[brjernej]

Banana booster is one of the oldest TT DiY projects and it always fascinated me how simple it is. I must have drawn tens of different layouts for it. In preparations for my bigger (half finished) project G5, and waiting for some "sand" kits to arrive I took a cardboard box, an obsolete noval socket and looked for the parts in my drawers. 2 caps and 7 resistors in pretty common values - check! TT LoV PSU from past projects - check (and I had to add two monster caps instead of originals   ) jacks, knob, led, switch, wires ... Not a thing someone wouldn't have as remains ... Chassis, pot - missing > ordered (can wait). The model in cardboard was made in approx. 2 hours. With direct PTP approach - my way: messy as hell and hard to troubleshoot, also prone to parasitics, but small. When the chassis arrives there is a complication, because the insides are smaller than thought. When plugged in, sound is great, practically no noise. This kind of tube booster on the begining of sound chain is practicaly all the tube in it you need ...
But I am left wandering: what does the "kick" option in the kit add ... A transistor (as in Vanilla)? Later I see it's a switchable cathode cap - and I am kind of dissapointed; also in me, for not getting the idea myself ... I am thinking of putting it in this project, but where ... Maybe.

[brjernej]

Design:
- tube socket is mounted with two L brackets - belton noval chassis sockets are made for this mounting (and can prove a difficulty to mount from inside the chassis >> make hole a square OR use nuts as spacers)
- led is an oval sort (3,7x3mm) and so it is mounted noly by frocibly pushing in 3,5 drilled hole - not too cosmetic, but it works
- caps are (again haha) overkill,  this time in the voltage, but I had those home
- DC input terminal is turned to the middle of PCB (so it can be directly at the chassis)
- as the later 14V power adapters from TT are DC, the diodes are replaced with corresponding jumpers
- on the other side of PSU PCB I used an old pin terminal (neither currents nor voltages are too high for that) - and the distance is just right
- oh, and the second overkill: wires - i used the remains of silicon ones from G5 project >> better use solid 0,14mmm, soldering those to the tiny connectors is nuisance
- 1uF cap goes directly from socket to pot
- all ground is wired directly to the input jack; I tested with multimeter, that contact with chassis is made there

[brjernej]

problems:
- a loud click when switching (a problem with all the TT pedals I built) > where is this DC from? With lower gain on pedal and higher gain later on this becomes a serious problem, as it is practically impossible to switch during playing without making an ugly pop. Some "other site" uses a little different wiring of the pedal switch, and I didn't notice poping there (but these are "sand" pedals)

[Dirk]

Hi,

If you bild the Kick like shown in the documentation than you should have no problems with clicks.

Fest regards, Dirk

[brjernej]

Oh, i wasn't clear, it is not about thw switching kick on and off, but the entire effect (bypass/effect).
Thanks anyway.

[Dirk]

Sorry, I don't understand what problem you have. Please explain.

Regards, Dirk

[brjernej]

When I press the big 3PDT footswitch, which changes between "bypass" (no effect, signal bypasses the circuit at the switch) and "effect" (signal goes through the circuit), there is an annoying popping sound, just as some DC was swithed on or off (a spike). As in TT pedals DC is really always on, I wonder where does it come from. The only power which is really swithed on/off, is the LED power, but I can hardly beleive ... The sound is equally loud no matter what the pot settings are (this excludes pretty much everything in the circuit) - and so makes it especially problematic, when using the effects at their low volume (trying to have just a little "crunch" with the pepper shredder ... ) Would it be possible that some spike formed at the LED and then struck on the signal line? I am thinking about opening the box and trying the thing without the LED. The other possibility that there was some DC in output / input and it would have been interrupted during switching, but with proper coupling output cap this is probably excluded. Or would it be possible there was some DC on the grid on the input side? Probably I should measure it and record it ...

[Dirk]

Hallo,

please see attached PDF.
A 1M resistor is used to pull the plob to ground.

Regards, Dirk

[brjernej]

Thank you!
I will try it. It is probably the best to do it on the input jack - or not?. Or maybe even move R2 resistor from the original banana booster circuit to this location before the switch - this theoretically defies full-bypass design, but practically shouldn't be a problem I presume.
Peace + all good
Jernej