Morley Sapphire Flanger Box

[chance]

Created layout as per schematic dated 15/05/1996. 1N4003 can be replaced with 1N4001. 9V regulated, neg tip. There are 2 layouts one is stock and the other is modified. Added a pull-down resistor on both layouts, omit if necessary.

Update 30/11/2017: I have uploaded 2 revised layouts, if you have the layouts previous to this you can use the latest layouts for reference to the changes. These layouts are now VERIFIED as of 30/11/2017. I have built them and tested them. Work perfectly, no noise or ticking, very good flanger and should fit in a 1590BB. Changes were: Manual 1 and 3 had to be swapped, Regen set trimmer orientation reversed, level control added but most importantly IC3 was replaced. Level control takes you above unity allowing you to make fine adjusting if necessary. IC3 as per schematic is MC3403 which did not perform well at all. A TL074 fixes that but I will be testing some other quad op-amps too.

[chance]

IC3: The MC3403P quad op-amps as specified in the schematic do not perform well, distorting with different settings, well at least the 2 chips I have on hand. I replaced this with a TL074 which solved the issue. I have since tested MC34074P, LM2902 and HA17324A which to my ears give a more noticeable effect.

[Sergio]

Great. Thanks for the layout. I havent found demos of this one. The other morley you made, the chorus has a lot of good reviews, how would you describe this one? Compared to some standards i mean, boss bf2, ehx electric mistress, mxr, or whatever you have or have played before. Thanks for the hard work

[chance]

I think the closest demo online which may be a useful comparison would be the Morley Deluxe FLB Flanger (early 80's I think, die-cast series) of which there is an incomplete hand drawn schematic (probably one of many in it's life) floating around, very similar but FLB was designed around MN3007 BBD and came with manual control. I have been doing some simple comparisons against the ADA Flanger I built (from Harald Sabro's vero based on Moosapotamus MN3007 retrofit) and overall it's so similar to me in performance it's crazy. If you don't mind not having the threshold control and odd/even function you get a kick-ass flanger running with easier to source/cheaper BBD on standard 9 volts that fits in a 1590BB. I'm real happy how it turned out, will be building more for gifts. This flanger and the crystal chorus very good performers yet overlooked somehow. The Chrystal chorus (gearmandude has a demo online) compared to stock Boss CE-2 is just as good. CE-2 MAY have some darker overtones just, but the Crystal Chorus has a good useable depth and the rate is loads quicker when maxed. I was going to try and add the threshold and odd/even functions to this flanger but what's the point, you would just have an ADA Flanger and lose the mentioned benefits of this compact design. The MN3207 could be regulated down to 5 volts but it runs well on the 9 volts (as designed) and I can't hear much difference between that and one I adapted for MN3007. I only had the MN3007 runing on 9 volts, did give it a go on 15 volts but it will need some fine tweaking to get it to respond well yet (but what's the point anyway, already works well) . But like I said I did some simple comparisons against the ADA which runs on 15 volts and boy, I could hardly tell the difference. Or I don't have Hi-Fi signal processing installed like some people seem to possess! Was dead silent sitting on my floor out un-boxed, no ticking or noise at all. Just use the suggested substitutes for IC3 for sure, that MC3403 will let you down if they are anything like mine. I'd be happy to hear from others who have succecc (or not) with this, I have built a couple already, un-boxed.

[chance]

Clock speeds are quick; MN3007 maxed about 3Mhz and the MN3207 over 4 Mhz. This is interactive with the travel/depth settings too, there are no trimmers on this to adjust min/max clock but it really doesn't matter. Travel set trimmer maxed out really allows a wicked flange, and don't worry, if you like that jet-plane swoosh it's all there and more. I do have some mods in mind and I'll mention them when I have them working.

[chance]

Here is the schematic. doh! It's not the clearest, I have been using a pdf file which I can't upload here.
 You should be able to find a clearer png jpeg online I imagine.

[chance]

In fact this is my first layout, I downloaded a copy of diy layout creator about 2 months ago to try and build my own rather than and contribute to the diy community. I couldn't at the time find a flanger layout other than Harald Sabro's ADA Flanger but I wanted something a bit more convenient but with the same sort of muscle which lead to the Morley FLB Flanger demos, only an incomplete schematic for that, then I found the Sapphire Flanger Schematic which was complete and similar to the FLB (virtually identical with minor changes, I filled in the gaps from the Sapphire and built it but it had some bugs and was more complicated in the layout which I think in time evolved into the Sapphire anyway), I built it. I have just found Savvas's Madbean Colosalus Flanger layout, didn't know it was there. I thought this might have been the first on the site. I am going to do layouts for more Flangers as I get time. The Crystal Chorus was same layout with some sections removed as you can see. No problems with either builds that I haven't already reported and solved. The only other thing for convenience and cost is rather than spring for the 4.7uf non-polar caps is just to make your own from polarised caps; maybe I should have included that in the layouts but I had some on hand.

[Sergio]

Thanks for the response and congratulations! Its awesome it was your first layout a big scheme/layout you have successfully managed to get... My little efforts with diylayout are most of the times a disaster, trying to compress i think, ruins the layout, but if yours is verified, its great, i think i even have the components at home , some mn3207 and even a pair of np 4u7, so ill give it a try these xmas. Mc3403 could be even substituted by lm324?. Yes, i compared the two schematics when you posted first and even had the thought of combing both schems, but i think that flangers most of the times, at least for me, can do more interesting things than chorus. Yesterday i was looking at other morley schematics, and these are amazing, the rotating wah and the other rotating chorus, the strange oil delay, they even have some Attack fx, i downloaded and have to take alook at. Maybe the fact that they used those gigantic boxes for footcontrol vol wahs and boxes in general was their trademark in the past and what makes most guitar players keep them nowadays at home instead of their pedalboards. A shame, because there are treasures in these morley sounds. Thank you for the post!

[chance]

Yeah there are some impressive schematics there, hopefully I can get around to putting them to vero if no-one else does. As for the LM324 as a substitute for the MC3403, well I tried them naturally but the chips that I had all distorted slightly, very noticeable so I tried others as I posted above which solved the problem.

[alltrax74]

What does the manual control do on the second layout ?
Thanks

[chance]

Gee I haven't looked at pedals for a while now, I had to think about this. A lot of similar modulation pedals have this function/knob, flangers like the MXR Flanger, ADA Flanger have this. It basically stops the wet signal sweeping up an down through the delay speed range. As you turn it you can set it at a particular point in it's rotation which some also describe as a filter because the tone changes as the delay speed is adjusted. If you use the manual control, the speed control will cease to have an effect on the um, effect... :)

[alltrax74]

Ah ok I get it, thanks !