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Posted: 22 Feb 2008, 03:09
by teleman
I tried a Mucho Boosto today and didn't like it too much. It had a fizzy or fuzzy top end that couldn't be dialed out even on warm settings. I was using a modified Vibroverb and a Tele with Lawrence and Fralin pups. It did sound better for rhythm than lead.

Apparently it is the same circuit as the Sex Drive with some changes to give it more gain.

Posted: 22 Feb 2008, 06:39
by analogguru
aloupous wrote:Hmm... Just opened this up ... The board is gooped .. the whole thing...
analogguru translation wrote:.....very much is to be goop inside...
Never buy a gooped pedal:
Goop only proves, that the pedal is not worth the money people charge for it.

analogguru

Posted: 22 Feb 2008, 17:34
by aloupos
I think it delivers on what it is supposed to do: A really clean boost, with some compression if you want. Still, I've never seen this circuit around and I'd like to know how it works.

The goop is a hard, cream colored goop. When I drill into it carefully with a dremel, a black powder residue can be seen. I've tried putting a little acetone on it, which doesn't really soften it. Any ideas? How should I go about removing it?

I'm ok if I damage say 1 or 2 components that I can replace, but I'd rather not destroy the board ...

Posted: 22 Feb 2008, 23:49
by Spewbag
aloupos wrote:I think it delivers on what it is supposed to do: A really clean boost, with some compression if you want. Still, I've never seen this circuit around and I'd like to know how it works.

The goop is a hard, cream colored goop. When I drill into it carefully with a dremel, a black powder residue can be seen. I've tried putting a little acetone on it, which doesn't really soften it. Any ideas? How should I go about removing it?

I'm ok if I damage say 1 or 2 components that I can replace, but I'd rather not destroy the board ...
A hot solder iron.........and no I'm not kidding.

Posted: 23 Feb 2008, 01:24
by bajaman
A hot solder iron.........and no I'm not kidding.
and an extractor fan - so you don't have to endure the pungent fumes :wink:
bajaman

Durham - Sex Drive [ goop-alarm ]

Posted: 23 Feb 2008, 01:47
by aloupos
Interesting ... the soldering iron seems to turn the goop to fine powder, instead of melting it as I expected.

It is coming off, but a very slow process.

The PCB came off the enclosure during the process, so here's a shot of the bottom of the pcb:

Image

Posted: 23 Feb 2008, 01:49
by aloupos
Definately not much going on here ... looks like 1 ic ... place your bets on what it is:

Posted: 23 Feb 2008, 08:12
by analogguru
And nobody knows, why he needs a double-sided-pcb for this:

http://analogguru.an.ohost.de/temp/Durh ... cks_c2.jpg

Interesting... can this be a TS-style tone-control ?

analogguru

Posted: 23 Feb 2008, 15:22
by MKB
One thing you can try is a heat gun and dental picks (and a 1/4" wood chisel for large chunks). If it is potting epoxy, it turns crumbly and powdery when it is heated enough, and then can be easily picked out of the circuit and even off most of the components. At my work we encapsulate circuitry in potting epoxy (the circuitry is designed for operation in water), and we take them apart to the bare boards for troubleshooting with this technique.

Posted: 23 Feb 2008, 16:29
by Spewbag
MKB wrote:One thing you can try is a heat gun and dental picks (and a 1/4" wood chisel for large chunks). If it is potting epoxy, it turns crumbly and powdery when it is heated enough, and then can be easily picked out of the circuit and even off most of the components. At my work we encapsulate circuitry in potting epoxy (the circuitry is designed for operation in water), and we take them apart to the bare boards for troubleshooting with this technique.

LOL! Same here! We do Torque Telemetry Instrumentation but we pot with urethanes instead of epoxy...much cleaner and easier to use imho. There are times when we have to do fall out analysis and we have to excavate.

Re: Durham - Sex Drive

Posted: 25 Feb 2008, 23:36
by foo zen trader
omg... I'm really excited!!! I'm not kidding... can't wait to see more!!! :applause:
thank you so much, aloupos!!!

Re: Durham - Sex Drive

Posted: 26 Feb 2008, 14:05
by aloupos
Wow,OK I'll work a little more on this de-gouping and see what I can come up with.

Re: Durham - Sex Drive

Posted: 26 Apr 2008, 17:04
by mrhenry
Any word on how its coming getting the potting epoxy (if that is what it is) out of there? I have a couple Durham pedals (Boosto and Crazy Horse) and I would like to 'degoop' them but I am a noob and I'm afraid i'll put myself out of some cash if I screw it up. So, I am just looking for a report from those more experienced so I can proceed with degooping it and getting some photos of those circuits/components up here on the forum. I don't know why Alan is so concerned with gooping stuff up; he's a really nice dude and doesn't at all come off like some other boutique builders (you all know who I am talking about) so it just doesn't make any sense for him to do this. Is there advantage at all to this stuff? does it stabilize the components, prevent damage etc.? All I can think of is that It sure makes it a bitch to repair something if any of those components fail or if a wire shorts etc. etc. Its just a bit disappointing.

Anyway, just checking up on a topic that hasn't seen action in a while.

cheers,
mrhenry

Re: Durham - Sex Drive [ goop-alarm ]

Posted: 06 Jul 2008, 18:21
by analogguru

Re: Durham Electronics - Sex Drive [ goop-alarm ]

Posted: 13 May 2009, 22:35
by electrhysity
It's been a while...anybody got any info on the sex drive circuit?

Re: Durham Electronics - Sex Drive [ goop-alarm ]

Posted: 14 May 2009, 04:21
by Ben N
My totally baseless guess: Orange Squeezer mod.

Re: Durham Electronics - Sex Drive [ goop-alarm ]

Posted: 14 Sep 2009, 01:24
by HAR_RJ
Any news yet on the Sex Drive?
Thinking it may be YATS but don't know how the compression switch would work.
RJ

Re: Durham Electronics - Sex Drive [ goop-alarm ]

Posted: 14 Sep 2009, 01:34
by Greg
It would be great to add this one to the "solved" pile... and it doesn't look too complicated.

aloupos.. are you out there ?
Can you tell us how you fared with it ?

Re: Durham Electronics - Sex Drive [ goop-alarm ]

Posted: 19 Sep 2009, 05:57
by HAR_RJ
I guess this one is at a dead end.

Re: Durham Electronics - Sex Drive [ goop-alarm ]

Posted: 15 Oct 2009, 02:11
by coldcraft
any word here?