EPISODE 4: Build The Legendary Electra Distortion - SHORT CIRCUIT

[@Phly-Boy]

I don’t know if you’ve decided what the next episode would be, but simple modulation pedals would be sick. Or, how to breadboard a clean blend into pedals for us bass players!

[@VesselForHonor]

Clean blend mega yes

[@MrMont-ue8kh]

Josh - you've totally inspired me. I ordered a coppersound kit & breadboard. I also ordered extra resistors, transistors and caps on amazon to play around. Thanks for all the thought you put into everything on the channel.

[@watcherdan7437]

I am 72 been watching Josh and his crew for several years now. I love the openness and vulnerability of the whole gang. The pedal history is very interesting and invaluable because hardly anyone else goes in depth like he does. I don’t really play well at all but love trying to jam with the jams they do. Also Josh is so good about including other pedal builders on the show that is very humble and generous. I confess I do not own any jhs pedals they are out of my budget range. But as Josh himself has pointed out there’s no magic about pedals and the cheap ones sound just as good as the Chinese cheap ones. I have joyo caline sonic cake and dod multi effects pedals. They are just my toys. I have a small recording studio in my backyard and I love experimenting with sound stuff. But I love Josh and Josh and nick. I really miss Addison but I hope he is doing well.😊😅🎉party on dudes and dudettes

[@jmd76family]

Thank you and Brian both for taking the mystery out of diy.

[@rumanrobert]

I love this series. You re-ignited my circuit designing passion once again :) Thank you

[@richardconley4705]

I don't get notifications for the live streams either, bummer, but I watch them as soon as I see there's a new JHS episode. Love the show, love the teaching and info you freely share, and can't get enough of the jams! Thanks for all the time and effort you put into the shows and the pedals!

[@SuddenSoundStudios]

Staggered away from a long week at work with plans for a beer and a movie...and instead I am grabbing my notebook and getting ready to watch this video. Awesome.

[@codelicious6590]

Thank you so much for your attention to my question! I find it very easy to understand things from Josh. I LOVE this video format as well! I had a helluva time with my first circuit, a "Bazz Fuss" struggling cussing, nearly gave up then I realized the polarity was wrong on my breadboard power supply! God I was pulling my hair out trying to figure out what was wrong!! Full steam ahead now. Thanks Josh for these vids!

[@SlowToe]

Love watching people doing what they love to do. Josh is definitely in his element here.

[@CarolMatzPiano]

I just bought Brian's course...psyched. I'd like to suggest that you do all the builds available at Coppersound so that we can do these circuits on our own as well. Love to see the MOSFET boost at some point.

[@coppersoundpedals]

Thanks so much Carol!

[@pirhala]

Josh, thank you for this! I’ve been messing with this circuit for about a year now and you really opened my eyes to some great stuff like the mods and the kit by coopersound. As a bass player, I feel like the Electra is a really great circuit and now I can mod even further than I have so far. Looking forward to your next videos!! 🙌🏻❤️

[@memorypalace8009]

I’ve been building circuits, especially the eqd speaker & special cranker versions of this circuit and I haven’t ever adjusted bias to 4.5 volts. They have still sounded good but after watching this I revisited a couple builds and biased them correctly and I’m really glad to have had this advice. Thank you!

[@robertpaul2698]

Holy moly.! Just started watching this and Josh used my own schematic drawing for one of the Electra examples. It’s the one with the Trotsky variant switch. Of course its one of the schematics on Google search and was originally posted on the Guitar PCB website.

[@jeremeydonovan8286]

Josh I really love that your doing this series it is so nice to watch and come back to and pause and work and see the wave forms on the scope. It’s very cool and you get some great community support! You really tapped into the vein that feeds supports the industry here! Great job!

[@CarolMatzPiano]

I wish I were live for these! These are coming fast and furious... love it!

[@dannyhernandez8617]

Been tinkering with this circuit the past few days and it’s so sick. Already inspired to make it into a pedal so I can move on and create more.

[@philaesfarewell]

Just breadboarding a new Envelope Generator for my modular synth while watching your livestream. DIY is king 🙂

[@trharding]

Hey @jhspedals, I breadboarded the LBP today while sitting in the autumn sun in Auckland, NZ. The local shop didn’t have exact values for some of the components so it turned out to be a Linear Quieten Pedal but I added a switch with a true bypass and an LED and had some fun. Really enjoying these! Thanks!

