TC Electronics - Sustain Parametric EQ  [schematic]

All about modern commercial stompbox circuits from Electro Harmonix over MXR, Boss and Ibanez into the nineties.
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sevinisthenumber
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Post by sevinisthenumber »

Anyone know were a layout of this is?? Anything similar??
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TC+SPE+ServiceManual.pdf
TC Electronics - Sustain Parametric EQ service manual
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electrosonic
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Post by electrosonic »

Here is the service manual w/ schematic. I don't remember who I got this from, so sorry I can't acknowledge them....

Andrew.

Edit - this is the manual for the original, not the reissue that you were referring to.

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Alex Frias
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Post by Alex Frias »

Does anybody knows how the reissue compares to the original? It used to be a serious comp+EQ pedal at that time...

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roseblood11
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Post by roseblood11 »

Interesting circuit, thx for posting.

Does anyone have a layout for this one?

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Gila_Crisis
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Post by Gila_Crisis »

Alex Frias wrote:Does anybody knows how the reissue compares to the original? It used to be a serious comp+EQ pedal at that time...
I never tried an original but I have a reissue and it replaced my compulator clone in my pedalboard. the compression is really transparent and it can sustain for centuries without added noises!
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Post by Gila_Crisis »

a pair of Guts I found on another forum
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celadine
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Post by celadine »

From the posted service manual:

¨R53 1Mohm to 2.2Mohm
R60 1Mohm to >10Mohm
(According to test procedure)¨

So, without the mysterious test procedure... :slap:

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Post by Gila_Crisis »

so so, like I said once I already have a reissue, but I was such curious that I managed to buy a vintage one off the german ebay for about 80$ ! (it has a missing knob, and the power and external bypass jacks are broken, nothing impossible to repair and although it's a fine working unit, I'll maybe change all the elcos, since the status LED lights up when activating the pedal, but fades away after few seconds...any advices about this issue?).

btw I tested the vintage and the reissue side by side and..... with the same settings on both the sustain is the same. On the vintage the tone is darker sounding and the reissue, while being brighter (or more transparent), sometimes gives me the impression to have a bit higher compression ratio on the initial attack (maybe due to it's brightness??). The distortion switch on the vintage is a cool feature, it's not really a distortion, but if you engage this, it adds a really light and very nice crunchiness on the sustain decay.

In the end I still can say which one I like the best, but I really like this compressor/sustainer, both vintage or reissue it really has something that other compressor doesn't.
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electrosonic
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Post by electrosonic »

LED lights up when activating the pedal, but fades away after few seconds...any advices about this issue
That's not a bug its a feature. My TC line driver / booster does the same thing. I guess it is supposed to extend battery life. I find it annoying, but haven't got around to modding it yet. Looking at the schematic of the sustainer, D15 is the 3mm LED (bottom right)

Maybe someone with more knowledge can suggest how to mod so the LED stays on or off like a regular pedal.

If it is power by DC, does it work normally? (Never tried on mine because it uses a 1/8" mini jack for power)

Andrew.
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Flip flop section of TC EQ
Flip flop section of TC EQ
Screen shot 2011-05-13 at 8.26.26 PM.png (90.99 KiB) Viewed 8437 times

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Post by Gila_Crisis »

strange in this video:


the LED stay always on (power via DC). On mine the DC jack is broken, but i'm gonna repair it.
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Post by Gila_Crisis »

electrosonic wrote:That's not a bug its a feature. My TC line driver / booster does the same thing. I guess it is supposed to extend battery life. I find it annoying, but haven't got around to modding it yet. Looking at the schematic of the sustainer, D15 is the 3mm LED (bottom right)
I've forgotten something, can you please post a picture of the wiring of the DC jack please?
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Post by Gila_Crisis »

celadine wrote:From the posted service manual:

¨R53 1Mohm to 2.2Mohm
R60 1Mohm to >10Mohm
(According to test procedure)¨

So, without the mysterious test procedure... :slap:
on my vintage R53 is 1M and R60 4.7M
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electrosonic
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Post by electrosonic »

By request, here is an updated link for the manual

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/30050282/TC%2B ... Manual.pdf

Andrew.

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lolbou
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Post by lolbou »

Just bought a vintage one for... 5 euros. :mrgreen: (Went today in a tiny music shop in a tiny town in Brittany. Asked to the owner : "any oldies in the arrière boutique"? Yes the guy said. A minute later, I had the unit in hand. Screws missing. Covered in dust. He had it for years after someone trade it for a Boss GE-7 :slap: ...)

Anyway, back home now, I'll check the unit tommorrow. Any requests? (@Gila_Crisis : did you sort out the DC jack wiring?)...

(ps: now smiling and/or laughing at this...)
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Post by toneman »

Nice buy Lolbou!!! :shock:

ebay is always outrageous :?

never seen this before.
i will lurk in the background.

thanks to electrosonics for posting the pdf :!:
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Post by resynthesis »

lolbou wrote:
(ps: now smiling and/or laughing at this...)
Good old Jacques, is he still making pedals?

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lolbou
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Post by lolbou »

My unit seems to work and to date from 1984. BUT it has a somehow weird behaviour, like if I play and open low E string, the sound level will slowly rise up to become very loud!

Though it does compress, it's definitely not subtle... If anyone here would like to chime in and help decypher the schematic, that would be fabulous! I have a hard time trying to identify what does what, or what can it be compared to...

VR1 on the schem is set at exact center, like it's supposed to be AFAIK.

I have pics and PCB scan done, the former showing at least one difference with the other here. I'll post ASAP.

Cheers!
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- Uh, no, I'm a mocker.

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lolbou
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Post by lolbou »

Okay, here's an mp3 file for you to hear. It's stereo : left is the dry strat straight in the PC, right is the signal from the pedal straight into the PC too. Same settings on both sides.

Gain, Function and Center knobs are in middle setting. Distortion is OFF, and Bandwidth is at .2 oct. Noise suppressor at minimum.

I play three open Es, the first with Sustain at minimum, the second half way, and the third max. You can clearly hear the signal getting louder and louder. I know the thing adds sustain, but this is rteally odd, isn't it?
mp3.png
MP3

Any input appreciated. Cheers!
- Are you a mod or a rocker?
- Uh, no, I'm a mocker.

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lolbou
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Post by lolbou »

And guts. My unit has a green sticker labelled "162." on both sides of the PCB (removed for pics).
TC Electronic SPE tracks.jpg
IMG2536.JPG
Full wiring
Full wiring
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Post by hbo »

For those few of you who insist on building stuff on vero (like me) I just finished building this and can confirm it as working. It's not as compact as the original, but just as much fun building.

Image

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