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Hi there,
i went ahead after a succesfull build of an add verb and ordered a musikding kit for the squishy octopus compressor. Everything went pretty smooth except maybe the c9 capacitor for witch i got an pretty large 22j250 that i think is a 2.2 nF and does not fit in there but switched it with an more appropiate size 1j63 witch i think is 100nF. Anyway the issue that I have is that when i first strum a chord i get an short attack static sound through my 5e3 and i don’t know what’s causing it. It only happens with a first strum and it’s very short just upon first attack of the strings. On the next second strum the short noise is gone and it does not happend at all if i pick short notes. I first thought it was the c9 witch is why i changed it but it’s not. At this moment i am suspecting the opamp since i received a faulty one with the adverb as well but any input you might have is appreciated.
Do me a favor.
That cap is there to limit the Bass from hitting too hard which might cause a static jolt sound.
Try this:
Remove C9 altogether and test the circuit. You do not need to jumper anything, just remove it. Then report back here what your findings are.
Also are you using hot pickups?
Thanks for the quick reply! I will try it tomorrow. The guitar it’s an player MIM strat with single coils.
I briefly tried it today without any C9 cap and had almost no strum static. Only once I think i heard it but couldn’t repeat it. I must test some more but it think the cap removal solved the issue. Thanks and i’ll report back after more testing.
You may want to verify your pickup heights.
I also have a MIM Strat. It is very easy to have the pickups set too high at either of the three pickups on either side. There are other tonal reasons to verify this as well like avoiding note warble. I have a heavy right hand when I strum and I usually set all my pickups below Fender specs due to this. I can also verify that with a higher pickup height that it will cause a noise like you describe.
Check out this video that I have cued up for you.
It is always best to be sure.
You might be right, the neck pickup can surely go lower because i feel a small volume bump when i switch to it.. Thanks!
Is there any way to darken a bit this pedal? I feel like it brings more treble when i have it switched on..
This circuit already passes Bass frequencies down to 30hz which is way below what a standard 6 string guitar would require. Since you removed C9 from the equation there is no additional Bass filter. There is no active part of the circuit that would create a high-end boost. A compressor will however boost all frequencies across the board, but if your Strat is already bright then you will notice an apparent boost in brightness before you notice the boost in Bass.
So that leaves a few thoughts.
Is there a build issue? I somehow doubt it.
Perhaps when lowering pickup height you still need to lower the Treble side a wee bit more? You could probably check this by testing on each of the three pickups individually, note your findings and adjust accordingly or just go strict Fender recommendations based on the video above. Be sure to hold the string down at the highest fret when measuring for pickup height on either side of the fret board.
I would also ask to make sure you are testing using only the squishy circuit and 2 good cables with no other pedals hooked up in series so as to run a fair individual circuit test.
Finally the only “mod” you could do to affect tonality would be to incorporate a Tone TwEQ board which is an “Active EQ” and will give you both Gain or Cut of Bass, Treble and Mids.
Thanks for the reply, lowering the treble side more is a good ideea.
Sadly.. no. No matter how much I adjust the pickup height the buzz is there. If I turn either the compression level or the volume all the way it becomes very noticeable and it buzzes badly. I found a 220 nF cap for C9 but that’s not the problem either. I swapped the opamp but no luck. I might have a wrong value part but no iddea witch one..
if i turn any know at max it becomes a booster and buzzes like crazy (within the pedal) since i tested with nothing else in the chain. The other odd thing is that i connected it with my computer interface and recorded some samples and compared with another compressor pedal i had witch made the sinwave in my daw software very flat this one sill has some big spikes and you cannot tell from the sinwave when the pedal is on or off.
the resistors that came with the kit were all measured before mounting and all complied with the part list.
i might have the octocoupler mouted backwards or defective or any of the 2N4401 transistors..
I think I solved the problem.. I removed and inspected the nsl-32 and saw that I mounted it with the side white dot as it was marking the cathode (-) so the doted pin was conected to minus. The same thing I saw a few people were saying on a forum, regarding the polarity of such a part. But your website is selling this part and photo states that the positive pin is marked. Anyway i switched it and i don’t get the buzz anymore no matter how high i turn up the pots (it distorts as an amp would when input volume is increased but no buzz anymore). So that settles it for now, thanks for your inputs!
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