Zvex - Probe series

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Post by briggs »

Anyone got info on the Zvex " Probe " series ? Such as which theremin he based his design upon? I'd love to have a pop at building one of those wah probes.
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Post by Mayniac »

Here is a pretty easy workalike:

http://topopiccione.atspace.com/PJ16TPC ... Touch.html

Use a copper plate for the antenna, replace a pot of your choice with a Vactrol and probe away!

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Post by briggs »

Thanks, I've seen that one before, I may give it a crack in the future. I was just wondering if there was any specific knowledge on the Probe stuff....
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Post by soulsonic »

The Probe series ones are the only ones that really seem interesting to me... though the Fuzz Probe doesn't seem useful as anything other than a weird noise pedal.

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Post by briggs »

I agree, the trem probe and wah probe are the only two which seem useful.
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Post by magikker »

I'd be curious to see if that and the zvex effect are the same.

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Post by soggybag »

No they are not the same. I have an original Volume Probe. The one with the thick coil of wire that acts as the antenna.

If my memory serves me, it has a single 14 pin DIP, two transistors and a VacTec opto-coupler.

No offense to topopiccione, but the ZVex system seems much slicker and streamlined.

My guess is that it uses a 4046 Phase Lock Loop. That said I'll also mention that I went to art school and have no formal training in the subject, it's just my intuition.

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Post by soulsonic »

I don't suppose you could provide some pics of the Volume Probe so maybe we could figure it out?

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Post by briggs »

Yeah, pretty please!

Oh, I know you.... Is this: http://super-freq.com your site soggy?Great etches, best I've seen!
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Post by magikker »

That's my guess... I was betting that Vex one is a bit different. I'd be really curious to see what's inside the Vex pedal.

I'm very interested in making a couple probe pedals myself.

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Post by soggybag »

Here are some images of the interior of my Volume Probe...

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Post by soggybag »

Image
Image
Image
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Post by analogguru »

A 4046 ? this would be tooo complicated, I think.... At the first view "R11" seems to be a capacitor and the IC seems to be a 4011 or 4093. The rest is a.... right....: SHO.

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Post by briggs »

Looks pretty slick, I might try and knock one up. Hmmm, I just need an antenna....
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Post by soggybag »

R11 is a light green 1/4 watt resistor standing on end. The other resistors are 1/8 watt.

If the IC is just a logic gate, it could be set up as a simple square wave oscillator. The frequency would determine the brightness of the LED in Vactrol?

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Post by briggs »

If I do get round to building it, I'll socket the chip and just keep trying candidates until it works :P
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Post by briggs »

What are the most likely chips for use in here? I'm gonna breadboard this thing up but I need to make another parts order. I'm just wondering which chip I should get in to try them out....
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Post by analogguru »

As far as I remember I wrote some postings above:
....and the IC seems to be a 4011 or 4093
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Post by briggs »

OK, I'll trust you AG and get those in.. Any others that could be candidates?
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Post by soggybag »

Check the VCC pin on various candidate chips and see how they line up with the diagram.

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