Amptweaker - Tight Metal [traced]

[Belanger88]

I was gonna get a BigRock Pro and bust that bad boy opened so we can dissect like Dr. G Medical Examiner

The reason I decided to get a BRP is because a forum member (who I will not name unless he says it's ok) sent me a bunch of excelent gut shots of the Tight Metal Pro. The pics are great but, even with all the great pics it's still gonna be damn near impossible to trace without the actual pedal in hand... So, I figured since the TMP and the BRP are both built using the same boards I would buy a BRP, trace it and use the pics from the TMP to find the differences and then we will have both! Be like killin 2 pedals with 1 BigRock! I will start a new topic when I begin.. Who's up for it?

From looking at the pics this is one heavy duty no bull shit pedal! Very well layed out all crazy Amptweaker style with quality components and looks to be all hand soldered which is nuts if you're building thousands of them!! The enclosure is made of thick ass steel armor like all the rest... I think it's one of the best built pedals around man, these fukers ain't no joke!!


Link

im so excited to see what the boost section is!!

[J0K3RX]

It arrived today.. stay tuned for gut shots and schematics

I will probably start a new topic "Amptweaker BigRock/TightMetal Pro"

[teddeeh]

Hi guys. Im having a bit of a hard time understanding the tight rock mods, could someone help me please? I used the schematic over at effectslayouts here http://effectslayouts.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/amptweaker-tight-metal.html?m=0

[teddeeh]

Ok, just outa curiosity I changed only these values on my TM clone and SHAZAM!! Pretty damn close to the TR... Very close to be exact! So, aside from a few other minor changes (Tweaks) they are both the same.. Game Over...

Hi, im considering changing the layout i used over here http://effectslayouts.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/amptweaker-tight-metal.html?m=0 to the tight rock, and im having a hard time decifering the schematics. I cant really read them im afraid, but could you help a brother out? What would i need to change in order to make the tight rock? Many thanks anyone who can help.

[J0K3RX]

Ok, just outa curiosity I changed only these values on my TM clone and SHAZAM!! Pretty damn close to the TR... Very close to be exact! So, aside from a few other minor changes (Tweaks) they are both the same.. Game Over...

Hi, im considering changing the layout i used over here http://effectslayouts.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/amptweaker-tight-metal.html?m=0 to the tight rock, and im having a hard time decifering the schematics. I cant really read them im afraid, but could you help a brother out? What would i need to change in order to make the tight rock? Many thanks anyone who can help.

Try this..

[teddeeh]

Many thanks, will do this asap and get back to you.

[teddeeh]

Ok, just outa curiosity I changed only these values on my TM clone and SHAZAM!! Pretty damn close to the TR... Very close to be exact! So, aside from a few other minor changes (Tweaks) they are both the same.. Game Over...

Hi, im considering changing the layout i used over here http://effectslayouts.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/amptweaker-tight-metal.html?m=0 to the tight rock, and im having a hard time decifering the schematics. I cant really read them im afraid, but could you help a brother out? What would i need to change in order to make the tight rock? Many thanks anyone who can help.

Try this..

Many thanks. I like the change, i think it definaty makes it more versatile but.. theres almost a hiss that lasts on a ringing note or chord likes its reverberating the springs on a snare drum..

[EmmG]

The " rock" mod just means the midrange cut is less drastic than the Metal version , right?

[J0K3RX]

Many thanks. I like the change, i think it definaty makes it more versatile but.. theres almost a hiss that lasts on a ringing note or chord likes its reverberating the springs on a snare drum..

Not sure about the hiss, I haven't experienced anything quite like that. Did you use shielded wire on your input jack and gain pot? Did you make a break in the ground trace that is surrounding the circuit? Have you put it inside an enclosure yet? Move the wires and pots around while hitting a note and see if it changes or stops at any certain points. This pedal is fairly noisy when the gain is cranked, about like any other high gain pedal in this class.. I guess you could call it a hiss or white noise.

[Halfeld]

Hey J0K3RX! First of all thank your very very much for the layout and schematics! Awesome job!
I'm with everything set up, but i can't make it work properly. If i wire the input tip into the input (that connects to the 470pF, 33nF and 1M resistor), the only thing i can get is a weak low-gain sound, like a very old 9V battery is connected to the +9V.
I made the jumps on both Sends and Returns since i was not going to use them anyway, with the properly changed resistors (R4 1M and R5 475K for 330K, removed R38 100K, changing R36 47.5K for 150K). But even before changing those resistors, i still had the same sound connecting Sends/Returns togheter.

I can only get a decent sound when i solder the input wire on the Send1/Return1 (with jumper) track, but with some hiss, since the signal is skipping a lot of components.

All pins voltage were verified and it's all correct, i don't know where to search for mistakes anymore

Do you experienced this problem before? Any ideias what can cause this?

TL/DR:

Built the pedal. Input wire soldered on input board sounds weak and poor. Input wire soldered on Send1 sounds ok but with some treble hiss in a really high frequency (probably someone with 50 years old woldn't hear it). Any ideas?

