Rockett 45 Caliber

[Silver Blues]

Looks Timmy-based to me.

[HamishR]

No it's a lot simpler than a TS and has much less compression.  The low end is much deeper and better defined.  It's closer to a Timmy I guess but different enough to make it much more usable for me.  I like the Timmy but find it a bit bland - this has more character and rocks a bit harder.  And it's not a Bluesbreaker at all either.

It has a bit more in common with a Wampler Euphoria I guess - but is simpler.  I think Wampler was involved with the design of these pedals right at the beginning but I believe the guys at Rockett changed them significantly before releasing them as they are now.  When I look at the Euphoria I see similarities but still I like these simple little Rockett designs the best for what I do.

From a purely guitarist perspective - not a technical perspective - I am impressed that I can put the 45 next to a BJF or Friedman pedal with 2,3 or 4 times the number of components and still I like the 45 better.  I don't use much gain, so you may prefer other pedals if you like to turn the gain up.

And I just tried the Animal (almost identical the the 45) with my new Les Paul - wow.  Just great.

[Iago]

Hello Hamish,

Would you mind sharing the mods needed for the Majestic? I just saw your post on FSB and . Thanks for your work on the .45 Caliber, I have built an Animal a month or two ago and I'm really liking it. I've also found it to take other pedals very well, so, I'd like to try other takes on the same circuit.

Interestingly, I'd agree that the Animal sounds very Bluesbreaker-y, like a bassier, gainier, more compressed version of it - even thought the circuit is not really based off of that.

[Rafikian]

Hi Everyone ! and many thanks to Hamish for sharing the layout, and I can tell you that this one is now My N°1 overdrive (after I have built hundreds of boxes) and I can't believe the amount of components :-O , this must be ILLEGAL :-D
this said I'm SO CURIOUS to see how the Majestic looks like, If you don't mind sharing the schematic/layout.
Thanks in Advance !

[HamishR]

Ok - here's the Majestic.



For the Ge's I have tried a couple but the 1N34A sounds good to me.  I have put C25K in brackets for the treble pot because it works too but stock is 10K which is what I would probably recommend.

BTW Rafikian - They are incredible pedals aren't they?  I too have tried literally hundreds of ODs but these are my faves.  FWIW I have bought originals of the Majestic, Calibre 45 and Animal and won't sell them.  The enclosures are great and they are bullet-proof.  Good size too.  I like tweaking them but the stock values are hard to beat.

[Rafikian]

Oh ! Hamish R you a real gentlemen
And regarding the Rockett stuff . I Had the dude pedal in my hands (my friend's one) and I can confirm that it is -as you said - bullet proof
And I re confirm that THE CALIBER 45 is MY N1 OD
I built more than 200 pedals but this one ... is crazy  !
Thx one more time Hamish R

[Rafikian]

I checked the layout. But did not understand sth. The second half of the Op Amp Is "biased" but not used !

[Iago]

Thanks so much, Hamish.

Think I'll be adding a diode selection switch to my Animal build tonight. I'll report tomorrow :)

[HamishR]

Hey Rafikian - I don't get that either but that's how it's wired.  I have a Majestic pedal and that's what they did.

I just copy it because the pedal sounds good.  :-)  Is a dual op-amp chip anything like a dual triode tube?  With a dual triode tube the way you bias an unused triode can affect the other triode... hmmm... but that's only if the cathodes share a common bias resistor...  I don't know!

[Iago]

Reporting:
I built a little veroboard with two different sets of clipping dides. This is activated by a DPDT on-on switch. I made this so I could compare the 3 clipping diode configurations:

- (4x 1n914 as per IVLark's schematic), which was what I had on my DIY clone, VS:

- the original Animal and 45 Caliber diode clipping (2x 1N4001 and 2x 1N914)

- and the Majestic configuration with two germs and two 4001's.

I removed the 4x19N14's from my board before adding the DPDT clipping selector.


