REVV G3 (solid state Revv generator purple channel preamp)

[owlexifry]

my biggest vero build yet.
somehow i got away with zero build errors i can’t believe nothing went wrong..

layout from dirtboxlayouts.
(apparently derived from pedalpcb schematic - ‘tyrian distortion’)

i was nervous about this one.
(read about this layout having noise/oscillation problems for some builders)

i also expected this to be terrible, im not really into distortion circuits,
so i wasn’t tooo invested, and didn’t bother heatshrink-insulating any long/protruding resistor leads like i normally do (maybe i’ve been wasting my time)


found a nice $2 tin at the secondhand shop.





turns out, holy crap. i cannot believe how good this solid state preamp sounds. absolute sweet high gain heaven. smooth saturation. tight and crisp. big and ballsy. wide range of tone control.
(been playing into the FX return of a 4xEL34 peavey windsor + mesa 4x12)

as an added bonus, no noise or oscillation issues! (about as much hum as any overdrive).
very pleased.



the demo video i saw that initially inspired me to have a go at this circuit, turned out to be not misleading at all.
what a pleasant surprise.

for reference, it sounds almost exactly as shown in this video:

 

[owlexifry]

evidence

 

[zeppelinofled69]

I just finished one of these the other day using the Tyrian PCB from pedalpcb.

So far I have been really happy with it and your description is spot on with my experience.

Nice job on the board, by the way. I have not tried to tackle strip board yet, but I have been toying with the idea of buying some to do some testing with smaller circuits.

 

[owlexifry]

I just finished one of these the other day using the Tyrian PCB from pedalpcb.

So far I have been really happy with it and your description is spot on with my experience.

Nice job on the board, by the way. I have not tried to tackle strip board yet, but I have been toying with the idea of buying some to do some testing with smaller circuits.

ayy snap, that looks great!
i noticed you’ve selected ‘waterclear’ LEDs for the hard clippers… i wonder how much difference that would make vs regular old 3mm red LEDs..

i don’t know if i agree with some demos that have run it in front of an amp.. and it ‘sounding good’.
it only really seems to work well as a preamp into an FX return (but that’s just my experience)

thanks! vero/strip board is a lot of fun i reckon. it absolutely is more work and effort than pcb, but the satisfaction pays off.

maybe something small like a treble booster could be a good start?

 

[zeppelinofled69]

ayy snap, that looks great!
i noticed you’ve selected ‘waterclear’ LEDs for the hard clippers… i wonder how much difference that would make vs regular old 3mm red LEDs..

i don’t know if i agree with some demos that have run it in front of an amp.. and it ‘sounding good’.
it only really seems to work well as a preamp into an FX return (but that’s just my experience)

thanks! vero/strip board is a lot of fun i reckon. it absolutely is more work and effort than pcb, but the satisfaction pays off.

maybe something small like a treble booster could be a good start?

Thanks a lot!

I actually hadn't considered the difference between leds when I selected em. I just grabbed what I had off the shelf. I may have to socket these and try some others to see what difference it makes.

I run mine out front but I'm in a wet dry setup with a a few different amps depending on where I'm playing. I'll have to try it out front of just one amp and see what it's like. I have noticed that it has an almost unreasonable amount of volume available so it's definitely more of a preamp than a typical pedal

What else have you tried it through if you don't mind my asking?

I typically run through a Hiwatt DR103 and an Orange OR120 (both clones I built) but also have fenders and Marshalls at home too. I'll have to spend some time tomorrow experimenting with some other setups.

 

[owlexifry]

Thanks a lot!

I actually hadn't considered the difference between leds when I selected em. I just grabbed what I had off the shelf. I may have to socket these and try some others to see what difference it makes.

I run mine out front but I'm in a wet dry setup with a a few different amps depending on where I'm playing. I'll have to try it out front of just one amp and see what it's like. I have noticed that it has an almost unreasonable amount of volume available so it's definitely more of a preamp than a typical pedal

What else have you tried it through if you don't mind my asking?

I typically run through a Hiwatt DR103 and an Orange OR120 (both clones I built) but also have fenders and Marshalls at home too. I'll have to spend some time tomorrow experimenting with some other setups.

ahh right, sounds like your rigs/purposes are a bit more complex than what i've been looking at.

all i have done so far is:
- FX return, peavey windsor (modified to 800 spec) - this sounds great.
- in front of the same peavey - but this sounds very honky, weird, harsh, and excessively noisy, no matter how i dial the amp or G3.

- could also try it on front of a peavey 6534/6505, DIY SLO 40W, or a 2204 clone, but i suspect that these bright/high gain amps aren't going to do much better either.

- i have a 5W tweed amp (1x12AX7, 1x6L6) that i could try it on front of, and i reckon this might actually sound pretty good.
will try this soon.
(i tried a pedalpcb 'dwarven hammer' precision drive clone with this 5W tweed once, and it sounded incredible, with the attack feature to tighten up the low end, was a big surprise...)

my suspicion is that the G3 works well when there isn't a long chain of processing and/or gain stages following (like there is an a jcm800 type amp, which pumps a lot of treble / high mid)
there's just so much low end and 'girth' that gets lost running into the front of the amp that you can't recover vs simply using the FX return.
(just my 2c)

 

[zeppelinofled69]

I will say that the Hiwatt and Orange preamps are a lot less complex and lend themselves well to being clean platforms (despite what most people think, the orange is way too loud when broken up to be super useful).

I have been thinking about adding effects loops to both amps and trying some other setups but also have a beefy power transformer and some output transformers laying around. Perhaps I should throw together a power amp and see how that goes with the G3...

Argh, the tinkering never ends... building pedals was supposed to stop my desire to build more amps, not reinforce it. lol

 

[owlexifry]

I will say that the Hiwatt and Orange preamps are a lot less complex and lend themselves well to being clean platforms (despite what most people think, the orange is way too loud when broken up to be super useful).

I have been thinking about adding effects loops to both amps and trying some other setups but also have a beefy power transformer and some output transformers laying around. Perhaps I should throw together a power amp and see how that goes with the G3...

Argh, the tinkering never ends... building pedals was supposed to stop my desire to build more amps, not reinforce it. lol

yeah that makes a lot of sense. probably works much better on those clean platforms.

well i just tried it with the 5w tweed. it’s ‘better’ than the last amp i tried, but still, just doesn’t quite get anywhere near as good as what i’m getting with direct to FX return.


haha i guess it depends what suits you more: installing FX loops in otherwise perfectly fine amps, or building a power amp…..

the second one sounds like more fun to me..