Death By Audio - Interstellar Overdriver [gut shots]  [traced]

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

oh no, i don't have hard feelings about it at all.. i just didnt want to draw up fresh schem, so i quickly edited the deluxe version just to post my thoughts :D

I wonder if the non-master volume version was a dual gain pot as well.. the second half of the dual gang pot and the master volume almost seem to be at odds with each other, max output impedance is around 50kohms.. i wonder how this sounds compared to the deluxe version?

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cdeschenes
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Post by cdeschenes »

I will get this thing taken apart again for some more photos. Thanks to everyone that is helping with this. I was out of town and could not mess with it last week.

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humanfish
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Post by humanfish »

I know this is a bit of a necro-post but still.
I've just built this and it works apart from one problem: the signal dies away to unamplified (by the pedal) levels really quickly, sounding almost gated, and crackles as it dies away - through the normal side of the pedal.

I have talked to someone who thinks it's too much load on the first transistor, and would be helped by a larger resistor instead of the first 910K, but I was wondering if anyone on here might know what I'm doing wrong? Anyone who has built it or owns it maybe?

I followed the schematic above, and put an electrolytic cap from positive to ground, as seen in the photos of the original, to stop any high-frequency oscillation.

Any help would really be appreciated as this is the first build I've done (gone in at the deep end a bit, I know), and it happens to be my first post too!

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humanfish
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Post by humanfish »

Sorry to bump the post so late, but how sure are people about the values of the capacitors? The waveforms from my one are incredibly asymmetrical with heavy clipping on one side and it destroys any natural sustain, and I think it's likely the capacitors being too high value. Any suggestions?

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Post by GodSaveMetal »

I revive this, a new layout all pots in the PCB, take a look in the attachment; I correct the transistors pinagen for this circuit. :twisted: :twisted:
Attachments
INTERESTELLAR-OD POTS IN PCB
INTERESTELLAR-OD POTS IN PCB
INTERESTELLAR-OD+MAIN LAYOUT.JPG (63.37 KiB) Viewed 5280 times

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Post by cdeschenes »

GodSaveMetal wrote:I revive this, a new layout all pots in the PCB, take a look in the attachment; I correct the transistors pinagen for this circuit. :twisted: :twisted:
Great layout.. Do you have a transfer you can share for that layout.

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GodSaveMetal
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Post by GodSaveMetal »

cdeschenes wrote:
GodSaveMetal wrote:I revive this, a new layout all pots in the PCB, take a look in the attachment; I correct the transistors pinagen for this circuit. :twisted: :twisted:
Great layout.. Do you have a transfer you can share for that layout.
You wana make this????? well here is:
Attachments
INTERESTELLAR-OD 24mm x 46mm
INTERESTELLAR-OD 24mm x 46mm
INTERESTELLAR-OD+MAIN PCB+24mm x 46mm.jpg (35.27 KiB) Viewed 5239 times

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nooneknows
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Post by nooneknows »

bubstance wrote:Oh, no hard feelings, mang.

Here's what I got after a quick look last night. The only real difference from the above is the 3.3k and 10k resistors have swapped places and the transistors have been flipped. Could be wrong, check it over, breadboard it, etc. etc. etc, blah blah blah. The volume pot wiring is a guess based on the usual way DBA does their thing; I doubt that it's going to change now.
very strange indeed, how the transistors can be biased that way? I think they have to be flipped to work.

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jethrofloyd67
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Post by jethrofloyd67 »

i breadboarded the basic version (gain/master vol) based on a vero layout found here http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/201 ... river.html
i breadboard better from a schematic so i drew one up based on that layout and it came out exactly like the one posted here except the resistor from the gain pot to ground is a 10K (probably not much difference). i also used 5088s because i dont have any 5089s on hand.
also i dont know why the gain pot is listed as a dual-gang at the front and end of the circuit. since i didnt have a dual gang on hand i used 2 100K pots and found the first pot acted like a gain and the second more like a volume... but ive never seen the real thing so who knows. so i removed the second pot and kept the master volume.

the sound was quite different from the video demos ive seen, probably they were driving a tube amp. it seems this pedal was made for that because even at high gain there is a strange "pop" like attack to it that translates as "pick-definition" when pushing an amp or pedal which keeps it from sounding too "compressed" and "mushy", but sounds a bit odd into a clean amp.
other than that its very bassy...i mean VERY. so i added a bass cut knob by putting a 100K pot right after the last trans/180k resistor with lugs 2&3 connected, then into a 4.7nf cap to the master vol. lug 3 of the bass cut connects to the original 100nf cap to the master, thus you can blend how much bass is cut out. somewhere around 1-2 oclock sounded pretty good to me with the gain around the same.
overall not the best sounding drive, but fun to play anyway!

