EPISODE 3: Turning An Electro Harmonix LPB1 Boost Into A Distortion / Fuzz - SHORT CIRCUIT

[@georgenowik7421]

A kit for this needs to be a pedal called Tinkerer's Paradise. Man I wish this series - or KZbin- existed when I was getting my undergrad in electronics. You have rekindled the fire.

[@georgenowik7421]

Or maybe because it's sometimes fuzz and sometimes not, "The Stubble"

[@jordan.collins]

Woot woot!

[@geekPlayground]

Me too. By my time the only resources available were books at the uni library.

[@r0flgal0re]

Josh had done a lot of cool stuff, but I think this is his greatest gift to us and to posterity.

[@Bealrah]

"Creativity doesn't have to be professional". I badly play guitar and harmonica and am married to a music teacher who is very educated and a classically trained singer. I feel this comment so very deeply. Thank you.

[@terryeaster1]

4:26 100% yes, kit would be awesome!! Beach boys thing was awesome.

[@FoxyBob]

As someone that started trying to build pedals in the last year. This series is incredible. I had been struggling with a lot of designing concepts and figuring out how to make a circuit my own. Between this, and some of Brain Wampler’s videos, I’ve absolutely fallen in love with breadboarding wayyyy more than populating a pcb and tossing it in an enclosure. Thanks guys!

[@jordan.collins]

Awesome to hear!

[@SwedishGuitarNerd]

Thanks for doing this - and especially your words about that you don't have to be an expert, you just need passion!

[@brianruss6348]

Josh is 100% correct that he doesn’t need to be an engineer to be a great creator. Ask yourself: how many of your favorite musicians ever knew how to read/write 5 line staff sheet music? The answer is almost none. But do we criticize them for not knowing the science behind what they’re doing? We don’t.

[@AndrewAlex92]

We don't need to know why something works to know it works

[@landonkyle3199]

Thank you for not only showing how the components link and work together, but also explaining the function of each one.

[@littlehcollective]

New kits based on this series? Yes, please!!!

[@matchesmalone2019]

This series gave me the confidence to try and breadboard a wah circuit. And it works, thanks JHS. You’re the best out there

[@jhspedals]

YES!

[@stephenkeen6044]

Two of the diodes in the schematic are oriented the wrong way (all the same direction), so they don't match your physical circuit (anti-parallel). Not to be a party pooper, just a heads up so if anyone builds it based on the schematic and doesn't get the same sound out of it as on the video, they know to switch the orientation of two of the diodes (both on one side of the set of 4, doesn't matter which side). [EDIT - All fixed up, it's accurate now!]

[@joshuaheathscott]

Yes! Great find Fixed!

[@stephenkeen6044]

@@joshuaheathscott Nice! That was quick! You have a great "feel" for what component changes will do to the signal (which is really what matters and makes you so good at what you do). This is a really fun series. Thank you for what you do for the industry, your willingness to share your knowledge and edumacate us all with pedal history, etc. I particularly enjoyed your deep dive into the history of the RAT. I recently got into pedal designing after a long time working in software (explored an idea I had while analysing some pedal schematics and it turned into a "thing", breadboarded up a proto and to my surprise it did what I was hoping... and that was that) and have been binge watching JHS show episodes. Entertaining and educational. I have them playing on my second display while I go through the less thought-intensive processes. I have learnt a LOT from you, so thank you again. Am at the PCB design stage now, the circuit is mostly finalised and prototype (built on stripboard and stuffed in a Hammond case) in the hands of guitarists for feedback / testing. Hoping to make a living from it if possible, whether it's the first, second or twentieth design that gets me over the threshold (got the next design idea waiting to be breadboarded already).

[@VesselForHonor]

Please don’t stop doing these, I love this so much. Drives and distortion, modulation, delays, the sky is really the limit. A million thank yous for such valuable info in such a fun and engaging format.

[@eross21]

this is my favorite show on youtube. you where born to teach this stuff. already started wrangling together components and im building pedals this weekend

[@TyroneNorthcutt]

...when the student is ready. This is such good timing for me. Have been a fan a long time, Unicorn V2 en route via Reverb this weekend... My first vibe, my second JHS, kind of, (Angry driver). I love your history and DIY. Keep doing you and keep moving forward.

