SIB Echodrive clone: has anyone ever made one?

[ibarakishi]

Not to derail the derail, but I may have a schemo for it.

yesssssssssssss

also, did the preamp section end up being the same as the varidrive pedal they make? just curious if they indeed just mashed two circuits together

[imJonWain]

^He meant the Guyatone pedal I believe.

[digi2t]

^He meant the Guyatone pedal I believe.

Regardless, I wouldn't be able to say, since I don't have any clue as to the setup in the Varidrive.

News flash...

Echodrive has been disassembled, tracing done, and now going into schematic creation stage. Transformer is a bit of an oddball, but I think AnTek may have a cheap ($29) alternative that may be suitable. Roger out.

[ibarakishi]

good update, glad its going well

if there is anyway to make this thing work around the world on 110-240v power it would be a nice addition as well for the international peoples

[digi2t]

The Antek transformer I'm looking at can be run on either 115vac or 230vac, just like the original. In the original, the voltage is selected by which blade lug you plug the line wire to.

I'm just finishing up the schematic of a Maxon right now. Moving on to the Echodrive thereafter.

[ibarakishi]

thats great, so not too difficult to adjust if you are jumping across oceans or borders

[digi2t]

Well, I finally got it traced out.

It's true bypass, which figures considering there's no tails option on this version. There are later units with tails, as well as tube drive only option switch, but I haven't had time to suss these options out yet. The tails version probably isn't TB though. Drive only option probably just bypasses the delay section completely, using both sides of the tube as a booster. Or, maybe uses the JFET booster in between? Possible I suppose.

The power transformer consists of two secondary outputs; one output at 140VAC, which rectified ups to about 165VDC. The other secondary outputs about 17VAC, which is then rectified to DC, and then feeds a 12v regulator, which in turn feeds some parts of the circuit, and a 5v regulator that feeds the IC's. There is a part number sticker on the transfo, but to date, my search efforts haven't identified the manufacturer or supplier. The closest I've come to it is a model by Antek, which supplies a 160/140v high output, and two 6.3v outputs, which in series will give you 12.6v. This might be OK to power the 12v regulator and all the other schniz downstream.

The audio is first routed through one side of the 12AX7, then through the mix pot, followed by a JFET booster before hitting the front end of the delay IC. Delay time is variable via pot, or with expression pedal via a vactrol for isolation. Signal returns from the delay IC to the other half of the 12AX7, then back to the mix pot, and out.

That's it, in a nutshell.

I've sent the schemo to Phil for conversion, so don't expect a schematic until we've validated it. Might be a while though. Phil is in the process of scratching a "bucket list" project off his list, as well as the backlog of other projects that I've sent him over the past couple of months.

[digi2t]

Sorry, double post

[ibarakishi]

yesssssssssssss!!!!!!!

progressssssss!!!!!!



great way to start off the week!

do you know roughly how long the delay time is in the original and if it is able to be extended at all if it is super short? was mainly just wondering if it is at least around the 1 second range or if it was longer

[imJonWain]

oh interesting! Thanks for sharing! So the heaters are running at 12VDC ?

[digi2t]

Yes, that's correct. Makes sense if you want to keep noise to a minimum.

Also, my apologies for the double post. Seems to happen sometimes, I don't know why.

As for the delay time, I'll have to reassemble it to retest. There is a long/short delay switch on the side, but I haven't hooked up a scope to it yet to define what the min max delay times are.

[ibarakishi]

weekly support post for good feels

[digi2t]

I have parts ordered, but there's no timeline established as to when I will be building this. We just have too much in the cue at the moment. Sorry to leave you sitting there with anticipation and BBQ sauce on your fingertips, but that's the straight bottom line at the moment.

[mulekicker]

Oh man, just saw this thread. This is killer. I've wanted an Echodrive for years. At one point I owned an SIB Mr. Echo and a Fazeadelic, both were stellar.

[ibarakishi]

monthly support post and positive encouragement