[@RyanSmith-pf7ci]

FYI Josh, the DIY board has a little GND helper hole there at the top (left of the switch) that you can poke the death stick into so it is out of the way.

[@omarreyes4562]

These videos are really helpful. I'm really starting to follow along and understand little by little.

[@meteor.tonight]

50:50 -- "Look" is great advice for troubleshooting 101 honestly. What I've learned so far is that there is a lot of the same kind of thing when debugging a program... but for lack of a better way to put it, these circuits operate like ... physical programs

[@eustacelufgren]

This series (including the one where you built the Stewmac fuzz) completely restarted a latent interest, like 20 years ago, when I tried to build a Rangemaster on a Radio Shack breadboard, parts from smallbear (and failed). I'm now working on a Maestro Brassmaster clone. Cheers, from a Yes influenced bassist in KC

[@VesselForHonor]

15:22 the sick burn stinger😂😂🌝

[@grahamhart721]

I just got into to diy pedals, didn’t even know who JHS were (that’s how new I am lol) and I stumbled onto this!!! Freakin gold mine and Scott is awesome, thank you man really. You’re greatly appreciated 👍

[@CScott-zu5mv]

I enjoy the JHS channel . I love seeing the breadboard builds. Thanks Josh.

[@spencerfreed6947]

Ive said it before but have to reiterate how in love I am with this new series!! So inspiring and Josh is an amazing teacher IMHO. Ordered a silicon fuzz kit from Coppersound but im really hoping they end up selling the component kits for the builds from this series. I thought the LPB1 Boost/ Fuzz sounded fantastic! Thank you for doing Josh!! I know it's a bit more intense but id be over the moon to see an analog delay circuit build series if possible??!! 🙏🙏🤞🤞 Either way im here for all of it. Much nerd love 🤓💗

[@bretheweb]

Spectacular series. I love this so much.

[@ElectrolabPedals]

very good, I'm loving it, how about a short circuit of the tone bender MKIII

[@sunshiputube]

I still have my old Beavis boards.. What a great jumpstart they were for hobbyists

[@dongonzulman6478]

This series has really captured my imagination in a big way. Thanks! I can't wait to try breadboarding and getting into all sorts of wacky shenanigans. These videos feel like some craft channels ive seen my wife watch, but infinitely more interesting to me lol

[@eross21]

so can you show how to go from the breadboarded circuit to a prototype pcb ?

[@billyfairhurst7798]

I really wish I could get notifications specifically for when you’re doing these live short circuits! I just built an Electra distortion on a pcb a couple weeks ago and love it! I need to get a breadboard so I can play around with modding it!

[@AndrewWukusick]

I have missed each of these live because KZbin will not give me a notification of the live stream, even though I have the notifications turned on for them 😮‍💨

[@KniteWulfe]

The algorithm really doesn't like this series, unfortunately. I really appreciate these vids though Josh. Even searching directly KZbin seems to hide them. Maybe try adding more cowbell? Looking forward to the next ones, and hopefully I can find it sooner (or live). It took weeks until I realized this one was out. Great content!

[@got2rock4]

Both my jacks are mounted on the left side of my project board and power in back and 3 pots mounted on roght. I agree with you i tend to wire input for circuit on left output to the rightish.

[@SamsonBrock42]

I don't get it. I have All alerts set for my Subscribe option for JHS Pedals but I never receive notifications that a livestream is happening

[@michelfouche4599]

Same here. Being in Australia, this is one of the few live streams that doesn't happen in the middle of the night, but I keep missing it. Is there a schedule?

[@CarolMatzPiano]

SAME. It's irritating af

[@SamsonBrock42]

@@michelfouche4599 No, I think it's just whenever Josh feels like doing it

[@davidwilliams5497]

I’ve only caught one episode of this series live (the last one before this), and that was a luck thing because I noticed the “LIVE” tag on the channel icon when I finished The Beach Boys studio video. Didn’t get any notifications or anything for that or this stream, but another channel I’ve subbed (without turning on notifications) posted a Short (which I don’t watch) today, and I got a notification for that! KZbin’s been really stupid with notifications lately.