Findings:

4x 1N914 sound more compressed than the Animal/45 Caliber with the two 4001's.

The Animal/45 original clipping is more open sounding and maybe a little louder (couldn't compare side-by-side actually, since I had to remove all four 914's from my board).

The "Majestic-style" with the two germanium diodes (I used 2x 1N270's):
Has a bit more volume drop than the Animal/45 style and a bit more compression (but not as compressed as the 4x1N914's).

There's a bit more of a "growl" to it, while the Animal/45 clipping is clearer (sounds "less dirty"). Both sound great with fuzz into them (I'm using a Green Russian Big Muff on my board for now). I think I like the Majestic clipping slightly more! I'll keep both clipping options and the DPDT, though.

[velouriafx]

The 4.7uf cap above the ic is reversed on caliber layout. This causes the pop

[Snare227]

Yep.  I swapped it around and that eliminated the "thud" popping when engaging. Thanks!

[induction]

Rafikian wrote

I checked the layout. But did not understand sth. The second half of the Op Amp Is "biased" but not used !

Consider giving this a read: Avoiding Noise and Power Problems with Unused Op Amps

[Rafikian]

Thank you so much !
very interesting indeed !

[HamishR]

Velouria is indeed correct - I drew the 4u7 cap the wrong way around.  Weird thing is that the pedal still works and sounds good with it the wrong way around.  If you reverse it so that it's correct it's louder and brighter.  Funny thing is that I like the sound with it the wrong way too...

So here it is corrected:



And the corrected Majestic:

[Dys]

Just built this (.45 version)  of the latest layout just posted.
And damn this thing has some balls, I was quite shocked low parts and awesome sounding
Thanks Hamish for the layout :)

[Fuzzard]

I’ve noticed that the diodes (4001,4148) in the “revised” .45 Calibre vero are switched from the initial layout. Is this intentional? Will it alter the sound? I’ve built it to the first vero specs but I switched the 4.7uf Filter orientation (minus the thud) and I added the 100uf on pin 8 and a 100pf cap instead of a 220.

I’m planning to build another following the newest .45 Calibre vero to the letter.

Thank you for your time - i’m really liking this pedal!

[HamishR]

No the diode layout won't change a thing.  I just did that so they all fit easier.  I tried a 100pF cap on the input but it doesn't change much really.  I have also used 100uF filter caps too - to me it does add a slight low end thump.  I think 47uF was well judged but 100 can't hurt.

Really pleased people are liking this pedal as much as I do - it's seriously good, especially with the low part count.  I much prefer it over most ODs with four times the parts.

If you do like it you may want to try one of the originals.  they are well-built in some of the best enclosures I have seen - slightly shorter than a 1590B box and much sturdier.

I also built myself one I called the "Majestic 45" - it's the Majestic but with 1N4148s instead of Ge diodes.  It sounds much like the Majestic but perhaps a hair louder and brighter?  Not much difference for sure.

The Animal is similar to these circuits too as is the Blue Note but the 45 and Majestic are my faves.  Rockett make some great pedals.

[Joshbb]

Hi,, this is a nice pedal, thanks for the layout.

Please can you tell me what difference the changing the 10k lin treble pot to a c25k pot has? also I notice the animal has a c50k bass pot but the .45 is 25k.  what difference does that make?  thanks
 

[HamishR]

Some layouts have the Animal with a C50K pot for bass because apparently at the time of production C25K pots were hard to get hold of!  So you will see a 47K resistor across pins 1 and 3 of the bass pot - effectively making it a C25k-ish pot.  Once C25K pots became more available they switched and dropped the 47K resistor.

I have used C25K for the treble also.  Depending on guitar and rig it just puts the sweet spot for the treble in a different place - it doesn't make a huge difference.

With a Les Paul the Calibre 45 is my favourite but sometimes I like to use the Animal too because it's a slightly different flavour - more mids and more gain.