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Post by jethrofloyd67 »

i posted about my breadboard of this on the other thread mention above (this one https://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic ... 5&start=20 )
seems it was about the dual version, i built the single version mentioned here.

i see it is in fact using a dual gang for the gain, but...why? it seems the one at the end of the circuit is acting much like a master volume...
anyhow i just used a single 100K at the beginning for gain and got pretty much the same sound.
adding a bass cut at the end makes the tones much more usable IMO.

..also i used 2N5088 transistors cause theyre what i had on hand.

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Post by deeno »

I allowed myself to play a bit with the pcb layout of HEAD, and I drew the second stage.
is not verified but it seems to be ok!
The PCB file is allready scaled, at 300dpi and ready for transfer.
Values ​​and rotaryswitch wiring according to the photos and the schematic posted by salocin.
enjoy!
Attachments
pcb 2 stage ok finitasmall.pdf
(1.02 MiB) Downloaded 139 times
layout 2 stagesmall copia.jpg

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deeno
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Post by deeno »

ok, here is the complete, non verified PCB and LAYOUT of this pedal.
I joined the HEAD pcb of the 1st stage to mine, added two resistors for leds and voilà!
the PCB file is ready for transfer, is already at 300dpi.
values according to the schematic posted on 1st page of this thread.
enjoy!
Attachments
PCB COMPLETA OKsmall.pdf
(1.22 MiB) Downloaded 131 times
LAYOUT COMPLETO OK.jpg

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Post by deeno »

ok, an upgrade of the PCB and the layout to mount the potentiometers directly onboard!
bye!
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PCB COMPLETA OK2editsmall.pdf
(1.22 MiB) Downloaded 150 times
layout completo finito 2edit.jpg

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deeno
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Post by deeno »

Hi,
this is my project called " LUNAR OVERDRIVER DELUXE "
is inspired by DBA Interstellar Overdriver Deluxe, pots and rotary switch are mounted on board, components side.
the pcb fits well in Hammond 1590BB, see the template file.
enjoy!
Attachments
template1590BB.jpg

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bc108
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Post by bc108 »

What I've read around isn't good...but...I'll give it a chance on my protoboard.
Anyone has another actual opinion?

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bc108
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Post by bc108 »

Tested on breadboard.
If someone finds the "overdrive", let me know ... I'm still searching.

The fartiest pedal I've built.
Try a few different transistors and tweak some bias there... the same s*hit.
A totally waste of time.

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teddeeh
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Post by teddeeh »

bc108 wrote:What I've read around isn't good...but...I'll give it a chance on my protoboard.
Anyone has another actual opinion?
Yeah i really like it. I like maxing it out. Simple pedal with quite a nice sound. I used the layout over at tagboardfx.

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bc108
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Post by bc108 »

teddeeh wrote:
bc108 wrote:What I've read around isn't good...but...I'll give it a chance on my protoboard.
Anyone has another actual opinion?
Yeah i really like it. I like maxing it out. Simple pedal with quite a nice sound. I used the layout over at tagboardfx.
Which transistors did you use?
I didn't get a good result

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Mrutg
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Post by Mrutg »

Hello. I just found a photograph that might be helpfull for anyone interested in the Interstellar Overdriver Deluxe Version. It comes from a guy who is not me that made a clone of it.
I am leaving it here for the posterity and any future diggers.

EDIT: Author has stated some transistors on the drawing are wrongly marked as PNP instead of NPN.
Attachments
dba interstellar overdriver delue.jpg

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Post by jrfox92 »

It's mostly correct.
A schematic's been around for a little while.
Unstellar1.png
Unstellar1.png (8.12 KiB) Viewed 2857 times

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