[@ThePlanarchist]

Another great one, thank you. Also a big yes to a Coppersound pack for the components, already have their medium breadboard and one of their other component kits. Be great to also have someone who can do the breadboard to pedal step......my attempts have been pretty messy!

[@melbournemudmetal]

Now that I'm a few episodes in, a can't thank you enough for making these videos. This is exactly what I've been searching for in my unexplained drive to understand exactly how pedals work from the ground up. Your approach to teaching these principles, I think is brilliant. You have to break a few eggs to make an omelette. The processes of creativity are often messy, but through that comes clarity. You're just trying to teach what you know the only way you know how, by being yourself and not wearing a facade of "Master of the known technical universe". I could see how that point might get lost on the occasional viewer. I'll get back to watching now 😂

[@joshserna9983]

Hey Josh. I know these videos don't get as many views so I just wanted to say how much I value and appreciate these videos. This is such a great resource and I would have found these mind blowing if they existed back when I started making pedals.

[@terryeaster1]

6:04 love that tone right there

[@cometsuch]

JHS is killing it this week with content! Loved the Beach Boys video and find this series very educational. Thanks for all the great info!

[@Mark_of_the_Bear_Studios]

Built this with B549s, and a combination of 1n4148 & 1n34a diodes, and it rocks as a fuzz. Just opted for the .022uf cap instead of the switch. I wanted to make a 2n1 of this in a box with an Op Amp BM, but the enclosure would be massive. This was such a fun project, though I nearly set fire to my breadboard at 3am. Edit: I’ve been playing with this circuit, and it’s been so much fun tinkering with the different gain stages. Josh, thank you so much for sharing your experience and clearing so much up. This series completely rocks!!

[@frankgrosso453]

Just catching up on the short circuits. Absolutely love it. My 12 year old daughter is watching with me and we plan on getting a copper sound kit and goofing off with it together. Thanks Josh and @coppersoundpedals

[@jhspedals]

That's fantastic, you're gonna have so much fun!

[@geckoram6286]

Before getting into pedals, I've had a lot of sound-electronic obsessions, synths, radios, etc. and I kinda got some parts of the circuits, but I never understood what was I doing and how did the circuits fully work. This series is helping me a ton with that, hope it keeps on going for a long time!

[@Acemind]

Hey Josh, thank you for this series. I've learned alot and this way of teaching is the best approach for someone like me who likes to experiment without being afraid of making mistakes.

[@ScottMcdonaldMusic]

I’m hooked on this series, love it

[@JoshuaGay]

I wasn't supposed to be a web developer. I taught myself and I have a career in that now. I love watching this.

[@blauwalaudio9809]

i really like your approach, thanks for supporting and sporting the "just do it"-style

[@AndrewAlex92]

Was really cool to watch this series, get the kit, and build it with this knowledge in mind. Re watching after having played with it a ton and it's so much reinforcement happening. Theory, practice, theory... know I feel like I REALLY know.

[@deflugs101]

Love this man. You are giving so much back and are entertaining with it at the same time. I built a valve amp from a kit and then started down the rabbit hole of building a pedal, as the one I liked was more money than I had. I love learning and experimenting with circuits and could watch more of these vids of yours all day long. Can’t wait for more dude 🖖🏻

[@m.a.6478]

41:45 Exactly! The point of the circuit is to reduce the influence of the transistor specification on the performance. That's also how we learnt the circuit at school. Parts variance is a huge issue with semiconductors and that's why these circuits use all sorts of tricks to work around that. The primary purpose of the emitter resistor is to reduce temperature induced gain variations of the transistor.

[@PhilLament]

Josh, thank you for this series! I ordered a breadboard & some kits from Coppersound and am looking forward to experimenting.

[@codelicious6590]

I love the explanation of, "ya don't have to BE what you're supposed to BE" I think that's probably a paraphrase but anyway I love it, it reminds me of a quote I take much inspiration from aside from "damn the Man" - "in the beginner's mind there are many possibilities in the 'expert's' mind there are few."

[@craigthompson1730]

I will say, I’m happy I added the Rat filter, but I only use it a touch when toggling in either of the bypass capacitors. This pedal is just awesome. It feel confident that it will stay on my board permanently, and I now have about 14 drive pedals at the moment.

