Lazy J Cruiser - Am I going nuts???

[CyberFerret]

Just bought this Lazy J Cruiser pedal from a TGP member.

When I was unpacking the box, I notice that the pedal 'rattled' noticeably when I shook it. Worried that an important component had been shaken loose inside, I opened the bottom cover, and a tiny nut dropped out of the enclosure.

(pictured below between the two switches)

I am assuming it was on one of the screws holding the PCBs onto the housing. Seeing as this pedal has PCB's on both the main enclosure AND on the bottom cover which are interconnected and prevent me from opening the pedal right up.

I'm not really concerned because the pedal works great (from my 10 minutes of play testing so far).

...or SHOULD I be concerned in case it provides a critical function to the pedal???

 

[DJ_61]

you just discovered the secret ingredient. Every overdrive pedals sounds better with a loose bolt enclosed. Just try it.

 

[breadfan]

I'd imagine it's there for a reason, probably, as you've said, to keep the pcbs in place.

I'd give Jesse a shout if I were you - he's a great guy to deal with.

 

[CyberFerret]

Just following up on this thread to give a shout out to Jesse at Lazy J amps... I was reassured by a few people that he gives great service, and does he ever!

I sent him a query earlier today asking for some information on how to drive this pedal, and he sent back the following reply:

Hi Devan,
the only nuts in the Cruiser are the 4 nuts holding down the circuit board...
so it could only have been one of those. If you put it back on and then put a little nail polish over it, it'll hold it in place.

As for the functions...I've attached instructions for the single knob Cruiser.
I am talking about the single knob Cruiser now (understanding this will make it easy to explain the double switch Cruiser in a minute):

You will see from the instructions that the circuit is divided into two parts:
the lower two knobs (GAIN and VOL) and
the upper two knobs (DRIVE and SAT)

when the DRIVE is turned all the way off, the drive circuit is bypassed and the Cruiser is essentially a booster. (SAT is also off when the DRIVE is off)
You set the input GAIN and the output VOLume...with the GAIN way down, and the VOL up, you get a very warm, clean boost.
The more you tun the GAIN up, the dirtier the boost will become...that way, the Cruiser goes very gradually from a clean boost to a dirty boost and even to a very driven boost when the GAIN is all the way up.

When you now turn up the DRIVE, all the input GAIN is diverted into the drive circuit...and then out to the VOL control.
The SAT control is a rotary switch that gives you three clipping/compression variations when the DRIVE is engaged.
In order to engage the drive circuit on the single knob Cruiser you have to physically turn the DRIVE knob up.

Now, the double switch Cruiser:
circuit wise the double switch Cruiser is identical to the single switch.
The left switch on the double is the same as the switch on the single...it turns the pedal on.
The difference is that on the double Cruiser you can preset the DRIVE circuit and then kick it in and out with the second switch. (the left switch has to be on for that)
So, the left switch kicks in the boost side of the Cruiser, and the right switch kicks in the Drive (on top of the boost)
Because switching between the Boost and Drive functions creates quite a jump in volume, the SAT control on the double Cruiser controls the output level of the Drive circuit, ie. how much of the Drive signal is fed into the VOL control...this allows you to balance the Boost and Drive levels...
the little toggle switch now gives you the three clipping/compression variations when the DRIVE is engaged (this was done with the SAT rotary switch on the single).
switch position:
down - very compressed and gritty
up - less compressed, more headroom
middle - no compression/clipping, most headroom

and that's it...I hope this isn't completely confusing...
If you need more info, just let me know.
Have a great weekend,
Jesse
PS: the Cruiser works best with a somewhat turned up amp...

That is tremendous customer service, considering I bought the pedal second hand and he didn't make any money from me...

... now, to save up for a Lazy J amp...

 

[razorblade_beat]

Yeah I had a similar experience with jesse after purchasing a used cruiser, great pedal and awesome guy to deal with! Really cares for his product!

 

[Csgband]

How are you liking the pedal?

 

[CyberFerret]

How are you liking the pedal?

Really really liking it so far... Today I played my single coil and humbucker guitars through it, and it seems to handle both types very well. Certainly one of the 'cleanest' drive/boost pedals I've used, and also one of the quietest!

At first I thought it was TOO subtle, but as I cranked up the Drive and Gain knobs, and also the Volume knob on the guitar, great things started to happen.

Now that I know a lot more about how the knobs/switches interact with each other, I am going to give it more of a blast tomorrow (it's 11:30pm here now and I cannot crank the amp while the kids are in bed! )

Tone report to follow...