Britannia weirdness

[Lee Oswald]

I recently noticed that the schematic, and 1776 PCB have one less set of two of LED's than the vero layout here at TBE. What's that about, and what does it change, if anything?

This isn't a criticism, AT ALL. I'm just curious what this is about.

[Frank_NH]

Looks like Mirosol substituted 2 LEDs for the two 1N4148s before Q2.  I think this gets you more drive since the forward voltage of the LEDs is over twice that of the 1N4148s.  Perhaps someone can comment on if this is a worthy mod or not.  It would be easy to unsolder the diodes on my board and substitute 3mm leds.  Or maybe put 'em on a switch for both options.   

[Lee Oswald]

That escaped me, despite looking at it carefully. This might explain the differences I noticed in my unit, that you and JohnK were NOT hearing in yours.

Also - looking at a photo of the 1776 PCB, I only see three transistors. Is this just a result of an unclear photo, or is this correct?

[Frank_NH]

There are four on mine...

[Chris60601]

Yup - mine is as Frank's shows.

[Lee Oswald]

Cool, I couldn't find any clear photos. Or I need new eyeglasses and a checkup. Probably some of all three.

Anyway, as a follow up to all the noise I've made I have this to pass on.

I pulled the LED's that are associated with Q2. I returned the other changes I mentioned elsewhere, to stock values.

There wasn't any of the weird decay AT ALL. My suggestion for anyone planning on building the vero is to restore those two LED's to the 1N4148's per the RoG schematic. The difference with the original diodes in place was pronounced. The decay was completely different, and much more pleasant and natural.