[@ektopia]

Such an amazing episode. Thanks Josh

[@calebr]

This has been my favorite series on the JHS YT by far. Thanks for it!

[@calebr]

I also really like the documentary style videos as well.

[@64_Commuter]

A germanium diode has a constant forward voltage across its p-n junction of only about 0.3V. So putting two of them in series boosts that limiting voltage to 0.6V. Incidentally, the forward junction voltage of a silicon diode is 0.7V. LEDs are not single elements; they are compounds (e.g., Indium Gallium Nitride for some blue LEDs). They have much higher forward junction voltages, as Josh mentions (e.g., 2.5-3.5V or so for blue LEDs).

[@N1CKSO]

Please do more with the scope! Its so helpful for visual types like me

[@daviddwyer6824]

I love this series, I am waiting for it every week now ☺I am going to buy a few NOTAKLONS as funding permits for some people in my life, and myself.

[@joshuaraysummey7679]

You design by what you hear, as a player first. The pg14, clover, and unicorn are 3 of my favorite pedals. Im not gonna question your process, to busy over hear being grateful for the result. Thanks for doing this

[@MattReesWorship]

I keep missing the lives, but I wanted to comment and say these are SO helpful. I've wanted to dip my toes into this world for a while, and it's been great to get this crash course and some straightforward explanations. Cheers!

[@CarolMatzPiano]

YES parts kit to build this! These extra mods you did "without us" kinda went over my head (or too fast), but hoping if I get in there and work from the schematic I'll understand how to incorporate the low-pass filter and switch.

[@Solidsoundfx]

Creativity doesn’t have to be professional ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️I’m making a T-shirt. Love it ! And so true 🔥

[@stahliwood8755]

Thanks for acknowledging The Box It Later 1.1725 I've asked on every live for awhile. You looked stoked that I mentioned it, so hopefully, you build some for everyone

[@ektopia]

26 minutes. Brilliant stuff. I was wondering about this subject last week. Thanks.

[@753Jackson]

This is very inspirational. Sounds awesome. There’s a nice chunk of crunch!

[@Jupiter-Plays]

I’m breadboarding a MKI Tone Bender and just realized the LPB-1-Boost-A-Drive-A-Fuzz and the MKI’s Q2 and Q3 are the on a surface level the same thing, just two (albeit different bias methods and a couple tweaks) common emitter amplifiers. Got a variable bias on Q1 for this as well, just needs a buffer. I really like seeing how things are just built up from basic blocks!

[@musicjimbutler]

In 73 I saw Harvey Mandel. From his goldtop LP he plugged into on Echoplex and then into two LPB-1s and then into his amp. An Acoustic 150. I still have my LPB-1 from the 70s.

[@luckyd2126]

Man. I’m glad I have a working knowledge of pot taper, because when Josh started talking about pot taper, it was baffling. Use a line graph, man. You could draw three little line graphs on your schematic and it would be a lot more clear. Hell, I learned pot taper from a DRUMMER.! With a drum stick! All that said, I understand what he’s trying to get at with feel, but a basic 30;second breakdown of pot taper would be pretty instructive. Line graphs, man.

[@AndrewWukusick]

Electra Distortion? YES. YES PLEASE. I love tinkering around with the Electra circuit as much as the LPB-1 so I would love to see that. Also maybe later on, another great transistor circuit I'd love to see is the Green Ringer.

[@giorgio7501]

It's amazing to see how simple transistor circuits can give so many different tones. I've recently built myself a Colorsound Power Boost which falls on that vein that ranges from boost to fuzz. I'd love to see your take on hacking the Power Boost.

[@craigthompson1730]

I’m going to try to build this on veroboard soon. I will update when it’s complete. Very excited about this one

[@craigthompson1730]

Breadboarded and sounds great, very useful range of sounds. Thank you

[@craigthompson1730]

I finally got around to putting this onto veroboard. Can’t wait to box it. It is definitely going onto my pedalboard. This has been a lot of fun to play around with. I just can’t decide which part I like best between the boost, overdrive, fuzz and distortion sounds. Thank you Josh for these videos!

