[ST]: Iron Giant Signal Buffer

mtmattan

What up guys,

Little buffer I did based on the Klon circuit.
Finished a week or two ago so thought I might as well post it ?
So here's some picture spam.

Amazingly transparent - I'll certainly not claim the ears of an audiophile but I cannot tell whether this thing is on.

Check out the neatness of that wiring! 8)

And an in-progress shot:

Kind regards,
Matt.

DDR4LYF

SLICK!!!

billionairebum

It looks really good Matt nice one.

ezietsman

If you can't tell its on, what is it used for?

billionairebum

ez wrote: If you can't tell its on, what is it used for?

Just look at it...that is all ?

mtmattan

Haha yes looking pretty does help. ?

To clarify, I meant that the effect on tone is not noticeable.

The objective of a buffer is to provide a high impedance input low impedance output to allow the guitar signal to pass through lengths of cable with minimal signal degradation - while keeping its effect on tone as minimal as possible.

So if you it goes Guitar -> buffer -> amp , you won't hear a difference.

If it goes Guitar -> 10m cable -> 10 pedals -> Amp/PA, you'll notice a buffered vs unbuffered signal.

A major thing learnt when building/designing effects is when in doubt, buffer the signal.
As an example, I thought I could get away with an unbuffered effects loop in my Mega Thump delay.
Was very wrong - it did not play nicely with some effects and signal noticeably affected.

Matt.

Shibbibilybob

Ah dude! do you print your own PCBs? or have someone around who prints them for you? That's epic!

Wizard

With Matt Alison's help I got a Klon buffer working over the holiday.

Rough translation:
- I built one. Didn't work. Contacted Matt in desperation.
- Matt built one to test the circuit in less than 2 minutes. It did work.
- I paid Matt for parts and grabbed his.
?

I was trying to "electrify" a marimba by sticking a piezo buzzer (9 ront from Yebo; discovered by Manny) onto the marimba bar then into my guitar amplifier.
In its simplest form it did work, but was very percussive and lost most of the tone.
When I put the buffer between piezo and amplifier it made a very nice difference and the tone returned.
So ... created the opportunity for an electric marimba!
(Alan had advised me years ago that Frank Zappa had done something similar ... but I'd never got around to trying)

Out of interest also stuck the piezo onto my nylon with some prestik and it sounded great!

On reading up ... am reminded of the importance of "community"

ezietsman

oh right, my bad. Too many things to remember. ?

mtmattan

Awesome stuff with the Marimbas - now that's getting creative ?
I don't actually know much about Piezo pickups I'm afraid.

Yep, do all the PCB stuff myself, usually send it off to be fabricated in the East due to low costs but high turnaround times it quite a bummer (2 months).

Thys gave me a couple links to local fab houses so might try that out soon!

When using a great buffer design as per the Klon, it really makes me think True Bypass is overrated.

matta

Firstly, as always, great build Matt! From PCB through to final results, stellar!

Secondly, Wizard, you're giving me too much credit!

Neville approached me a while back RE building a buffer, I pointed him in the direction of the Klon.

Having NOT built it myself I sent him to what looked like a good/verified veroboard version that matched the schematic I saw/have.

Neville built it, it didn't work, so I took my toddler into the garage and had all the parts lying around in my parts draw and together we whipped it up to verify it did indeed work, 2mins is an exaggeration, but yes, I'm fairly quick as I've had years of experience.

I felt I needed to add this disclaimer in case anyone contacted me to do repair/custom work and thought pedals materialize out of my Midas hands in 2 minutes or under ? Matt can attest, they don't!

Matt RE True Bypass, yes and no, there are some crappy buffers out there, if you buy a mix of pedals the various buffers can and do detract from the tone, which is why I prefer buffer up front and out, or at the least, out. Some pedals do not like buffers, original fuzz faces for example.

Agreed if you are only using 3-5 pedals you'll be ok, but have you seen Prince's wall of Boss pedals ???

Cheers

Matt