Aion VORTEX User manual

VORTEX AMP DISTORTION 1

PROJECT NAME

VORTEX

BASED ON

EFFECT TYPE

PROJECT SUMMARY

DOCUMENT VERSION

Bouteek Distorter Preamp

A reproduction of an obscure and extremely rare drive pedal designed to reproduce Marshall-style high-

gain amp tones.

Overdrive / Amp-Like Distortion 1.0.1 (2019-08-09)

BUILD DIFFICULTY

Intermediate

Actual size is 2.3” x 2.7” (main board) and 1.78” x 0.86” (bypass board).

VORTEX AMP DISTORTION 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1Project Overview 9Drill Template

2Introduction & Usage 10 Enclosure Layout

3-5 Parts List 11 Wiring Diagram

6-7 Build Notes 12 Licensing

8Schematic 12 Document Revisions

INTRODUCTION

The Vortex Amp Distortion is a recreation of the Bouteek Distorter Preamp, a limited-release pedal

from 2009 that flew largely under the radar. It was rumored to have the involvement of someone from

Peavey, but otherwise very little is known about the company.

Bouteek released three other pedals. The Overdriver Preamp and the Twin Drive & Boost (Ultimate

Drive) were both released in 2009. The Oil Cap Preamp followed in 2011. Each was only available for

about a year or two. By mid-2015, Bouteek was fully extinct in the wild.

Circuit-wise, the Preamp Distorter is an interesting combination of familiar building blocks. It starts

with two Tube Screamer drive stages with variable clipping options. From there, it goes into a Big Muff

tone control stage. Using two CD4066 switches, it selects between two different sets of low-pass and

high-pass filters used on both ends of the tone control. At the end, there is a gain recovery stage.

This project would not have been possible without the help of Paul Marossy. He did most of the work

tracing the pedal several years ago, but ran into a couple of issues that caused it to be shelved before it

was fully verified. Aion FX did a second pass to work out the problem areas and verify the tracing work

independently, and then designed the PCB.

USAGE

The Vortex has the following controls:

• Pregain and Drive are the first two gain stages, simulating the setup of a high-gain amplifier.

• Tone pans between a high-pass and low-pass filter. The two filters themselves are impacted by the

Tone toggle switch.

• Volume controls the overall output of the effect.

• Clipping (toggle switch) selects the clipping diodes which changes the character of the drive tone. In

Vintage mode, both stages are clipped with silicon diodes. In Rectifier mode, the Pregain stage has

no diodes while the Drive stage uses LEDs for clipping.

• Tone (toggle switch) selects between two different sets of high-pass and low-pass filters for the

tone control, altering the frequency ranges that are panned by the Tone knob.

VORTEX AMP DISTORTION 3

PARTS LIST

This parts list is also available in a spreadsheet format which can be imported directly into Mouser for

easy parts ordering. Mouser doesn’t carry all the parts (most notably potentiometers) so the second tab

lists all the non-Mouser parts as well as sources for each.

View parts list spreadsheet →

PART VALUE TYPE NOTES

R1 1M Metal film resistor, 1/4W

R2 16k Metal film resistor, 1/4W Can sub more common 15k with almost no difference in tone.

R3 47k Metal film resistor, 1/4W

R4 1k Metal film resistor, 1/4W

R5 47k Metal film resistor, 1/4W

R6 14k Metal film resistor, 1/4W Can sub more common 15k with almost no difference in tone.

R7 27k Metal film resistor, 1/4W

R8 8k2 Metal film resistor, 1/4W

R9 27k Metal film resistor, 1/4W

R10 27k Metal film resistor, 1/4W

R11 220k Metal film resistor, 1/4W

R12 47k Metal film resistor, 1/4W

R13 100k Metal film resistor, 1/4W

R14 100k Metal film resistor, 1/4W

R15 220k Metal film resistor, 1/4W

R16 100k Metal film resistor, 1/4W

R17 100k Metal film resistor, 1/4W

R18 100k Metal film resistor, 1/4W

R19 100k Metal film resistor, 1/4W

RPD 2M2 Metal film resistor, 1/4W Input pulldown resistor. Can be as low as 1M.

LEDR 4k7 Metal film resistor, 1/4W LED current-limiting resistor. Adjust value to change LED brightness.

