Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on August 15, 2016 at 4:40pm

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=black+ice+guitar+mod

This is the only video of the DIY diode mod I could find and he states that it's the 2 diode mod. So they at least work with magnetic pickups. Piezo may be the problem.

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Permalink Reply by JL on August 16, 2016 at 1:46am

Schottky Diodes are low power diodes, you can get the clipping effect at about 0.15v, where a non-schottky diode won't give you the clipping effect until you hit about 0.7v which neither a mag pup nor piezo rod/disk can generate in a git.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on August 17, 2016 at 4:27am

For the BlackIce, there's no mention of how hot the pickup needs to be. They only recommend a 250k pot to be used with it. Don't know about what is recommended with the DIY version.

7k and 8k is considered normal for neck position HB's. 9k and above would be considered hot for the neck. Ibanez pickups were always on the hot side.

 1N34A diodes are the ones listed in the instructable.

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Permalink Reply by Fomhorach on August 17, 2016 at 12:43pm

Those are the ones I ordered.

I think though, this will be a trial and error thing to get the right ones to fit whichever output the pickup is and in which way they need to be wired.

I have a feeling though that if you have a normal type of any pickup and vary the amount of input via some type of variable resistor it will produce a result with the right type of diodes.

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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on August 17, 2016 at 12:32pm

Awesome that your trying this Wayfinder. Hope to hear something good soon! 

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Permalink Reply by Fomhorach on August 17, 2016 at 12:46pm

Woo! \o/

Let's get this thing going right?

He's right wayfinder.. when you crack this, let us all know how it's done.

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Permalink Reply by Regan on August 17, 2016 at 4:32pm

Have you tried directly across your output jack, Wayfinder? make sure the diodes are opposite polarity from each other too.

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Permalink Reply by Regan on August 17, 2016 at 4:45pm

Lol, wish I could,,, everything is packed up at the moment and I live in rural Canada,, nuff said :D

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Permalink Reply by Regan on August 17, 2016 at 5:38pm

Volume loss is to be expected, the diodes are clipping off a portion of the waveform to make the overdrive sound, this means the volume will be percieved lower as the waveforms do not have the peaks that they normally would.

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Permalink Reply by JL on August 18, 2016 at 2:01am

The two diode configuration clips your signal to 0.15v, anything below that, soft playing or volume knob wired before the diodes not turned up to 11 just won't produce enough juice for the diode to react to and the signal goes unchanged to your amp.  Anything above that 0.15v gets clipped to just that, no extra juice gets out cause the diode eats it, giving you that "clipped" sound. the hotter the pickup the more pronounced the clipping will be.

The 4 diode configuration as pictured at the beginning of this post does not clip, it's a gate.  it steals the first 0.3v of your signal.  anything below 0.3v doesn't make it past the diodes and your amp gets NO signal.  If you have a really hot pickup this can be useful to cut out soft stuff you don't want, like handling noises that piezos pick up, or the fret-click when doing a hammer-on, or some of the infamous hum from the fluorescent lights, but if you don't have a hot pickup it will likely give you a zero-to-very-little output killing the volume.

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Permalink Reply by Regan on August 18, 2016 at 10:28am

One way to combat the volume reduction is to use it in two pickup guitars. Wire the pickups  with a series switch (that gives a boost in volume) that also kicks in the diodes. The volume boost of the series pickups should make up for the loss due to the diodes, plus it will give more distortion of the signal. Of course this means a second pickup,,,,,,

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Permalink Reply by JL on August 18, 2016 at 11:34pm

I just though of a messed up analogy for a diode used this way...the overflow tube in your toilet tank.

Wired in parallel to the pickup, its like the overflow tube in a toilet tank, if the water level (pickup signal strength) is low it does nothing to it.  If the water level tries to go above that, ALL the extra Water (signal amplitude) goes over the lip and straight down into the drain.

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