[@Poparad]

Maybe this might help clear up the linear/audio taper question: We hear both volume and pitch logarithmically, so when the pot is also logarithmic (an "A" taper), to our ears that "sounds" linear because they match. When we use a linear taper, even though mathematically it's even, to our ears it sounds uneven because we hear logarithmically and the taper is a mismatch to our hearning.

[@Mr.Owl9]

The Electra circuit sound great, nuance is what this is all about...

[@Mr2greys]

@45:18 that's usual rule of thumb but some pedals are not the case, my homebrew Kay Fuzztone (and I suspect the Mary-K as well) has one of the voltages (I would have to go find my post on diystompboxes) at somewhere around 7v to actually sound right, at 4.5v it breaks up wrong.

[@davedraws76]

Yes. Kit please 🙏

[@jaredechevarria5727]

You are Steve Jobs and were smart enough to find your Steve Wozniak. Good job sir! Build a tremolo.

[@madmikemike]

yes parts kits! i will buy! love this series, so into this

[@ceige42]

Yes! To the Electra circuit!!! Yay Josh!!

[@kmasek77]

It would be awesome to see these come to life as a kit, similar to the NOTAKLON. Where the customer would purchase a kit and assemble the pedal themselves.

[@JoesStyle]

So you made a fuzzy Ratt! I like it. Nice video Josh!

[@Scrammy103]

Really, really enjoying this series

[@greglmna7578]

That might be down the line, but analog stereo delay would be an awesome project ! ✌️ I love this series, every bit of it and I have never been excited for class before 😆 Merci infiniment Josh, greetings from Montréal 🔵⚜️🤘

[@paulburton5150]

I would love to see a series on modulation…chorus, phaser & flanger

[@jonbarnett9363]

Since the fuzz face has so few parts, it would be awesome to show how important each of those components is. You can just have it set up with the Coppersound substitution boxes and change them around to show how critical each part is. Also, to show how and why a tone bender and fuzz face are different would be cool.

[@stringbladestudios]

I love the kit and episode combo idea!!!

[@devilsdoorbell]

A build your own pedal kit of this, with all the mods/options? YESPLEASE.

[@johndelves9331]

Thanks Josh for such a fun series! Please do at least a basic on the Electra-Distortion. Is first pedal I built (into an ABY pedal) and I still use it on my board 10 years later. Has a cool sub-harmonic I've never figured out that is awesome and I've swapped out parts many times so must be circuit. Maybe. It haunts me as to why. Looking forward to more episodes!

[@Phly-Boy]

An episode of this on how to use Eagle for pedal design would be incredible. I’ve been trying to figure it out, and man, it’s been an uphill battle trying to teach it to yourself.

[@earh0xable]

As someone just dipping their toe into building circuits and a fuzz aficionado, would love to see a series on making weird fuzzes, for example a triangle fuzz with a voltage sag on only the treble, etc… Some totally non-standard fuzzes

[@Paul_Lenard_Ewing]

Thanx ...I love these shows!!! I do not build but if I open a pedal I know what I have. If I like it I know why, if not I know that to.

[@ChrisGarrity-bu5om]

Yes, kits please from Coppersound. If that can’t happen, where can we buy components in small quantities. I ordered the treble boost from Coppersound to get myself started.

[@coppersoundpedals]

Thank you! :)

[@shuno_music]

Yes yes yes CS needs to offer a kit! I will buy that sucker immediately. I would love to see how to mod pre-existing pedals. Like adding a modulation section/control on a delay or reverb pedal. Not sure if DSP pedals can be modded like analogue circuits can?? I want to be able to make my pedals do things I want them to do, not just what they were designed to do..

[@usejustonce2386]

Please yes to the Josh kits!!!

[@dcthegreatest24]

Do the Electra next please. Then the Op Amp topology. Then I would love to see time based pedals, as well as modulation pedals.

[@SamsonBrock42]

We don't have to get into the details but it would be cool to hear how you approach designing a pedal you, and maybe even no one else, has done before. For example, what was it like designing the Colour Box and the Punchline?

[@ian1630]

love the series, just the best - such a boost to the confidence, creative urge in overdrive… but adverts every 5 minutes throughout the whole stream was awful! (Couldn’t catch it live)

[@cspace1974]

Every time you hit that open A string I think a Home Depot radio commercial’s about to start 😂

[@roberthedges6008]

Yeah, a lot for the circuits would be great.