C1 1uF Film capacitor, 7.2 x 3.5mm

C2 150pF MLCC capacitor, NP0/C0G

C3 47n Film capacitor, 7.2 x 2.5mm

C4 470pF MLCC capacitor, NP0/C0G Original uses 500pF which is not a common value today.

C5 1uF Film capacitor, 7.2 x 3.5mm

C6 220n Film capacitor, 7.2 x 2.5mm

C7 47n Film capacitor, 7.2 x 2.5mm

C8 470pF MLCC capacitor, NP0/C0G Original uses 500pF which is not a common value today.

C9 1uF Film capacitor, 7.2 x 3.5mm

VORTEX AMP DISTORTION 4

PARTS LIST, CONT.

PART VALUE TYPE NOTES

C10 22n Film capacitor, 7.2 x 2.5mm

C11 47n Film capacitor, 7.2 x 2.5mm

C12 2n2 Film capacitor, 7.2 x 2.5mm

C13 22n Film capacitor, 7.2 x 2.5mm

C14 1uF Film capacitor, 7.2 x 3.5mm

C15 1uF Film capacitor, 7.2 x 3.5mm

C16 150pF MLCC capacitor, NP0/C0G

C17 1uF Film capacitor, 7.2 x 3.5mm

C18 100uF Electrolytic capacitor, 6.3mm Power supply filter capacitor.

C19 47uF Electrolytic capacitor, 5mm Reference voltage filter capacitor.

C20 47uF Electrolytic capacitor, 5mm Reference voltage filter capacitor.

C21 100n MLCC capacitor, X7R Power supply filter capacitor.

D1 1N5817 Schottky diode, DO-41

D2 1N914 Fast-switching diode, DO-35

D3 1N914 Fast-switching diode, DO-35

D4 1N914 Fast-switching diode, DO-35

D5 1N914 Fast-switching diode, DO-35

D6 5mm LED LED, 5mm, red diffused Can also use 3mm.

D7 5mm LED LED, 5mm, red diffused Can also use 3mm.

D8 1N914 Fast-switching diode, DO-35

D9 1N914 Fast-switching diode, DO-35

IC1 JRC4558D Operational amplifier, DIP8

IC1-S DIP-8 socket IC socket, DIP-8

IC2 JRC4558D Operational amplifier, DIP8

IC2-S DIP-8 socket IC socket, DIP-8

IC3 CD4066BE CMOS quad analog switch, DIP14

IC3-S DIP-14 socket IC socket, DIP-14

IC4 CD4066BE CMOS quad analog switch, DIP14

IC4-S DIP-14 socket IC socket, DIP-14

PRE 500kB 16mm right-angle PCB mount pot

DRIVE 500kB 16mm right-angle PCB mount pot

TONE 100kB 16mm right-angle PCB mount pot

LEVEL 100kB 16mm right-angle PCB mount pot

SW1 DPDT on-on Toggle switch, DPDT on-on Selects the clipping diodes for the first two gain stages.

SW2 DPDT on-on Toggle switch, DPDT on-on Selects between two different sets of filters for the tone control.

VORTEX AMP DISTORTION 5

PARTS LIST, CONT.

PART VALUE TYPE NOTES

LED 5mm LED, 5mm, red diffused

IN 1/4" stereo 1/4" phone jack, closed frame Switchcraft 112BX or equivalent.

OUT 1/4" mono 1/4" phone jack, closed frame Switchcraft 111X or equivalent.

DC 2.1mm DC jack, 2.1mm panel mount Mouser 163-4302-E or equivalent.

FSW 3PDT Stomp switch, 3PDT

ENC 125B Enclosure, die-cast aluminum Can also use a Hammond 1590N1.

VORTEX AMP DISTORTION 6

BUILD NOTES

Switches

The original unit has a single toggle switch for either “Rectifier” or “Vintage” mode. Inside, it’s a 4PDT,

with two of the poles controlling the clipping diodes and two of the poles controlling the filters in the

tone section. To provide added flexibility, and also because 4PDT switches are clumsy and somewhat

hard to find, this single switch has been split out into two.

