very usefull ones.
I'd be interested in schematics for many of them, esp. the Distortion3 (based on DOD250/Distortion+) and the Pale Horse.

One thing I don't understand about the Pale Horse: I can't see any germanium or schottky diodes near the mosfets. How can the mosfet clipping work then? Or is it just clipping of the body diodes?

User avatar
B3ar
Breadboard Brother
Information
Posts: 98
Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 16:11
Has thanked: 30 times
Been thanked: 2 times

Post by B3ar »

roseblood11 wrote:One thing I don't understand about the Pale Horse: I can't see any germanium or schottky diodes near the mosfets. How can the mosfet clipping work then? Or is it just clipping of the body diodes?
You can wire mosfets like diodes. This is probably best noted in versions of the Fulltone OCD.

User avatar
roseblood11
Tube Twister
Information
Posts: 1887
Joined: 23 Aug 2008, 14:21
Has thanked: 366 times
Been thanked: 313 times

Post by roseblood11 »

Sure, but all you'll hear is the clipping of the body diodes, which sounds almost identical to any other silicon diode...

User avatar
VonRutter
Information
Posts: 25
Joined: 01 Oct 2008, 06:44
Been thanked: 102 times

Post by VonRutter »

drbob1 wrote:Interesting overdrive with dual "diodes in the feedback loop" op amp gain stages, including one setting where both op amp stages have single diodes for very asymmetric clipping. Sounds kinda cool and especially cool that he describes the circuits and shows shadow masks and gut shots on the website: http://www.vfepedals.com/fiery-red-horse.html
Here is the schematic of v2 Fiery Red Horse for anyone who is interested. It's a BMP-style fuzz circuit, with variable power from 3V to 16V (or higher if you plug in 12V or 15V power supply), plus active tone stage and variable compression in the 2nd distortion stage. The charge pump circuit is built on a simple 555 timer chip.

Image
Owner & designer at VFE Pedals. Please email me directly at peter@vfecustom.com if you need a quick response.

User avatar
VonRutter
Information
Posts: 25
Joined: 01 Oct 2008, 06:44
Been thanked: 102 times

Post by VonRutter »

roseblood11 wrote:I'd be interested in schematics for many of them, esp. the Distortion3 (based on DOD250/Distortion+) and the Pale Horse.
Here you go! FYI, the Pale Horse has a charge pump that is not pictured. so the power rails are +9V and -9V.

Pale Horse schematic:
Image

Distortion3 schematic:
Image
roseblood11 wrote:One thing I don't understand about the Pale Horse: I can't see any germanium or schottky diodes near the mosfets. How can the mosfet clipping work then? Or is it just clipping of the body diodes?
Each mosfet is configured in a way that puts the body diode & Vgs saturation in parallel (and reverse polarity). The two mosfets are then put in series (also in reverse polarity). The result is a very high clipping threshold - around 2.7V on average. That's why a charge pump was used, to give the op amp the headroom needed to drive this configuration. It also lets the Pale Horse get LOUD!
Owner & designer at VFE Pedals. Please email me directly at peter@vfecustom.com if you need a quick response.

User avatar
D-Day
Mojo Book Buster
Information
Posts: 248
Joined: 24 Jun 2010, 23:04
my favorite amplifier: Soldano SLO 100
Completed builds: Bazzfuss, Fuzz Face, Fuzzface SG
Location: SEATTLE ROCK CITY
Has thanked: 107 times
Been thanked: 23 times

Post by D-Day »

Whoah thanks Peter!

User avatar
hasanova
Information
Posts: 11
Joined: 25 Apr 2013, 17:12
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 4 times

Post by hasanova »

Here's the schematic of VFE Fiery Red Horse v2, with no values...
Attachments
FRH_schematic.png

User avatar
roseblood11
Tube Twister
Information
Posts: 1887
Joined: 23 Aug 2008, 14:21
Has thanked: 366 times
Been thanked: 313 times

Post by roseblood11 »

Can anybody upload all the other schematics again, please?

User avatar
hasanova
Information
Posts: 11
Joined: 25 Apr 2013, 17:12
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 4 times

Post by hasanova »

Pale Horse
Attachments
palehorse.pdf
(417.62 KiB) Downloaded 102 times
PH_schematic.png
PH_schematic.png (11.25 KiB) Viewed 2599 times

User avatar
hasanova
Information
Posts: 11
Joined: 25 Apr 2013, 17:12
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 4 times

Post by hasanova »

Distortion3
Attachments
distortion3.pdf
(419.84 KiB) Downloaded 79 times
D3_schematic.png
D3_schematic.png (9.53 KiB) Viewed 2599 times

User avatar
hasanova
Information
Posts: 11
Joined: 25 Apr 2013, 17:12
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 4 times

Post by hasanova »

If you're interested in more schematics check out this thread:
https://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic ... 5&p=264287

Or VFE website: support - discontinued pedals:
http://vfepedals.com/discontinued.html

Post Reply