Earthquaker Devices - Monarch revision 2 - 2011 [gut shot]

General documentation, gut shot, schematic links, ongoing circuit tracing, deep thoughts ... all about boutique stompboxes.
User avatar
DWBH
Cap Cooler
Information
Posts: 498
Joined: 24 Aug 2007, 16:26
Location: portugal
Has thanked: 12 times
Been thanked: 3 times

Post by DWBH »

moderator edit: attached image locally
Attachments
64506bf6.jpg

User avatar
sunburnedgoat
Information
Posts: 11
Joined: 09 Nov 2009, 23:03
Been thanked: 2 times

Post by sunburnedgoat »

Really interested in this pedal and what's going on under the hood. It sounds killer.

Got any more pictures than just the one?

User avatar
DWBH
Cap Cooler
Information
Posts: 498
Joined: 24 Aug 2007, 16:26
Location: portugal
Has thanked: 12 times
Been thanked: 3 times

Post by DWBH »

Not really no.
A forum-mate from another forum sent me that picture, that's all I have.

User avatar
RnFR
Old Solderhand
Information
Posts: 4879
Joined: 09 Jan 2008, 06:02
my favorite amplifier: Traynor YBA-III, Fender Super Six
Completed builds: custom fuzz.
Location: Inner Earth
Has thanked: 139 times
Been thanked: 133 times
Contact:

Post by RnFR »

I. dig the sound of this thing as well. looking at it, there aren't any trimmers, so possibly 2 mu amps/srpp's. btw- that battery snap looks monstrous! where do you find those?
"You've converted me to Cubic thinking. Where do I sign up for the newsletter? I need to learn more about how I can break free from ONEism Death Math." - Soulsonic

Blog-APOCALYPSE AUDIO

User avatar
eniacmike
Information
Posts: 45
Joined: 19 Jun 2010, 16:10
my favorite amplifier: jmp
Completed builds: sho, trotsky, crackle not okay, honey driver, red llama, tube sound fuzz, fuzz face, civil war muff, skreddy mayo, dr. boogie, catalinbread dls, catalinbread sft, boss tr2 volume mod, ge7 upgrade, crybaby mods, bazz fuss, cot50, zendrive, ocd, fuzz factory,
Location: houston,tx
Been thanked: 2 times

Post by eniacmike »

Monarch Overdrive
The Monarch Overdrive is an all discrete, FET based dirt machine. It’s designed around the input stage of a vintage amp produced by a company that bears the same name as the color of the monarch (hint...). It’s been configured to produce higher gains that sound very natural and free of compression. The treble and bass controls function as frequency boosters, not the traditional roll off filters in most OD’s. They are located in the preamp section and have a large impact on the over all tone, nature and distortion characteristics of the pedal as well as your amp. It gives big bottom end with a snappy, bright top at all gain ranges with some careful tuning of the tone controls. If you are looking for an overdrive for big fat chords with excellent low end retention, this is it! And, yes, it's true bypass.

They do a pretty good job of describing the circuit on their website.

User avatar
Hides-His-Eyes
Tube Twister
Information
Posts: 1940
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 12:34
Has thanked: 50 times
Been thanked: 51 times

Post by Hides-His-Eyes »

The 'colour of the monarch' us usually said to be Blue; what's that all about?
Testing, testing, won too fwee

User avatar
culturejam
Old Solderhand
Information
Posts: 4062
Joined: 24 Feb 2008, 05:59
Has thanked: 433 times
Been thanked: 563 times
Contact:

Post by culturejam »

Hides-His-Eyes wrote:The 'colour of the monarch' us usually said to be Blue; what's that all about?
A monarch butterfly is orange. :D

User avatar
Hides-His-Eyes
Tube Twister
Information
Posts: 1940
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 12:34
Has thanked: 50 times
Been thanked: 51 times

Post by Hides-His-Eyes »

culturejam wrote:
Hides-His-Eyes wrote:The 'colour of the monarch' us usually said to be Blue; what's that all about?
A monarch butterfly is orange. :D
You queenless yanks don't know nothin' bout monarchs :)
Testing, testing, won too fwee

User avatar
Steven_M
Resistor Ronker
Information
Posts: 386
Joined: 06 Jul 2009, 19:50
Has thanked: 59 times
Been thanked: 35 times

Post by Steven_M »

Hmm, similar parts count to Paul Nelson's "Orange" pedal. Although if they are both FET based off the Orange Amp schemtic I suppose they wouldn't be so far apart.