[@SamsonBrock42]

@@davidwilliams5497 Heh, that's exactly what I did on the last Short Circuit episode. I finished watching The Beach Boys videos then caught the livestream about halfway through. I completely missed the livestream of this episode though

[@MFE_Audio]

I know these don't pull the same numbers the main show does but man I love these eps. Getting into pedal building myself and these are super helpful

[@spinaltap22]

Hey Josh, incredible series, absolutely loving it! I wonder if you could at any point while diving through these circuits note if any of it relates to my Colourbox V2? I'd love to have a better idea of what the hi/lo switch is, what the pre-volume is actually doing, roughly what the step control is doing etc. Obviously you don't want to give out your secret sauce, but I feel like a bit of insight might help me make better use of it. I tend to leave it on lo/step 1, but I feel like there's more there if I had more of a grasp of what those controls are doing..

[@MichaelMadcock]

I can't wait for Breadboard The Musical!

[@TheDilligan]

An episode on how to finalize you breadboard design onto a circuitboard with a pedal enclosure would be amazing.

[@stoatystoat174]

❤ Random Pedal Question: If you put the guitar/bass signal into the middle leg 2 of a potentiometer can you split the signal? Perhaps clean signal coming off leg 1 and the signal comming off leg 2 goes through a fuzz circut And then combine the signals at the other end (maybe reverse of the way we started with a pot) so you can blend between amounts of the clean signal and fuzz. (Could maybes be handy for making some circuts more bass friendly or other stuff)

[@michaeljuliano8839]

If Wompler’s course is like a composed orchestral piece, your series is like live jazz.

[@darrelldourte9455]

Josh needs to get the band back together...If I need a laugh my goto is the Bad Monkey episode...Belle's fade as Nick jams into RS zone on Space Echo.

[@MichaelMadcock]

Will you please touch on transistor datasheets and the stats that you consider most important. Thanks Josh.

[@slump2u]

Slow down, Josh, I haven't had time to go find my breadboard and components in the basement and now I see you've put out another episode!

[@stephenkeen6044]

Have fun at the Beach Boys premiere, Josh!

[@c1ph3rpunk]

Key takeaway, the difference between a hoarder and a collector is a P-Touch labeling machine. But seriously, I want to dive back into pedals now, I get SO much more now, especially on the bias front. Dude, you make it make sense to those of us non-EE folks. Thing is, I’ve built 8-bit computers from scratch, using nothing but TTL logic chips, so I’m no slacker. But the gatekeeping in the electronics world drives me nuts. So it’s not electrically or mathematically perfect, who cares, the end goal is how it sounds and feels.

[@emattiasjansson]

It would be interesting to have an episode when you go from the bread board proof of concept to build an actual one off, diy pedal out of it that you can use on your pedal board!

[@MatthewLynn-ln6dp]

i don’t think you have to bias the transistor in this circuit as you normally would because it is self biasing. the resistor bridge ensures that the base always sees less voltage than the collector. by setting your collector at 4.5V you may actually be restricting the operation of your transistor and impacting headroom.

[@eross21]

on one of the next videos, can you show how to add a 3 band eq, to any pedal?

[@ChrisGarrity-bu5om]

I want to start build these circuits on my own to make sure I’m getting it. Have to ask for two pieces of information. Can you put together parts lists for the pedals. Maybe something like base LPB-1, modified LPB-1 (end of episode 2), etc. Second, can you recommend suppliers where we can purchase small quantities of these components. I’m finding it hard to find some of the parts, especially in quantities less than 100.

[@dcthegreatest24]

Thank you for reading my comment ❤

[@raihankartika6087]

Do you always use adjustable resistor in your final product? Or you just use it when you were in rnd level?

[@johnnyphoney5669]

I actually like asymmetric clipping as it operates a little more like tube distortion. Your complain was it’s too much asymetric. I like for instance taking 2 different germaniums, like D9K + OA1182, which are not crazy different in characteristics, so they only give you a slight gentle asymmetry. It opens you a path to some interesting, more ”alive” and “sweet” tones. Minor fine tuning anyway. But you showed a trick with placing a pot right before the diodes so you can control the amount of clipping. It gave me an idea, that you can combine very different forward voltage silicon and germanium and place a pot only before germanium, to be able to buck it away and give you precise control over how much asymmetry do you actually want. What do you think about it?

[@CarolMatzPiano]

Do you have the "It's a breadboard, do you what you want, it's your life!" t-shirts yet? Or Club B100K? Womens' size please lol

[@petersage5157]

Proper engineering accounts for a generous amount of production variation. This same emitter feedback bias topology is used in countless electret mic preamps, typically with 1K at the base, 10K at the collector, and 100K feedback and it will work with just about any NPN transistor you pull out of the box. The reason this needs a bit of tweaking with the values used here is you're pushing the limits of a single transistor's gain.

