Home › Forums › Help/Technical Questions › MYSTERIOUS MINIMIZING MEMORY BOY DELAY TIME
- This topic has 21 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 5 months ago by malfixit.
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December 11, 2009 at 7:43 pm #105213companymanParticipantQuote:Quote:Quote:I live in Florida, and I’ve found my Memory Boy to be sensitive to temperature changes.
The max delay time is longer when the temperature in my house is above about 70 degrees F.
The max delay time decreases when it falls below 60 degrees F.
This is really bizarre, but no more bizarre to me than how temperature affects Germanium transistors. I’m not too concerned about it. It beats having to change the tape loop.
it’s not temperature changes, more likely fluctuations in your power grid.
I’m not entirely convinced. The occurence has a happened a few times now, which seems too often to be a coincidence.
it has been -18 in Colorado last week and my Memory Boy’s delay time was significantly diminished, it normally has a warm up period, this warm up time took a lot longer but eventually it returned to normal delay time.
December 11, 2009 at 8:07 pm #105214SquigglefunkMemberQuote:it has been -18 in Colorado last week and my Memory Boy’s delay time was significantly diminished, it normally has a warm up period, this warm up time took a lot longer but eventually it returned to normal delay time.well this would be an entirely different and new problem then. Mine varies by the hour, not with temperature changes.
December 11, 2009 at 8:14 pm #105215companymanParticipantQuote:Quote:it has been -18 in Colorado last week and my Memory Boy’s delay time was significantly diminished, it normally has a warm up period, this warm up time took a lot longer but eventually it returned to normal delay time.well this would be an entirely different and new problem then. Mine varies by the hour, not with temperature changes.
I’m not sure if this is confirmed, but if that is you Robo, didn’t you have an incident with daisy chaining the Memory Boy?
February 16, 2010 at 1:55 am #107545anthonyturcoParticipantI got my memory boy for Christmas 2009 and well it pretty much does what it wants when it wants. At first it seemed to work fine but I noticed that all of the knobs seem to be so sensitive as everyone was complaining about, so then I switched back to using my boss daisy chain one spot power supply, and well it seemed to work perfect until today. Now even with the ehx power supply I am getting a super high pitched whistle only when the delay is set to its max delay time. As soon I turn the delay knob to about 9 0 clock the whistle goes away. I think this is a damn shame because this pedal sounds so damn good when it wants to work. Anyone else having this problem?
I also think EHX needs to step up on this one because it seems to be an ongoing saga with this pedal.
April 11, 2013 at 8:27 am #118906andrew_dotdotParticipantSorry to resurrect this ancient thread, but…
For me, it’s definitely temperature where the Memory Boy is concerned. No question.
When I go to the drafty rehearsal space and put it on the floor, the max delay time goes down. If I put it up on the vent of my warm amp, it eventually returns to “normal”, but then it’s awfully hard to stomp on. Note – same power supply plugged into the same socket, whether on the floor or on the amp. Back in the studio, it always behaves because I keep it in a nice warm corner of my gear rack, which keeps it at a constant 80F or so. That solution only works because I don’t need to stomp on it there.
[strong]Does anyone have concrete experience with the Deluxe MB[/strong]? Does the delay also get shorter with colder temperatures? If it’s immune to temperature, then it’s problem fixed. But, if the problem is only masked by the tap tempo, then the problems’s only fixed as long as you don’t want a long delay near the top of the dial in a cold room.
/d
April 16, 2013 at 4:45 pm #118939Flick (EHX Staff)ModeratorQuote:Sorry to resurrect this ancient thread, but…For me, it’s definitely temperature where the Memory Boy is concerned. No question.
When I go to the drafty rehearsal space and put it on the floor, the max delay time goes down. If I put it up on the vent of my warm amp, it eventually returns to “normal”, but then it’s awfully hard to stomp on. Note – same power supply plugged into the same socket, whether on the floor or on the amp. Back in the studio, it always behaves because I keep it in a nice warm corner of my gear rack, which keeps it at a constant 80F or so. That solution only works because I don’t need to stomp on it there.
[strong]Does anyone have concrete experience with the Deluxe MB[/strong]? Does the delay also get shorter with colder temperatures? If it’s immune to temperature, then it’s problem fixed. But, if the problem is only masked by the tap tempo, then the problems’s only fixed as long as you don’t want a long delay near the top of the dial in a cold room.
/d
The Deluxe Memory Boy does not have the delay time vs. temperature issue, at all, it is fixed in that product.
June 8, 2014 at 12:31 am #120022malfixitMemberAfter reading of problems with this gadget including power supply suitability, temperature-dependence etc. and having landed one on my bench to “fix” I have the following information which should clear a few things up.
The problem with the unit I was given is a pitch variation which should not be present for a straight delay setting. Without analyzing the circuit in depth (don’t have a schematic) I infer the following: the timing oscillator is an R-C type whose frequency is supply-voltage and temperature dependent. The correct type of plug pack to use is a regulated one (i.e. a switchmode type). Normal unregulated plugpacks will not give correct results as there is ripple present in the output. I inferred this from observing that the unit worked correctly on battery (which is effectively regulated and smoothed). The company should have built a voltage regulator into the unit. Not doing so also means that the delay period will change as the battery is drained. -
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