User avatar
SGJarrod
Information
Posts: 31
Joined: 20 Aug 2010, 16:57
Has thanked: 7 times
Been thanked: 2 times

Post by SGJarrod »

I have actually been wondering how far off this thing is from the "Orange Peel".... they seem to have alot of similar atributes.... I have been wanting one of these and the 4 knob Hoof Fuzz :mrgreen:

User avatar
SPeter
Cap Cooler
Information
Posts: 553
Joined: 08 Jan 2008, 21:10
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 80 times

Post by SPeter »

http://www.earthquakerdevices.com/devices/Monarch.htm
" The Earthquaker Devices Monarch is based on the input section of certain large, brightly colored vintage British tube amplifier, legendary for it's burly tonal character."
:)

User avatar
culturejam
Old Solderhand
Information
Posts: 4062
Joined: 24 Feb 2008, 05:59
Has thanked: 433 times
Been thanked: 563 times
Contact:

Post by culturejam »

Hides-His-Eyes wrote:You queenless yanks
That sounds so pornographic. :lol:

User avatar
SGJarrod
Information
Posts: 31
Joined: 20 Aug 2010, 16:57
Has thanked: 7 times
Been thanked: 2 times

Post by SGJarrod »

SPeter wrote:http://www.earthquakerdevices.com/devices/Monarch.htm
" The Earthquaker Devices Monarch is based on the input section of certain large, brightly colored vintage British tube amplifier, legendary for it's burly tonal character."
:)
the other Orange pedals were based of other certain British amps as well...and I do beleive the Orange Peel was out first so I am just wondering if there are a few similarities or alot :hmmm:

User avatar
neoflox
Breadboard Brother
Information
Posts: 77
Joined: 09 Feb 2010, 17:48
Has thanked: 6 times
Been thanked: 2 times

Post by neoflox »

Anything new about this one? Curious since a friend (who knows tone) praises the Monarch for it's dirt stacking capabilities.

User avatar
neoflox
Breadboard Brother
Information
Posts: 77
Joined: 09 Feb 2010, 17:48
Has thanked: 6 times
Been thanked: 2 times

Post by neoflox »

bump ;)

User avatar
smurfberry
Information
Posts: 11
Joined: 19 Sep 2013, 15:13
Has thanked: 20 times
Been thanked: 5 times

Post by smurfberry »

A few 2N5457's and a BS170.

User avatar
Didi&Stulle
Information
Posts: 17
Joined: 06 May 2010, 07:55
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 11 times

Post by Didi&Stulle »

Hi,
I hope there are still some people interested in this pedal. I borrowed a friend's monarch for a couple of days and tried to decipher the components ... really having problems with the resistor codes ... my red-green-colour-blindness isn't of any help there :)
Hope someone can help with the uncertain (yellow) values.
I will unsolder the pots and make a decent shot of the pcb's flipside in the next few days. In the meantime any help or corrections are highly welcome.
Didi
Attachments
monarch guts 2w.png
monarch guts 1.png

User avatar
Duckman
Opamp Operator
Information
Posts: 1492
Joined: 20 May 2009, 01:45
Has thanked: 320 times
Been thanked: 134 times

Post by Duckman »

Are you sure about those 100p, 220p and 470p caps value?
I mean... they look so big... :scratch:

User avatar
johnk
Resistor Ronker
Information
Posts: 282
Joined: 05 Apr 2010, 07:33
Has thanked: 36 times
Been thanked: 293 times

Post by johnk »

i'm very interested in this one.
IMO, as far as those pico caps go, they're probably more like 100n, 220n and 47n.

User avatar
Didi&Stulle
Information
Posts: 17
Joined: 06 May 2010, 07:55
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 11 times

Post by Didi&Stulle »

IMO, as far as those pico caps go, they're probably more like 100n, 220n and 47n.
I understand where you are aiming at ... I expectetd these to be bigger caps too but here's what they are reading

Only film caps (all 100V), from upper left to down right:

474J, 102J, 223J, 222J, 472J, 102J, 103J, 471J

second row:
103J, 101J, 101J, 221J

So unless Earthquaker Devices are relabeling their caps, I guess the values should be correct, right?
Compared to the parts count, this circuit might be really close the Orange Graphics MkII circuit ...

Any thoughts on the resistor values would be helpful!
Attachments
citrus-graphic-mk2_diystompboxes-com.jpg

Post Reply