I finished my Britannia and...

[Frank_NH]

...it's BRILLIANT!



No really, it's one of the best amp sims pedals I've tried so far.  I used the 1776 Effects PCB, but I would imagine you should get identical results with the vero layout.  You DO have to watch your JFETs (more on that later...).

I tried it out with both single coils and humbuckers, and it was great with both.  The volume can be massive when turned all the way up, and the gain can get close to full out distortion, but always sounding amp-like.  One thing I want to try is setting up the Britannia with lower gain then driving it with a booster pedal or mild overdrive.   I bet that'll sound sweet.

The tone controls are Treble, Bass, and Brilliance.  The Brilliance is subtle but you can hear it giving you a high frequency sheen when turned up.  If you turn the Treble up and Bass down, it can get VERY trebly (almost painfully so).  But that's easy to control, and I found having some extra treble on tap is great for humbuckers.

Now, as for the biasing, I had no trouble biasing the J201s with the 50K trimmers.  However, when I first tried out the Britannia, I noticed that the drain voltage on my 2N5457 could not be dropped lower than 7.9V!  Darn!  Then I grabbed one of the J202s I recently ordered and put that in place of the 2N5457.  Bingo!  It biased perfectly, verifying that the J202s are excellent replacements for 2N5457s.   But why did the 2N5457 not bias?    Hmmm.  I decided to test it in the JFET tester.  Vp = -2.75 V.  That's OK.  Idss = 0.137 mA  WHOAA.  That looks off!  I checked again, and sure enough this 2N5457 was defective (Idss way too low).  From my spreadsheet, it looks like I would need a 35K drain resistor to bias it!  I'm certain that if I put in one of my tested 2N5457s, all would be well.  Anyway, all the more reason to test your JFETs and only use ones that have been checked out.

So this will get boxed very quickly.  I didn't notice any excessive noise, and I'm sure it'll be silent when boxed and properly grounded.  

[ξεναγος νεκροπολης]

hi frank!
i totally agree with you. it's a fantastic pedal. i've build the vero from here and it sounds fantastic. i had problems with biasing too but i could only get 2n5458 so i think i've used a 300k trim to finally bias this thing.
my favorite setting is trebble up bass down!!!!
it's soooooo cool!
mine seems to have a really small noise but i think it is just my fault somewhere(many cables close to its other...) but no big problem.

i just wanted to ask you something
where would you put this one in your pedal board? i'm really confused cause i use a j-fet parallel looper. the one channel has filters,overdrives, fuzzes and the other delays choruses etc.
i've tried britannia in a lot of places but i can't chose which one can take the best out of this pedal.

[Frank_NH]

"Where would you put this one in your pedal board?"

That's a good question, and one that applies to any "amp-like" pedal, for example the Catalinbread RAH, WIIO, or Wampler Formula 5, Plexi-Drive, etc.

Having played it yesterday for an extended period, I think you can use the pedal in two ways:

(1) Use it as a stand-alone overdrive, distortion pedal, with the gain turned up and the tone stack adjusted to your taste and equipment.  Activate it only when you need it.
(2) Use it as a "foundation" effect.  That is, set it for almost clean, much like you would a clean amp.  Adjust the tone stack to your preference, then place an overdrive (e.g. TS-808 or a Timmy) in front of it.  Toggle on the overdrive when you need it, but keep the Britannia on all the time.

I suppose you could have several of these "amp-like" pedals if you cover a wide range of music, and then turn on the effect appropriate for a song.  To be honest, I'm not a stickler for trying to match tones so that my guitar sounds like an original recording e.g. getting a Marshall sound with humbuckers just like Jimmy Page.  I'd rather settle on a limited number of great foundation tones and adapt the song to the tone.  Joe Walsh's "Funk 49" through the Britannia??  Absolutely!  

[Chris60601]

I agree 100% Frank! I love my English Channel however, the Britannia blows it away!
I already sourced the parts for the Catalinbread Galileo and I'll probably start the work Friday night.

I have high hopes for the above but I dunno, seems like a fairly tall order to over come the Britannia (IMHO of course).

