2017426 GuitarVibratoUnit

ElliottSoundProducts Project49

GuitarVibratoUnit
RodElliott(ESP)

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Introduction

Vibratoisusedtoobtainavariationinpitch(asopposedtotremolo,whichvariestheamplitude).
ThisunitwasinspiredbytheVoxAC30guitaramp,buttheresemblancestopsthere.Iwas
originallygoingtoemulatethevalvecircuitusingopamps,butIsincesawa'new'Voxcircuitwhere
theyhaddonejustthat(excepttransistorswereused).Iwasnotimpressedespeciallyafterdoing
afewtests,sodecidedtodoitmoreorlessconventionally,buthaveaddedanewfeaturewhich
givesmorescopefordifferentsounds.

Well,whenIsay'new'feature,thisispushingthelimitsabit,because'phasers'havehadthesame
facilitysincethebeginning.Thedifferenceisthatthisisadjustable,andisappliedtoaunitwith
onlytwophaseshiftnetworks.Soitcanactasalimitedphaser,buttheeffectisgooditisa
simplevariationonwhatvariousmakersofphasershavebeendoingallalong,exceptitis
adjustable.Ican'trecallhavingseenthisdonebeforealthoughitissosimpleIdon'tknowwhy.

Description

Thecircuitoftheunitisfairlysimple,butisabitirksometosetup.Thereasonisthatobtaining
matchedFETsisnoteasy,soIhadtomakesurethatthecircuitwouldworkwithofftheshelfFETs.
Figure1showsthecircuitforthevibratosystem,andconsistsofaninputbufferandtwophase
shift(allpassfilter)networks.

Thephaseshifterisastandardopampcircuit,andhasbeenusedforthissortofapplicationmany
times.Afterexperimentingwithalternativevariableresistors,IdecidedthattheFETwasstillthe
bestchoice,althoughtheyarefairlycriticaltosetup,andhavelinearityproblems.Mostvibrato
circuitsuseonlyonestage,buttheeffectisnotasgood(especiallyatlowrates),andtheEFFECT
controliscompletelyuselesswithasinglestage.

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2017426 GuitarVibratoUnit

Figure1TheVibratoCircuit

Thecircuitisconventional,exceptfortheEFFECTcontrol.Withthis,youcanselectthecleansignal
directfromthebufferstage,thefullyphase(andhencefrequency)modulatedsignalfromthe
outputofU2A,oramixtureofthetwo.Withthepotcentred,thereisalossofbass,butavery
strongvibratoeffectwithaninterestingtonalchange.The100Ohmsresistorpreventstheopamps
fromoscillatingwithlongguitarleads.

TheFETsareusedasavariableresistance,andalthoughtheyintroducesome2ndharmonic
distortion,arefineforguitar,andthedistortionwillbeaudibleonlywithveryhighoutputpickups.
Eventhen,itisminor,andprobablylessthanthatintroducedbyavalveguitaramp.Figure2
showsthemodulatoroscillator,whichisaconventionalopampfeedbackcircuit.Themodulation
signalistakenfromthecapacitor,andisnominallyaroundedtrianglewave.ThisisbufferedbyQ1
topreventloadingoftheoscillator.Closingtheswitchdisablestheoscillator,andstopsthevibrato
effectanytonalvariationobtainedbytheEFFECTcontrolremains.Toeliminatethiseffect,a
completebypassisrequiredseeFigure4foranexample.

Figure2ModulatorCircuit

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2017426 GuitarVibratoUnit

TheswitchSW1isusedtodisabletheoscillator.Ifconnectedremotely,thismustbewiredwitha
shieldedleadtopreventextraneousnoisedisturbingtheoscillatorcircuit.TheSPEEDcontrol
changestheratefromabout3Hz(S)to13Hz(F).Thiscanbeextended,butbelow3Hztheeffect
isnotverygreat,andabove13Hzitbecomesabitsillyby40Hz,itsoundslikearingmodulator,
andgeneratessumanddifferencefrequenciesintheaudiorange.Althoughthesesound
interesting,theyareharmonicallyunrelated(dependingonthenoteplayed),andarediscordant
sometimesrevoltinglyso!ReducethevalueofR17to10kifyouwanttobeabletousethiseffect,
whichwillgiveamaximumfrequencyofabout45Hz(theminimumisincreasedtoaround3.5Hz).

TheDEPTHcontroldeterminestheamountofmodulation(frequencyshift),andisvariablefrom
zerotothemaximumallowedbytheFETgatedividercircuits.Atthemaximum,youwillprobably
findthatthevibratoeffectbecomesalittle'disjointed'youwilleitherliketheeffectornot.

Ifyouwantedtomakea'real'phaser(no,notaraygun )thenjustaddanother4phaseshift
networks.YoushoulduseanopampinsteadofQ1tobuffertheoscillator,becausetheloadingwill
becomeabitmuchwith6biasnetworkstofeed.

