Darkglass - Microtubes B3K / B7K  [traced]

General documentation, gut shot, schematic links, ongoing circuit tracing, deep thoughts ... all about boutique stompboxes.
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Smegma
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Post by Smegma »

Hi there!

I'm currently into researching for a good overdrive for bass and I have been seriously amazed by Microtubes B3K and B7K. I would be very interested in studying the schematics, but I couldn't find them anywhere the internet. Does anyone have any informations about them? I know the creator used to be an active member of this forum and the other one, and maybe he still is, in which case I would be very grateful if he would share his circuits with us.

On the other hand, I'm pretty new here and I'm not sure if it's okay to request a schematic from a member's product. I mean no harm and I don't want to be rude, so if my request is wrong please tell me.

Thanks.

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Bill_Mountain
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Post by Bill_Mountain »

The original design is over at DIYSB's. Try searching for CMOS distortions. It was a while back so you'll have to do some digging.

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p.eat
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Post by p.eat »

Great. I'm also very interested in the B3K. Here's the link to the thread at DIYSB:

https://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/ ... ic=69335.0

From viewing the video demos, I'm pretty sure the blend-circuit is a constant power blender a là R.G.'s "blending for fun".

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Smegma
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Post by Smegma »

Thanks guys. I already knew the original Microtubes 2K and I learned a lot from this thread. It seems to be more guitar oriented though, so I would have liked to see the fine tuning of the bass models. I will have a look at this "constant power blend" concept by the way, thanks for the tip.

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Post by Silver Blues »

Please? :hug:

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Post by kroaton »

Image

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Silver Blues
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Post by Silver Blues »

Yeah I saw that picture but it doesn't really help much; to actually trace the circuit we'd need the backside of the PCB as well. Additionally, there seems to be some kind of daughterboard underneath that board that controls the two switches on the pedal, so we'd need front and back of that too.

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Duckman
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Post by Duckman »

Looks like both switches are in the main board... :hmmm:
I think there's a previous thread about this pedal... too loose to search, sorry

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Silver Blues
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Post by Silver Blues »

Actually now that you mention it I think you're right. Odd, there's a YT video out there that's a time-lapse of this pedal being built and there's clearly a secondary board going on there.

Never mind about that, I guess... but some values and a shot of the board's underside would be awesome :mrgreen:

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Post by Bernardduur »

The underside of the board has little tracings. I just traced a 'vintage' Microtubes and that one looks a lot like this one!!
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Silver Blues
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Post by Silver Blues »

Do you happen to have a schematic? :block:

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Post by Dirk_Hendrik »

Ehrm...
Where did this thread go from "open up" to "trace"?
And who is the "we" you're referring to?

Seems a classic case of "how about you buy one, trace it and share your results here".
Sorry. Plain out of planes.

http://www.dirk-hendrik.com

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Silver Blues
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Post by Silver Blues »

It didn't. That's exactly it - I was willing to try and trace it myself if someone had a picture of the board (i.e. someone that owns one that would be so kind as to open it up). Bernarddur mentioned he had traced the VMT and that would be a great step forward in getting this one done. By "we" I mean the community of this site - all of us can benefit from having a circuit traced. Also, there are certainly people here with more tracing experience that could help crack this one that are welcome to help. Never did I ask anyone to "buy one, trace it and share their results here". :scratch:

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Post by Dirk_Hendrik »

Indeed you did not ask anyone.

I meant to suggest YOU are the one doing that buying, just as many have done before you. :thumbsup
Sorry. Plain out of planes.

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Silver Blues
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Post by Silver Blues »

Ah :P Yeah I'd really love to have one, I might just have to save up... lol

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Post by Dirk_Hendrik »

lose the "might" and you're on the right track in finding new (but usually very temporarary :blackeye ) friends :thumbsup
Sorry. Plain out of planes.

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Post by Ice-9 »

The best I can see and possibly presume from that picture is the obvious parts.

There is no sub pcb under the main board, but the two jacks are mounted on there own little separate pcb's.
The bypass is done using the relay and quite likely a uC which could be pic or atmel.
There is an IC at the top which the markings I see look like CD40xx so this might be a hex inverter for the fuzz/dist.

From that picture that's the best I can do.
It's fairly straight forward, if you want to start it , press start. You can work out the rest of the controls for yourself !

No silicon heaven ? preposterous ! Where would all the calculators go ?

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Silver Blues
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Post by Silver Blues »

Yep that's about as far as I got as well :|

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Post by kroaton »

So apparently somebody took the time to trace this one out?

I don't have any cd4049ube to test this out, so could anyone else give it a shot?

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Post by Ice-9 »

kroaton wrote:So apparently somebody took the time to trace this one out?

I don't have any cd4049ube to test this out, so could anyone else give it a shot?
That's not the same pedal. its a for a 2k not b3k
It's fairly straight forward, if you want to start it , press start. You can work out the rest of the controls for yourself !

No silicon heaven ? preposterous ! Where would all the calculators go ?

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