[@LarsonGuitarPlayer]

Mxr distorsion + would be a great choice for the next build. It would be nice if you discussed the transistor feedback circuit some more.

[@dougdeforge2241]

This is awesome content! Keep it up!

[@campbelljohnson3952]

Errr I'm so late to the party... Are all resistors Metal Film? And does it matter much? Bodacious!! :) Cam

[@jacobbaldwin9707]

@jordan.collins Here's an idea... Make a "Master Components Kit" that includes all of the components of the LPB mutilation builds of the first 3 videos and maybe a few extra bits for more experimentation and bundle it. It saves time and effort vs making kits for each video... And it allows us to play along to all the videos... I'd buy it right now.

[@DavidJones-kv2bj]

Yes parts kit for all that uiu said Josh ❤️🥰🙌

[@PhilLament]

I would like a class about half-wave and full-wave rectifiers along with ring modulators. You know, so we can make that Rat/Green Ringer combo.

[@DavidJones-kv2bj]

Yes parts kit

[@DavidAtkins-xe5oj]

53:19 Doesn't that Capacitor let the AC signal through, but stops the DC power? Anyways, I'm loving this series( and all the JHS content). I wish it was around when I first tried to get into pedal building back in 2000. It might not have taken me 20 years to get back into it after cobbling together those first few distortion pedals.

[@CarolMatzPiano]

Ordered my breadboard, etc. from Coppersound! My only thing: I admit I'm disappointed that we won't learn how to go to a circuit board... it kinda defeats the purpose? (At least it's great for the learning experience, but what then, if we don't have an engineer friend???)

[@oldasrocks9121]

Definitely go with the Electra next

[@EzyoMusic]

I would love to see what you do with the Distortion+/250. It’s one of my favorites. It would be one of the first circuits I would replicate and tweak to my personal taste.

[@thepedalarchitect]

Hi Josh. Please confirm that the orientation of the two ge-diode pairs is relevant. On pair has to be grounded, the other in the opposite direction. Otherwise the diodes will only cut the upper or lower side of your signal (asymmetrical vs. symmetrical clipping). So I guess you want a symmetrical clipping?

[@eross21]

yes 100% parts kits copper sound !!

[@Thoneman]

Please make component kits so we can go back and build along with Josh episode by episode coppersound!

[@danielbarbieri8199]

Great vid mate. The rat low pass filter, can't you use the guitar tone pot instead ? A parts kit with trim pots, trim caps, would be great. A bunch of different transistors and diodes too. Maybe a veroboard instead of a pcb. Breadboard and substitution boxes are great but expensive if you want to make only one circuit.

[@erikastrom9659]

Wonderful

[@WilChow]

Yes to making this a kit

[@gmcoates14]

@jhspedals great series so far and I am sure the later ones are coming on great too. I have built a couple and am still learning some of the why stuff works and messing until it works. Question though where do you buy the deadly testing leads, I can't find them anywhere? Doing this stuff in the UK often means lots of delivery charges on top of the kit, just not easily available here. I will have to build the copper sounds boxes and buying plus delivery just gets to pricey, not there fault just the way it is.

[@omarreyes4562]

I would love to see the process of this becoming a pedal

[@MichaelSchuerig]

Josh, I think a couple of diagrams would be very helpful for understanding the effects of changing the various resistor values. I.e., how do changes move the operating point along the characteristic curve of the transistor?

[@jasonmiller8839]

Along the way, could you talk a little about power supply? For example, some pedals show 9v-12v. Does that mean you can plug in either power supply? What would be the resulting effect? Other pedals only take 9v, but have a switch between 9v or 12v or 18v, which I would assume is changing the 9v internally with one or more transformers, is that correct? What is the resulting effect? What do pedals require by way of amperage? What about amps with tubes, what kind of power supply do they require?

[@jmd76family]

More videos like this!

[@cusemoneyman]

Question for the group - I've seen a lot of guitar pedals, mic preamps, and other audio electronics that have polarized capacitors directly in the audio path, with capacitance in the many miceofarads. Some implementations I've seen use electrolytic capacitors in these cases. Is this acceptable, in lieu of widly expensive film capacitors at these sizes?