[@moon__unit]

I built an Electra/Fuzz Face 2-in-1 and I never turn the Electra side off. The subharmonic is so cool, and on low gain it just does that EP boost thing

[@codelicious6590]

That transistor you measured with the device, it came up, "143". What unit of measurement is that? Also, when using more than one transistors in a circuit do they need to be within certain parameters as far as having gain similar or exactly the same as one another or does that depend upon other factors?

[@meteor.tonight]

Sorry I still kinda missed it -- but in a final pedal, what would you do with the _third_ leg on a pot that's used in place of a resistor -- is it OK to just leave it hanging, or should the "extra" leg be either grounded out or bridged to the center of the pot?

[@markpeynado9013]

Is the goal 4.5v at the collector the same for LPB-1 or any / all other boost and distortion pedals?

[@JamesFord-g5e]

You can use LEDs for clipping diodes

[@DoobTube71]

Dr. Scott’s Breadboards & Circuits 101!

[@michelfouche4599]

I'm interested in how pot tapers work in guitars. I've heard that you can't use a linear taper in a tone pot (or was that a volume pot), but I really dont like how little my tone knob does. It really only seems to kick in at the end.

[@tomblack2487]

Since the sine wave was clipped after a single diode substitution box , on both the top and bottom , does that mean when you are selecting diodes with the box that the box is automatically putting 2 of the selected diodes in reverse polarity ( like the schematic) for you? Or else why were both sides clipped evenly?

[@laughingatoblivion]

I've just realised I breadboard in portrait! So top to bottom.

[@sniggity]

I realize this is an older live stream but can someone let me know what would happen if I used Avalanche diodes? I found it amazing that the Z diodes allowed the current to flow in both directions even if there was an avalanche and the diode was destroyed. Even more astounding is the diode still functioned? Am I understanding this correctly? And secondly, are these worth experimenting with when the Voltage requirements are at 10 Volts? I’m in R & D mode and I’m trying to learn as much as I can. Much appreciate any info!!

[@johnnyphoney5669]

Hey Josh, you messed up the D9K orientation in the clipping section. You put it the same direction as the silicon one (so it was just taking over the silicon as it opens earlier). It’s totally understandable as D9K have stripes on the diode’s “ass” side, which is the other way around with many many other diodes.

[@jhspedals]

I definitely realize that in hindsight. Thinking about a circuit, thinking about teaching the circuit, having to switch cameras, and also thinking about audio levels hitting the interface is quite a bit on one person’s mind lol

[@TjByers369]

A two redbull day? Relatable.

[@Mark70609]

I would be awake for a week with two Redbulls.

[@Thoneman]

Don’t worry it’s all going to B100K

[@Herfinnur]

7:10 history of the Electra

[@jingleengle]

is the signal getting inverted, or is the out of phase waves on the oscilloscope just a matter of scope settings?

[@jingleengle]

comparing the blue and the orange signal

[@taytaytazermusic2539]

20,000 vintage transistors?!?!?! Can I have a couple?

[@rileydavis3690]

what happens with a diode in the transistor feedback loop

[@El_Cacto]

That "Salsa del pato" can, tho

[@ewetoo]

TIL that Sonic Youth named a song after an overdrive pedal

[@johnsuede]

Do you normally use B100k pots for volume? Everything I have read suggests A100k logarithmic pots because of the way human ears perceive volume changes. My world does not make sense anymore.

[@jhspedals]

I prefer B

[@brendanrice1018]

if only there was a way to pay someone to make one for me

[@TjByers369]

3:51 Stream Start

[@ektopia]

43:38 swapping pin 1 and 3 to 3 and 1… is that the same as buying a C pot?

[@JulianA-tr6pt]

It will act as a reverse log taper, but the knob turn will also be reversed (turning it clockwise, up to 10, will be 0. Turning it down will increase volume.).

[@ektopia]

@@JulianA-tr6pt ahhh, of course. Makes sense now. Thanks for clarifying this.

[@paulsheppard6924]

No alert here either

[@SRFFUN]

Show the magic in a klon.

[@lysdexiar31]

he kinda did here

[@Where_are_my_teeth]

Two thumbs up for no background music. 👍🏻👍🏻