CrazyTubeCircuits Ziggy OD

[ziotasgiorgos]

Hello there. I recently bought the Ziggy OD from Crazy Tube Circuits. Unbelievably responsive OD and i 'm guessing fairly easy to make. The thing is, it costs about 200€ and i can't see my self buying a second one.
If you can find it anywhere, I would be in your dept!

Thanks in advance!
G

[Alex]

Hi!
Are you asking for a layout?
It seems like a pretty simple circuit but there is no schematic around.
The only way would be for you to reverse-engineer your own pedal and draw your own schematic.
Otherwise you can measure/identify all components/pots and take detailed pictures of the board, top and bottom, were all the traces are.
Once you've done that you can upload them here or on the FSB forum where someone will help you drawing a schematic for it.

[ziotasgiorgos]

The following link contains detailed pictures of my ziggy. All of the values for all of the components and diagrams.

I hope that helps. I would do it myself but I am very noobie. I would appreciate a vero for this.

thanks!


https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-n4WXLBNPcDenM0MkFMWXhoZk0

[nocentelli]

Thanks for the detailed pictures and other information - Good job. Looks to be based on the Box of Rock topology, i.e. BS170 SHO -> big muff type gain control -> two more SHOs in series -> tone control. Apart from different resistor and cap values, the main difference seems to be a Rat-style LPF "presence" control before the volume pot in place of the BoR's big muff style tilt control. I'll try to draw up a schematic shortly, I always like to try out highly regarded lower gain OD pedal circuits.

[Alex]

That's a fantastic job!
If Nocentelli could draw and post a schematic, I could post a layout on the main page.

[nocentelli]

Ok, two things - Does the pedal cut out completely when the gain is on zero? and can you double check the value of C8? 22n does not make much sense: It appears to be a treble-bleed cap, and a much smaller value would normally be used. I know it's a big box red (wima?) but they use the same size package for even tiny (pf) values as the bigger 10n cap immediately next to it.

[nocentelli]

Rough first go, works nicely as draw on the breadboard with 220p for C8 across gain pot.  

[ziotasgiorgos]

I can't thank you enough!!!

I see a couple of question marks on your schematic. I will double check all the values this afternoon.

To answer the other question:

The gain knob behaves weird. It's not exactly a "gain" knob. It's a "voicing" knob.

Fully CCW it sounds like a distorted VOX and fully CW like a Distorted Marshall. There is no 0 setting!!!

actually... check this out (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFg0dGDQ5eM)

[nocentelli]

ziotasgiorgos wrote

The gain knob behaves weird. It's not exactly a "gain" knob. It's a "voicing" knob.

Fully CCW it sounds like a distorted VOX and fully CW like a Distorted Marshall. There is no 0 setting!!!

Very interesting: The gain pot lug one appears to be wired directly to ground (seems obvious in the pictures), which should short the input to Q2 to ground and give silence (which is why I asked). The best way to replicate what you describe is simply to lift lug 1 of the gain pot from ground, which actually sounds very nice.

[Alex]

That's a great job!
What transistors does it use?

[nocentelli]

BS170 mosfets

[Frank_NH]

Yes, that looks like a Box of Rock design except the gain is not controlled by the biasing of the first MOSFET but by using a voltage divider for the output of the first gain stage (which is more amp-like IMO).   I recently built the Madbean Boomstick (and posted my layout in the Contributions section) and it's a nice overdrive/distortion with an effective tone control.  It would be interesting to compare that with this design to see how the different gain control affects the overall distortion range and tones.

[Alex]

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[nocentelli]

It's odd, I don't really get the gain control working as a blend between two amps: The gain switch is more vox/Marshall to my mind. I stuck a 10k resistor between lug 1 and ground, and now it does nice jangly and bright dirt with the switch off and at lower gain, and more full throaty distortion with the gain pot up and switch on. I'd be tempted to tinker with a separate bass pot, and have a dual ganged 500r pot do the gain via Q1+2 source resistance.

[notnews]

would you agree with the characterization of this circuit earlier in the thread?.. that it's got a Big Muff distortion character with a SHO in front? How would you describe this circuit sonically using more common circuits? can it be done while staying true to the sound of the Ziggy?

[ziotasgiorgos]

Hello again! Ok so here is the news.

A. C8 is indeed 22nf. I can clearly see "WIMA 0.022 63" on the front and "5" on the other side (5% tolerance).

B. The resistor's color code is .brown .black .black .yellow .brown (so it could be either 1m or 130R)
The thing is that when i measure it with my multimeter, it doesn't read anything in the M, but it goes crazy in the R at about 90-150


C. I uploaded a recording of the pedal. (Telecaster both pickups, Randall swinger '75, shure sm57, cubase).

Actually i was wrong. The gain knob has an "off" position at fully CCW, but as soon as you touch it and turn it just a little it goes immediately from no sound to the first sound you hear on the clip (the one i am considering as fully CCW)

First you hear the clean tone, then I engage the pedal @ unity volume, tone @ dead center and gain @ "fully" CCW. Then gain @ dead center, then gain @ fully CW. As you can hear towards the end of the recording, I lower my guitar volume and it cleans up VERY well!

LINK: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-n4WXLBNPcDcFdjaVBadzhaT3BhNEF5QzdydzNVODBvd0g4

D. I am currently rechecking all caps and resistors for any possible errors. (although I don't think so)

[ziotasgiorgos]

My friend i don't know much about circuits and so I can't agree to that. But one thing I can tell you is that after owning what feels like a million overdrives and 2 million muffs, I encounter this touch sensitive thing and it's beyond me!

It's very difficult to describe the feel on your fingers. Sound is one thing. Playability is the most important aspect of this pedal.
It clears back to your original tone, either by picking lighter or lowering the guitar volume. Both ways are incredible.

[Alex]

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[ziotasgiorgos]

I can't wait to test it. I will build it as soon as I get all the parts. I want to have exactly the same parts so i can make a proper comparison.

Thanks a million dude. Made my week ;)

PS. one of the 3 electrolytic caps is 220uF. Not 200. (Check values from my text file. The schematic could have mistakes and I can't correct them. Yet!)

[nocentelli]

ziotasgiorgos wrote

PS. one of the 3 electrolytic caps is 220uF. Not 200.

Sorry, that's a typo on my part.

ziotasgiorgos wrote

B. The resistor's color code is .brown .black .black .yellow .brown (so it could be either 1m or 130R)

Definitely 1Megohm, not 140 ohms: It's a pull down resistor on the input to reduce pops on switching, and anything less that a few kilohms of resistance would effectively mute the signal.