SIB Echodrive clone: has anyone ever made one?

[ibarakishi]

I think the only other one that anyone ever really cared about was the Varidrive, which i wouldn't be surprised if it shared identical parts to the echodrive because its a single tube preamp pedal too. you can see here below again from their facebook. Their other pedals weren't really that popular to any wide scale degree. I don't really have any interest in the Varidrive but thats the only one that comes to mind from them:

[ibarakishi]

deleted last post, sorry.

On freestomboxes.org they have the schematic for the sib varidrive here : https://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?t=21899 i guess its really similar to the Kingsley Harlot. haven't finished reading the entire thread yet.
here is the rough drawing the guy did for it:


does it look similar to the what could possibly be in the echodrive imJonWain? if so then the only other thing needed to be figured out would be what delay was being used between the stages. could even just throw in whatever PT2395 people have schematics for on here to see if it gets in the ballpark, as i doubt its anything crazy they are using.

[ibarakishi]

seems the sketch above has some needed adjustments that are described later in the thread. its explained there. they also traced the kingsley pedal, which is here https://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=30908 don't know how close it actually is, but the info in in the thread too

[ibarakishi]

small update: i created a tgp account just to reach out to people jero mentioned, and turns out starfish has been gone for 4 years. no way to message him that im aware of. sent a message out to one guy that owns one as a feeler, but i don't see it going anywhere as im not active, etc. over there. a weirdo ghost asking for a stranger to open their pedal and take photos for them that they most likely bought for crazy prices doesn't look like winning odds. but messages have been sent and im putting in the effort.

[crochambeau]

I'll do some armchair analysis on this:



According to the visible trace elements, the filament is series wired for 12(.6) volts. Since there are only two traces that bridge the two sides (presumably positive power rail and common/"ground") I infer the two sides of the (assumed) 12AX7 are or can be utilized separately. This section of the hand drawn schematic of the drive seems to fit the bill:



Pure supposition: the two triodes of the 12AX7 bookend the effect core, except in the case of the hand traced drive in which the tube IS the effect core. The PT2395 section of the applicable PCB could be a straight drop in from application notes. If you pull the datasheet of the PT2395 the application circuit therein could practically be used as a road map, I have no reason to think that the other circuits contain deeper wizardry (I'm wrong all the time though, so please don't read too much into my morning tea take).

[ibarakishi]

thats really helpful to know. what are the differences between the PT2395 and PT2399 crochambeau? are their pros or cons between the two? I am just more familiar with real life examples of the PT2399 used in pedals like DBA echodream, kilobyte, etc.

[crochambeau]

thats really helpful to know. what are the differences between the PT2395 and PT2399 crochambeau? are their pros or cons between the two? I am just more familiar with real life examples of the PT2399 used in pedals like DBA echodream, kilobyte, etc.

I'm the wrong person to ask. My inherent understanding of things started at tubes, is progressing through transistors, and sort of tickles the feet of operational amplifiers. I am a cave dweller here.

I understand they are delay chips and that many people have strong opinions of the differences. I also understand that the root function of the delay IC is achieved in various ways, each with their certain flavour of loss and restrictions on input/output capabilities. My hunch, and we're several layers outside the realm of concrete here, is that many, if not most (if not essentially all) effect manufacturers deploying such sophisticated subsystems in their designs pretty much colored inside the lines. Which is to say, application notes are taken very seriously by those who do not wish to court a surplus a field failures.

All that aside, I personally have not enough run time with specifically different topologies of delay to have an informed opinion.

[digi2t]

a weirdo ghost asking for a stranger to open their pedal and take photos for them that they most likely bought for crazy prices doesn't look like winning odds. but messages have been sent and im putting in the effort.

In a nutshell, the "weirdo ghost" method is basically how I ended up getting the Schumann PLL traced, as well as a few other gems. I continue to use it today. Never say die my friend. The odds may seem slim, but slim outnumbers none any day of the week, and twice on Sundays.

[ibarakishi]

still hanging on, still putting in the time, still staring into the void

[digi2t]

[digi2t]

Well, looky what the cat dragged in....

[imJonWain]

oh neat! Where'd you end up finding one?

[digi2t]

oh neat! Where'd you end up finding one?

[ibarakishi]

yesss, interested to hear what you think about it all when you open it up and see what is inside.

[digi2t]

yesss, interested to hear what you think about it all when you open it up and see what is inside.

Interesting indeed. I'll also have a TOD-9 and an EM-5 chained together to see if I can cop some similar tones.