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Topic: Remake of the old the old Orange Squeezer pedal |
Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
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Posted 17 Jul 2011 11:11 am |
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| Just finished one and am having a great time with it. To me it is a very mild compression with a whole lot of ability to add gain (if needed). I built one with a true bypass switch ands an output volume control. I used the OPA2134PA chip instead of the classic 4558 chip. That turned out to be a great choice. Great for guitar so I tried it on steel. The steel (single coild 12 string pickup) seemed to distort it a good bit. I tried it after my passive volume pedal and that problem was gone. Much to my surprise it cleaned up my sound like the OPA2134PA chips do to a Peavey amp! I am still experimenting, but I think I have found a great little device for my steel setup. What a supberd tone it gave my steel!!! |
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 17 Jul 2011 2:05 pm
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Ken,
I can remember a pic of Emmons, with one plugged into his steel. I have a reissue that I bought about 20 years ago. Maybe I'll have to pull it out and give it another try. |
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Mark van Allen
From:
Watkinsville, Ga. USA
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Posted 17 Jul 2011 2:06 pm
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I always loved the original Orange Squeezer on guitar, Ken, but lamented the lack of intensity control. I think the original design with a control over drive or input might be a real winner.
For a great example of killer sound with the original, check out Barry Chance's lead guitar on Jimmy Buffet's live "You Had To Be There" double album. Absolutely smokin'! |
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Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
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Posted 17 Jul 2011 2:11 pm
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| This re-design allows for a 10K control to be added for sustain, I used the fixed resistor. I will try that soon and see how that effects the overall unit. Right now it sure is sounding very good for steel, but only after the passive volume pedal. Also I use a volume pedal for the Tele and it really is working well for that as well after the volume pedal. |
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Jerry Hayes
From:
Virginia Beach, Va.
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Posted 18 Jul 2011 3:14 am
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Ken, I used the old "Orange Squeezer" on both my old ShoBud 12 stringer and on a Gibson 335 style guitar in the early eighties. I always liked what they did but any adjustments had to be made by taking the cover off and "tweaking" the little control(s) inside the unit. I always thought they'd have been better if they'd had knobs on the outside, one for volume and one for intensity (or sustain). A steel player in this area (Rick Mann) uses one of the old units stuck on the end of his S-12 Marlen...........JH in Va.
_________________
Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!! |
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Hiro Keitora
From:
New York, New York
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Posted 22 Jul 2011 9:30 am
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I can't wait, ken!
This will be a neat thing for both Steel and Tele, but doesn't Orange Squeezer have to be the first in chain right after guitar? ( before the volume pedal) 
We can give "sustain" by stepping in the Volume pedal, but the pick attack and that sort of the nuance are what the Orange squeezeer is good at, no??
Do I make sense??  |
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Hiro Keitora
From:
New York, New York
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Posted 22 Jul 2011 9:32 am
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I can't wait, ken!
This will be a neat thing for both Steel and Tele, but doesn't Orange Squeezer have to be the first in chain right after guitar? ( before the volume pedal)
We can give "sustain" by stepping in the Volume pedal, but the pick attack and that sort of the nuance are what the Orange squeezeer is good at, no??
Do I make sense?? |
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Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
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Posted 22 Jul 2011 9:35 am
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| The steel pickup dirves it crazy, too much signal. I like it after the volume pedal for the Tele and the steel. Just adds a nice tone and just a bit of compression, not so noticable but very nice |
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Hiro Keitora
From:
New York, New York
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Posted 22 Jul 2011 9:51 am
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OK, since it'll be "after" Volume pedal, it'll be a small stomp box, right? That's cool, then I can use it on Strat too. When it's ready for sale, keep us posted!!  |
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Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
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Geoff Cline
From:
Southwest France
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Posted 22 Jul 2011 12:01 pm
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I got this from Dan Armstrong (rip) back in the day...keep it in the gear closet for special occasions/sessions:
Nice to have a reason to pull it out and share. Dan was a brilliant music equipment guy...and a fine player too. |
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Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
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Posted 23 Jul 2011 10:29 am
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That is the first real one I have seen! Thanks for posting that for us.
Was the real one prone to distort easily? Just curious, I need to do same bench/R&D work on mine to see if I can get it to accept a larger signal for sure. |
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Geoff Cline
From:
Southwest France
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Posted 24 Jul 2011 8:55 am
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Ken:
Never had prbolems with distorting "easily" but I never used it on PSG (or anything with pickups wound over 10K). It is beyond incredible with humbuckers and single coils. My current steels are all non-pedal (vintage Fender and Clinesmith)...but when I get a chance to try it on a PSG I'll report back.
I remember being at Dan's place in CA...a tinkerer's dream house. He showed me some cool chord substitutions for "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" on a Danelectro he had modified that was incredible. |
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Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
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Posted 24 Jul 2011 9:04 am
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The circuit baord for this one is nice, but the paperwork was not revised since they made a new board! The in/out, ground and +9V were not marked on the board at all. I got that fixed right away. The input and ground were in opposite places, as compared to the not so good drawing. There was a diode not marked all on the board and I missed putting it in! Old eagle eye can't see like him used to!
I have that coming and will go over everything again! Surprized it worked so well.
The revised OS board uses a 4.7M input resistor to set the input impedance. Looks like the original might have been 1 meg, more common for input on opamps (typically 100K to 1Meg).
Will keep you posted! |
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Hiro Keitora
From:
New York, New York
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Posted 2 Aug 2011 6:30 pm
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Hey Ken, You got me thinking about Burr Brown chip, and of course, I had to check it out. So, I bought an Orange squeezer Clone that comes with 7558 chip in socket, and replaced that with Burr Brown chip.
I think the clarity was definitely improved. It's amazing, and fun!
Ibanez over drive box like TS-9(Tube Screamer)comes with 7558( especially old ts-808), so I changed that to BB chip, just to see what happens. Wow, mushy mid-range opened up! how fun is that!?  |
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Per Berner
From:
Skovde, Sweden
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Posted 3 Aug 2011 1:51 am
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| All compressors that I have owned were totally unusable with steel, total overload! Forumite Georg Sørtun steered me in the direction of the BOSS LMB-3, a sort-of compressor built for electric bass. And that one actually works, it can handle the hot steel signal. |
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Hiro Keitora
From:
New York, New York
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Posted 3 Aug 2011 2:39 am
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Yes, Bass Limiter! I bought that too after reading Georg, and per is right, it work!, it actually works well. 
I use Telonics VP, and it's hooked from Steel-LMB-3-VP-Amp.
It's interesting to note that LMB-3 let you use VP differently(less up and down).
<H> |
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Mike Neer
From:
NJ
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Posted 3 Aug 2011 3:39 am
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I used to have an Orange Squeezer when I was about 16 and, man oh man, it sounded fantastic with my Les Paul. I played in bands with guys who were twice my age at the time and I think one of them helped himself to it.
_________________
Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links |
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Georg Sørtun
From:
Mandal, Agder, Norway
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Posted 3 Aug 2011 4:02 am
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Per, Hiro, I am glad you found the LMB-3 useful. I have found it to be the only usable stomp-box size compressor for steel, and hardly ever play without one.
The only thing that is "wrong" with LMB-3 is its color, IMO. I'd like it in black to go with most of my PSGs 
Sound-chain: any steel (PU) --> LMB-3 --> any VP --> amp.
Settings: moderate... slight variations to go with the individual PSG. |
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