AlthoughtheopampsIhavespecifiedareverybasic,theyareadequateforthejob.Ifyouwantto,
substituteTL072orOPA2134FETinputopamps.Thelatterarequieterandafarbetteropamp,but
willgiveamarginalimprovement(ifany)tosoundquality.Iflowestnoiseisanissue,thenIsuggest
thattheOPA2134beused.Therearequieterandbetteropamps,butIshallleavethistothe
readertodecide.Personally,Iwouldn'tbother.Mostdualopampsusethesamepinouts,sothe
circuitisunchanged.

Whenbuildingthecircuit,makesurethattherearenosignalleadsanywhereneartheoutputof
U2B,R15,R16,orR17.Thesignalhereisasquarewave,andwillmakeclickingnoisesinthe
audiosignal.Better(faster)opampswillmakethismuchworse.

SettingUp

IfwecouldgetholdofFETsthatwerematchedforgatevoltage,setupwouldbesimple,butwe
can't.TP3(trimpot3)isusedtosettheoperatingrangeforbothFETs,andTP1andTP2setthe
individualoperatingpointforeach.Thesetupisasfollows

1.SetSPEEDandEFFECTtothecentre,DEPTHtoabout3/4(towardsC4)
2.SetTP1andTP2toabout3/4(towardsBiasline)
3.SetTP3toabout3/4(towardsthe5k6resistor)
4.UseajumperleadtoshortQ3fromSourcetoDrain
5.CarefullyadjustTP3forthestrongesteffect
6.RemoveshortfromQ3,andapplyinthesamewaytoQ2
7.CarefullyadjustTP2forthestrongesteffect
8.RemoveshortfromQ2,andreapplyshorttoQ3
9.CarefullyadjustTP1formaximumeffect

Youmightwanttorepeatsteps6to9acoupleoftimestomakesurethatthebiaspointisasgood
asyoucangetit.Notethatthetrimpotsarefairlysavage,andmustbeadjustedveryslowly,oryou
mightnotgetthecorrectoperatingpoint.Thisisunavoidable,sincetheFETshaveawide
variation,withtheappliedbiasrangingtypicallyfrom2.8Vtoabout3.3V,buttherecouldbeeven
widerparameterspreaddependingonthedevicesyouobtain,andIhadtomakeprovisionfor
these.

Toensurethattheoperatingpointsdonotshift,(ifyouusesingleturnpots,whicharecheap),seal
themwithclearnailvarnishorsimilarbutNOTonthetracksurface!Thesupplyalsoneedstobe
regulated,buttypicallyasimplezenerregulatorissufficient.Figure3showsasuitablepower
supply,andusesa16Vplugpacktypetransformerthisgivethenecessaryvoltage,andensures
electricalsafety.

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Figure3PowerSupplyCircuit

Thepowersupplycircuitcanbemountedinsidethemaincase,whichismosteasilyafloor
mountedunit,buttheentirevibratounitcanbeinstalledintheamplifierchassisifspace(andfront
panelspace!)permits.Inthiscase,usetheexistingpreampsupplyaslongasitisregulated.

D1andD2shouldbe1N4004orsimilar,thezenersmustberatedat1W.C6andC7needtobe
35Vcaps,butC8andC9canbe16Vor25Vunits.R20andR21canbe1/2W,but1W
componentswouldbepreferred.Youcanuse3terminalregulatorsifyouwantto,butitisnot
necessary.

BypassCircuit

Insomeinstances,youmightwanttobypassthevibratocompletely.Dependingonthesettingof
theEFFECTcontrol,theremaybesomechangeintonethatareundesirable.Figure4showshow
thiscanbedone,withaSPDTswitch.Acompletebypass(removingallcircuitryfromthesignal
path)islessdesirable,becauseofchangesintheimpedancepresentedtotheguitarwhenthe
vibratoinoroutofcircuit.

Figure4BypassSwitching

Theextracapacitorsandresistorsaretopreventclicksastheunitisswitchedinandoutofcircuit.
Youmightbeabletogetawaywithoutthem,butforafewcents,it'snotworthit.Thepointmarked
U1.1goestopin1ofU1,R3isdisconnectedfromthejack,andconnectedtothepointmarkedR3,
andtheoutputgoestothejack.Theswitchisshowninthe'Normal'position.

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CopyrightNotice.Thisarticle,includingbutnotlimitedtoalltextanddiagrams,istheintellectualpropertyofRod
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2017426 GuitarVibratoUnit

Elliott,andisCopyright(c)1999.Reproductionorrepublicationbyanymeanswhatsoever,whetherelectronic,
mechanicalorelectromechanical,isstrictlyprohibitedunderInternationalCopyrightlaws.Theauthor(RodElliott)
grantsthereadertherighttousethisinformationforpersonaluseonly,andfurtherallowsthatone(1)copymaybe
madeforreferencewhileconstructingtheproject.Commercialuseisprohibitedwithoutexpresswrittenauthorisation
fromRodElliott.
PageCreatedandCopyright20Jan2000./Updated12Aug2003correctederrorinFig2

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