Clipping switch

The clipping switch allows you select between different sets of diodes for the two gain stages. One half

of the switch selects the diodes of the first stage (either two silicon diodes for “Vintage” mode, or no

clipping for “Rectifier” mode) and the other half of the switch selects the diodes of the second stage (two

silicons for “Vintage” or two LEDs for “Rectifier”).

Tone switch

If you look at the schematic, this section looks pretty complex due to the CD4066 switching, but it really

just comes down to each side of the tone control having a different filter value (one resistor and one

capacitor) depending on whether it’s Vintage or Rectifier mode. The DPDT switch becomes eight SPST

switches so that a filter is fully out of the circuit when the other one is engaged.

See next page for more in-depth info on how the tone control behaves and what exactly the toggle

switch does to the sound.

VORTEX AMP DISTORTION 7

BUILD NOTES

Tone control analysis

The tone control is based on the standard Big Muff-style control that fades between a low-pass filter

(bass emphasis, cutting treble) and a high-pass filter (treble emphasis, cutting bass). Here are graphs

showing how the tone control behaves in the different modes.

VINTAGE MODE RECTIFIER MODE

Key:

• Red: 0% rotation (full bass)

• Yellow: 50% rotation (midpoint)

• Green: 100% rotation (full treble)

In Vintage mode, the EQ in the 12:00 position is very similar to a Big Muff with a scooped midrange. In

Rectifier mode, however, it’s largely flat in the middle, with only a slight bass emphasis. The treble side

provides a slight treble increase while the bass side cuts treble significantly. As a result, in Rectifier

mode, the entire character of the control changes, and it becomes basically just a treble control that cuts

to the left.

SCHEMATIC

VORTEX AMP DISTORTION 8

1N5817

100uF

GND

+9V

100n

47uF

47n

22n

22n 2n2

220n

47n

150pF

500pF

150pF

47k

27k

14k

8k2

27k

47k

100k

220k

100k

100k100k

27k220k

16k

100k

4066N

4066N4066N

4066N

4066N4066N

4066N

1N914

RED RED

1N914

GND GND

GNDGND

500kB

100kB

GND

GND GND

GND

47uF

GND

2M2

GND

1uF

C18

OUT

C21

C19

C11

C10

C13 C12

C16

R12

R18

R13

R15

R14

R16R17

R10R11

R19

IC3A

1B2

IC3B

4B3

IC3C

IC3D

A11

C12

IC4A

1B2

IC4B

4B3

IC4C

IC4D

A11

C12

IC3P

VDDVSS

7 14

IC1A

1IC1B

IC2A

IC2B

D4 D5

D6 D7

SW1A

SW1B

SW2A

SW2B

IC4P

VDDVSS

7 14

DRIVE

PREGAIN

TONE

LEVEL

C20

RPD

C14

C15

C17

GND

VORTEX AMP DISTORTION 9

DRILL TEMPLATE

Cut out this drill template, fold the edges and tape it to the enclosure. Before drilling, it’s recommended

to first use a center punch for each of the holes to help guide the drill bit.

Ensure that this template is printed at 100% or “Actual Size”. You can double-check this by measuring

the scale on the printed page.

Top jack layout assumes the use of closed-frame jacks like the Switchcraft 111X. If you’d rather use

open-frame jacks, please refer to the Open-Frame Jack Drill Template for the top side.

LED hole drill size assumes the use of a 5mm LED bezel, available from several parts suppliers. Adjust

size accordingly if using something different, such as a 3mm bezel, a plastic bezel, or just a plain LED.

0 1 2

0 1

INCH

ø3/8” ø1/2”

0.385”

0.625” 0.625”

x: 0, y: -1.775

ø15/32”

x: -0.775, y: -1.775

ø5/16”

ø3/8”

125B

OUT

TONE

CLIP

DRIVE

LEVEL PREGAIN

FOOTSWITCHLED

DC IN

x: -0.65, y: +1.71 x: 0.65, y: +1.71

ø9/32” ø9/32”

x: -0.65, y: +0.41

ø9/32”

x: 0.65, y: +0.41

ø9/32”

CENTER (0,0)

x: 0, y: +0.83

ø1/4”

x: 0, y: +1.29

ø1/4”

VORTEX AMP DISTORTION 10

ENCLOSURE LAYOUT

Enclosure is shown without jacks. See next page for jack layout and wiring.

125B

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