[teddeeh]

Not sure about the hiss, I haven't experienced anything quite like that. Did you use shielded wire on your input jack and gain pot? Did you make a break in the ground trace that is surrounding the circuit? Have you put it inside an enclosure yet? Move the wires and pots around while hitting a note and see if it changes or stops at any certain points. This pedal is fairly noisy when the gain is cranked, about like any other high gain pedal in this class.. I guess you could call it a hiss or white noise.

I think i may have had it sorted... its not the circuit. I think its the amp. I have a small blackstar fly i use to try my circuits out on and ive built several in the past week and only a couple i really enjoyed playing, and i got the same results when i was having a good old noodle with the jan ray clone i made. I will plug into a proper amp when i get the chance and let you know the results. In answer to your questions, i dont think the ground is looped completely, the pots and wires are shielded and good solder joins, no enclosure (sadly i have to choose my enclosure circuits with careful selection as i dont have many at the moment and am trying to come up with a way to manufacture my own cheaply and easily.)
The hiss occurs once a note has been struck and rings out, which with the problem occuring with two different circuits with different components leads me to question if it is the amp, not the circuit.
Thanks so much for all you do man, will let you know further testing. Your mods to the tight rock make this way more versatile imho, with a high gain saturation possible aswell. Awesome stuff sir.

[Halfeld]

Hey J0K3RX! First of all thank your very very much for the layout and schematics! Awesome job!
I'm with everything set up, but i can't make it work properly. If i wire the input tip into the input (that connects to the 470pF, 33nF and 1M resistor), the only thing i can get is a weak low-gain sound, like a very old 9V battery is connected to the +9V.
I made the jumps on both Sends and Returns since i was not going to use them anyway, with the properly changed resistors (R4 1M and R5 475K for 330K, removed R38 100K, changing R36 47.5K for 150K). But even before changing those resistors, i still had the same sound connecting Sends/Returns togheter.

I can only get a decent sound when i solder the input wire on the Send1/Return1 (with jumper) track, but with some hiss, since the signal is skipping a lot of components.

All pins voltage were verified and it's all correct, i don't know where to search for mistakes anymore

Do you experienced this problem before? Any ideias what can cause this?

TL/DR:

Built the pedal. Input wire soldered on input board sounds weak and poor. Input wire soldered on Send1 sounds ok but with some treble hiss in a really high frequency (probably someone with 50 years old woldn't hear it). Any ideas?

Hey again! I solved my problem by jumping "Input" to "Send1/Return1 (with jumper)", then adding a 47nF capacitor between the gate session and ground. The hiss is no longer there and i have a bit more low tone (that i like a lot). I still need to verify if there is any parts with no use on the PCB, but now it's sounding great!

[abakuzam]

Hello, i have a few toubles with this pedal not (not boxed it yet) , using this layout : http://effectslayouts.blogspot.com.tr/2 ... metal.html, and i'm running it with 9v battery

İ have a high pitched sound while turning up the gain , pedal does it's job very good, it kinda goes away when i put my finger on gain pot and gate pot lugs, i jumped the effects loop, i feel like it's a grounding problem :/ Maybe i have a bad grounding at home.

Things i did;

- Checked all the values, changed diodes, pots, jacks, switches, orientation of caps and diodes,
- Checked all the ic voltages, looks normal on this one, ( Similiar to previous posts)
- Cut the ground to prevent ground loop, didn't work
- Looked for the cold solder joints, i have none
- Solder bridges, shorts, trace cuts, all good
- İ changed the suspicious parts on the gain and gate section, still no improvement

Things i didn't do;
- Not used the shielded wire ( it was for test , i didn't find it neccessary for now)
- Etched a new layout, or try other's layout

i would appreciate any suggestions, i like debugging but this one kinda out of fun

Thank you, let the metal flow..

[Nicht Bernd]

Hi Abakuzam,

against a high pitched sound while turning up the gain-shielded wire. It´s a super high gainer!

[abakuzam]

Hi Abakuzam,

against a high pitched sound while turning up the gain-shielded wire. It´s a super high gainer!

well that's what i thought, pedal seems to be working, i will try and post the results ,

Thank you, let the metal flow

[Halfeld]

Hello, i have a few toubles with this pedal not (not boxed it yet) , using this layout : http://effectslayouts.blogspot.com.tr/2 ... metal.html, and i'm running it with 9v battery

İ have a high pitched sound while turning up the gain , pedal does it's job very good, it kinda goes away when i put my finger on gain pot and gate pot lugs, i jumped the effects loop, i feel like it's a grounding problem :/ Maybe i have a bad grounding at home.

Hey, abakuzam! Try to add a 10n~47n ceramic capacitor bwtween Gate Pot leg 2 and ground.

[Halfeld]

Mine is finished! Thank you very much, JOK3RX! I built the mod for changing to Metal/Rock version and the Gate knob for more noise control! This pedal sounds AMAZING!

[hrs]

Hi,

Could anyone clarify some things for me?
What are the 4, 8, 11, 4 pins for on the rcustoms schematic?
Compared to the schematic of bajaman, is the schematic of rcustoms missing a 47 ohm resistor? Does it matter?

Thanks.

[J0K3RX]

See attached...

[temol]

I've just finished TM build (effectslayouts pcb) and I have a question about "tight" knob. When rotating "tight" there is no change in the sound until last 20 degrees or something like that. Is this normal? Potentiometer is B100k.

T.