Cheers
Chris

[Chris60601]

... as to the placement of the Britannia, to me (since its more of what I call an amp modeler) I plan on putting mine (for now the Britannia, the Wampler Tweeds, and the JCM800 (and possibly the Matchbox)) at the end of the chain.

Since I currently use either a digitech rp355 or my rp1000 as main effects device (I am slowly putting together stomps to use in place of the RP's - mainly because the stomps allow individual flexibility that I don't have with the RP's) and going DI to the PA, the RP's have a nice selection for both amp modeling and cab sims.

They are placed last in the RP virtual chain - so, it just makes sense to me to replicate since they would be the amp (if I were made of money of course) that I would use anyways.

Of course, as anyone would say, there isnt a "hard rule" as to what order stomps should/could be placed so your mileage will vary

Cheers
Chris

[Lee Oswald]

So should anyone who builds this expect to have problems with the 2N5457? I have neither a J202 or the other substitute mentioned. So what would be other viable replacements? Or is it simply a matter of measuring the hFE? what's the range we're looking for if measuring?

It occurs to me - what about tagging a resistor onto the lugs of the trim pot to bring it into range?

[ξεναγος νεκροπολης]

hi!
no i don't think you'll have a problem with 2n5457.
my build as i wrote in the main post here, has 2n5458 for all 3 j-fets.
and it works!
if i can remember right, i had problems biasing the q4 so i've used a 300k trimmer to make it easier.
i think that your idea with the resistor would work too but why not use an other trim if you need to?!

yeah Chris! that was my thought too.
i've put it just before my amp, after the j-fet parallel looper.
i think it'll stay there for a while! this thing has character!

[MrTondo]

Is anyone of you guys that built it using it with a tube amp? It's designed for SS I guess, but I would like to know how it does with a tube amp.

[Frank_NH]

"So should anyone who builds this expect to have problems with the 2N5457? I have neither a J202 or the other substitute mentioned. So what would be other viable replacements?"

You shouldn't have any trouble if the 2N5457 (being a JFET) has its Idss and Vp in the "standard" range.  As I mentioned, the one I originally used was defective (Idss current was too low to bias).  If you order some 2N5457s, just substitute if your first one doesn't bias.  You'll know this because you won't be able to achieve the required voltage on the drain by adjusting the trimpot.  Let me know if you have any questions about this.  There are several other threads on JFETs in the Chat section here where I've provided some additional info on JFETs.

I mentioned the J202s since I've recently discovered them and they are a cheaper alternative to 2N5457s.  Here's an eBay deal for 20 Fairchild J202s for $5 ($1.35 shipping).

J202s on eBay

By the way, I HIGHLY recommend making the JFET Tester posted here to check out your JFETs prior to using them:

Improved JFET Matcher

Make the second circuit in the post.  Even though this was originally designed just to match JFETs for effects which required matched sets (e.g. certain phaser circuits), I've been using mine to record Idss and Vp data for ALL of my JFETs (except the 2N5457 I used in my Britannia, which was untested ).  You can find the range of Idss and Vp which any specific JFET should have from the online datasheets.

Chris - funny you should mention the RP1000, as I have that unit too and use it for gigging.  I like the portability, and I can run it straight to a PA.  But as you mention, it can be hard to dial in the sounds.  One thing I've done is to use the effects loop on the RP1000 and stick in one of my DIY fuzzes or overdrives.  That way you can get the best of both worlds.

"Is anyone of you guys that built it using it with a tube amp? It's designed for SS I guess, but I would like to know how it does with a tube amp."

If you run your tube amp clean and have enough headroom, it should work just fine.  In fact, any clean amp will work (SS or tube).  However, if you plan to use a tube amp on the edge of breakup, then you DO have to be careful.  I had a recent experience of running my multi-effects unit through a friend's 5W tube amp.  It sounded terrible!  That's because effects design for clean amps will sound distorted and gated going into a small tube amp.  The remedy is to find a bigger amp with more headroom and run it clean.  I have a 15-18W tube amp (twin EL84s much like an AC-15) and my effects sound great though that, as it gets VERY loud before it starts to distort significantly.