Sluckey's Revibe Build

[mk_716]

Hello all,
  I've just fired up my Revibe!!!

   Thanks to Sluckey for the superior layout and instructions.

   The big question with these is always - what was your grounding scheme?

   I went with the Valvewizard/Tubeswell ground lift approach (thanks for that ground lift diagram tubeswell!).

   Things I did:
     I put the ground lift in the gap in the center of Sluckey's board.     
     I isolated the jacks (rca and 1/4).
     I broke out each cathode ground patch and separately ran them back to my buss.   The good news here is Sluckey's layout has all of these landing up at the top row.  I broke the main buss run up and jumped (on the back) over the V4 and V5 - those run back to the buss separately.  This does add a few jumpers on the back, if someone is interested I've got pics.
         
     I had quite a bit of noise on the reverb side so I moved the reverb send/return grounds to the buss instead of the signal ground.
  Much better, the trem is a bit noisier than I'd like,  I'm chopsticking around a  bit , but haven't found any culprits yet.   If the intensity is up (and single coils) it's just a bit over where I'd like it.   Tried some different tubes, a  TungSol  AX7 was best in V5.


  Great fun, amazing  end result.  Thanks Sluckey for the great design!   If anyone has questions, just ask!
Thanks  mike

[sluckey]

I'm using a 5751 for V4 to lower the noise.

[mk_716]

Hey Sluckey,
   Yep, got a 5751 in there now.   I'll probably go back at it later tonight.

   I'm being picky here, it's really fan-effin-tastic.   I'm hearing the single coil buzz mostly, I'm going to play with the ground buss vs. signal ground thing like I did on the reverb side.

   The unit is dead silent at idle, I forgot it was on it was so quiet.   I can hear a little chop if I push the intensity and trem level all the way.

   This is a GREAT layout straight up - I know you've said this on the board here, but this is one of the coolest things I've built.    Easily the best trem and reverb I've ever owned.   Thanks for your work on this man, it's really something special.

   I'm going to put this in a head cab, time to start woodworkin' and on to the lil' Maggie M2,  I think my Revibe needs more loud.
 
m.
   
   

[mk_716]

Hey sluckey,
  You mentioned on your revibe build page you had a cathode  cap failure, I had a failure  on the v3 cathode cap,  same one?

   Curious.

   Also found  a  bad groundon the trem side, term is dead quiet now. 

I'm chasing  white  noise/ RF/ local radio station  on the reverb  side.  Tried several  different  routings for the two shielded runs.  Made short patch cables  for the reverb tank.  Rolled several  different  tubes in V1..

   Still trying some things, suggestions welcome.

Thanks in advance,
Mike

[sluckey]

My cap failure was V4 cathode cap.

Try putting a 33K grid stopper right on the socket for V2 pin 2 and also V1 pin 2.

[mk_716]

Hey Sluckey,
 Thanks for that, I'll give it a try and report back!
m.

[mk_716]

Hey Sluckey,
   Much, much better.   Thanks again for your help. 

   I'm getting close to declaring this done (as of this moment, lol).   I tend to fuss at things until I exhaust my options, takes me a long time go get to done it seems.

   Additional question, I'd like to slow the trem just a bit more, I'm thinking upping the value of the .01 cap parallel to the switch to .02, this would lower the overall low limit, correct?    Or would it be better to up the value of the .01 cap in the switch path? 

   I think I'm reading that correctly, please correct me if I'm wrong.  (learning every day).

Thanks again,
Mike

   

   

 

[sluckey]

Just experiment. There is a limit to the amount of capacitance you can add before the oscillator drops out. Adding caps also decreases the fast speed. That's why I like to use a switch to provide two overlapping speed ranges.

I recently did an undocumented mod on my Supro that resulted in a much slower speed and still maintained a good fast speed. You may be interested in this if the simple cap change doesn't get the slow speed you want.

[mk_716]

Hi Sluckey,

Thanks again, man, I appreciate your generosity to share this stuff.

I will study this a bit first, but I actually think I have a dual 500k pot somewhere.

I'll play with some of the values first.   Hopefully I'll get where I want with just the cap changes. 

Played the Revibe for about an hour last night, this thing is great fun.  (Tragically Hip, 'Long Time Running', Aimee Mann 'Save Me'  )

Mike

[sluckey]

I'm a big fan of Aimee. Love her dark sounding music and lyrics. If her life is the inspiration for her songs then she's been through a lot of shit.

Duane Eddie would have loved the revibe...

[mk_716]

My parents played Duane on the 400lb console stereo!!!!  *also Herb Alpert and other delights - girl on the album covered in whipped cream!

you're right!! He would have loved it!!!  Going to learn that and some ventures tunes, lol.

Aimee's kinda unfairly consigned to 'chick rock' or whatever, some great albums though.   Michael Lockwood does some really amazing guitar work on her albums, very textured/tasty.   I'm a fan of hers for sure, but especially when she had her full band lineup.   I've seen her 4-5 times, from a stripped down acoustic show to the full-on band.   Lockwood opened for her one of the full band shows, crazy talented guy.  The Magnolia soundtrack is devastatingly good.

m.

[mk_716]

Just reporting back, the cap changes messed with the oscillation.

Ended up putting the .01 cap back. 

I noticed I'm bottoming out on the intensity pot, get a hum just before zero.   Going to try bumping up R39 to 510k (from 470k), anything else I should try?

Started looking at scopes.   Revibe builds drive scope sales, lol.

Mike

[sluckey]

I noticed I'm bottoming out on the intensity pot, get a hum just before zero.   Going to try bumping up R39 to 510k (from 470k), anything else I should try?

Bottoming out? I don't know what that means.   

[mk_716]

get a hum, right just before the pot hits zero.

The intensity pot functions perfectly except at the extreme end (the bottom).   I get a hum, the final 1/8" of the travel.

Did that make sense? 

Mike

[sluckey]

yes

[mk_716]

Just reporting back as an FYI.

I put another pot in line to dial this in, 6.1k + the 470k was the ticket.

So, I added a 6.8K resistor to the center lug, hum is gone!  No more 'bottoming out'.

Mike

[mk_716]

Finally finished the cabinet!

Thanks Sluckey for the great layout/design (and the graphics).  Love this thing.

m.

[sluckey]

Wow!!! I'm jealous...   

[mk_716]

Thanks Sluckey, I'm flattered!   

Still not sure on the knobs... tele dome ones maybe?  I've got a couple more of your projects on my radar if I can ever finish my Tubenit 6k6 project.

Thanks for all you do!

m.

[sluckey]

Keep the candle burning. And please share.

[mk_716]

Well, if anyone has any questions at all about it, please ask. 

That's the first head cab type deal I've made and I'd make a few tweaks on that, but as far as the ReVibe circuit/layout - do it by the book.  It was challenging, but I learned a ton.

Super fun build, super fun result.

mike