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Component drift?

Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2018 8:41 pm
by Philip
I think this is right place to put this...

How long before components start to drift in our pedals? Some D*A*M's are what, nearly 15 years or so old now, should there be some drift or are modern components more stable than before?

:hmm:

Re: Component drift

Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2018 8:54 pm
by innerflight
good question, my Seeing Eye MKII sounds like no other MKII ive ever heard and me and Stella_Blues think it might be drifting, don't want it fixed though as it sounds fucking ace :badteeth: :freakout:

Re: Component drift

Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2018 9:12 pm
by jerms
i kinda doubt resitors in pedals will drift too much considering most are 1/2 watt.. i think it applies more to amps where the voltages are much much higher than 9 volts...

Re: Component drift

Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2018 9:15 pm
by Philip
jerms wrote: Tue Apr 03, 2018 9:12 pm i kinda doubt resitors in pedals will drift too much considering most are 1/2 watt.. i think it applies more to amps where the voltages are much much higher than 9 volts...
So what makes for the kinda noticeable difference between old and new pedals? Transistors going wonky?

Re: Component drift

Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2018 10:39 pm
by jerms
after thinking about it yeah resistors do drift, more so the old carbon comps because they will absorb water from humidity..... new carbon film ones probably not so much as they're sealed with epoxy..... the electrolytic capacitors definitely drift... they're sort of like batteries and wear out.... part tolerances were greater in old resistors and caps than in new ones.... so older pedals are more variable than new ones....

Re: Component drift

Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2018 11:03 pm
by Philip
:tu:

Can this be replicated temporarily without damaging the pedals? :badteeth:

Re: Component drift

Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 12:06 am
by jerms
play your pedals as much as possible! :hihi: or do like seymour duncan does on his antiquities..... run a signal thru them for days on end! audiofile dudes swear that by doing that it realigns the electrons in the metal conductor so they all point in the same direction....

Re: Component drift

Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 12:17 am
by Philip
Playing lots should be ok, might give the signal thing a go. :smashed: :party:

Re: Component drift

Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 9:21 am
by Laundromat
I don't think there's any magic to it. The effect of drifted resistors would be the same as using a different part value to begin with, so nothing that couldn't be reproduced. I also don't believe there's really any change going on inside the transistors, unless it's tin whiskers or something that make them crap out completely.
Electrolytics tend to go up in value, until they fail completely. Their contribution to sound with drift would be introducing signal loss and making the sound more muffled.

innerflight wrote: Tue Apr 03, 2018 8:54 pm my Seeing Eye MKII sounds like no other MKII ive ever heard and me and Stella_Blues think it might be drifting
Has the sound started to change or why do you suspect it's drifting? If it's just because of how awesome it sounds, I'd credit that to Dave's fingers and ears entirely.

Re: Component drift

Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 9:32 am
by Philip
So what I've often described as an elusive fucked upness to various old pedals is down to the parts at hand and who put it together? They would have sounded much the same when first built and sold?

I'd say there's a kind of tghter sound to modern builds in comparison to ye olde itterations.

I know practically nothing about building these things, but have wondered if a factor in that tightness is that perhaps new builds are being over thought and refined. Like it seems Hurt's main focus with MKI builds was getting sustain and it didn't matter much if there's noise and crackle either side of the sustain sweet spot(s).

Edit: Some old pedals I'v had a shot of have just been a bit noisier, but not really any different than similar new builds. Not going to name them though. :smashed: