Dynacomp --> Janglebox Mod: Is this the right capacitor?

[Phil O'Keefe]

I have a Ric 610 in my collection too - they're very cool guitars!   Mine is Jetglo - what color is yours? I originally wanted one in Fireglo, but couldn't locate any, and then I saw the black one in a store in LA and fell in love with it and took it home. 🙂 

Thanks for the info on the C4 labeling on the capacitor in your pedal - that may help someone else down the line. As I said, there have been a few different variations of the circuits and boards used in DynaComps over the years, so it doesn't surprise me that yours was a bit different. I guess I should go check mine and see if it says C4 or C5... 

Glad to hear you like the sound of the pedal modded! The cap you just removed is in the make-up half of the emphasis / de-emphasis noise reduction circuit, so the pedal may be a bit noisier now too, but I don't think it's too objectionable, and it definitely gives it a brighter sound without the cap in there. IMO they may have been a bit too heavy-handed with the cap value they selected for that position - another possible mod is to replace the stock cap for a different one that would roll off a little bit less high end than the stock .001uF capacitor does... 

I'm not sure how closely this mod brings a DynaComp to a Janglebox - I've never looked at the schematic for that pedal, so there may be other differences - even significant ones - but this mod does make the DynaComp a much more effective tool for getting that jangly, compressed and almost treble-boosted sound.

In fact, that reminds me - I sometimes use a DIY-built Vox V806 treble booster clone along with mine - you might want to give that a try sometime too if you like those bright, 60's era Beatles / Byrds (and 70's era Tom Petty) tones. Here's a link to a thread with pictures of mine, along with links to where you can get low-cost ($50) DIY kit and the instructions to build one yourself.

 

 

It's an easy build - if you can solder well enough to do the DynaComp mod, you should have no problems building one.