Audioworks FET Distortion?

[Lex Luthier]

I've owned one of these Audioworks FET Distortion pedals for almost 20 years, found another one 10 years ago. I recently scored another one after years of looking. Nobody ever talks about them, and I've only seen one thread on another gear site about these. Does anyone know anything about these pedals or what ever happened to the company? Just guessing by the serial numbers, they were built around 1982 or 83.

 

[Lex Luthier]

*crickets*


LOL

 

[frankfalbo]

I know a guy in Illinois that has one and thinks it's the best thing in the world. That's all I can say about it.

 

[Lex Luthier]

They do sound good, surprised some pedal whiz hasn't cloned one.

 

[earthtonesaudio]

Take some clear pictures of both sides of the circuit board, and take pics of (or just note) part numbers on the active devices and pots etc. Once a schematic is made available, the circuit will live on even if all the original pedals disappear.

 

[mikey]

I had one of those around '84-'85, haven't seen one in a long time. I've been looking for one for some time as I remembered liking it quite a bit. Oddly, I did an ebay search for one a few days ago.

...That said, I kinda figured once I found another it may not be as good as I remember. I'll have to keep my eye open for one and give it a try once again!

 

[Lex Luthier]

I'll post a couple pix of the innards after I get home from work.

 

[frankfalbo]

The guy in Illinois offered it to me for "research" but I'm not into cloning as a rule, and I think it would be more fun to find the guy that designed it and get him involved. If I remember, he said he got it from the guy who designed it, and that obviously it wasn't his primary job, like he was a sound engineer or tech who worked on pro audio or something like that. I'll call the guy if I get a chance today and see if he can give more info, or maybe he's already on TGP.

 

[Lex Luthier]

Gut shots, nothing very exotic inside.

 

[earthtonesaudio]

Those are decent pics, but to produce a schematic a little more info is needed.

I can read that the 14-pin is a 4069 and the two 8-pin packages look like 1458s, and most of the resistor values are legible, except where they're hidden underneath larger caps or their shadows. I've drawn some circles where it looks like there should be resistors:

If you can get another picture of the board, but from a different angle, I think a lot of those will be visible. For the rest it might help to pry up the obscuring caps and note the color bands of the resistors.

Other than that, part numbers on the caps, potentiometers, and transistors/diodes are the only missing info.

 

[Stompboxter]

I bought one second hand in the mid 90s and have never seen another besides this thread. I like it, although i don't use it much because the funky rubber switch is starting to crap out. But it's perfect for adding gobs of mid bite, for example a tele bridge pickup will really scream without sounding thin.

 

[alguit]

Here's a link to a schematic:


http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c57/roknjohn/Audioworks.jpg

 

[Lex Luthier]

Here's a link to a schematic:


http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c57/roknjohn/Audioworks.jpg

Awesome! Thanks

 

[thirdear]

I am selling one of these pedals...haven't posted it yet. But, it will go up with all the other gear soon. Any ideas where to find pricing? I believe that the inventor, Henry Kern (from whom I bought mine), sold the patent as the prototype for the MXR Plus back in the 70s...at least that's what I think I remember him saying to me back then. Great pedal, by the way...

 

[Lex Luthier]

Hard to say because I hardly ever see them for sale! Last one I bought was $49 in the original box.

 

[massi]

I do love the sound of Jfet distortion.
Is the only way to get close to tubes.
One issue is to shape the frequencies before the distortion stage.
So I built my PedalPro with a Jfet and two programmable filters that allows for a wide variety of sounds.

http://www.vintage-revolution.com/products/pedalpro/samples/distortion/

I did not based the design on Audioworks Jfet distortion, but I see some similarity in the circuit.

 

[Lex Luthier]

I do love the sound of Jfet distortion.
Is the only way to get close to tubes.
One issue is to shape the frequencies before the distortion stage.
So I built my PedalPro with a Jfet and two programmable filters that allows for a wide variety of sounds.

http://www.vintage-revolution.com/products/pedalpro/samples/distortion/

I did not based the design on Audioworks Jfet distortion, but I see some similarity in the circuit.

Looks like a cool unit!