Naughty Fish

2015 Edition
FX TYPE: Filter
Based on the Mutron III™
© 2015 madbeanpedals
Previous version of the Naughty Fish documentation:
http://www.madbeanpedals.com/projects/NaughtyFish/NaughtyFish.zip

2.15” W x 2.7” H

2015 Edition Changelog

 Increased R25 from 10R to the more common 47R. Changed to jumper 07.27.
 Centralized I/O pads at the bottom of the PCB.
 Re-ordered schematic drawing of the LP/HP/BP switch to match switch pin configuration
(previous version was functionally equivalent but this was changed to prevent confusion).

Terms of Use: You are free to use purchased Naughty Fish circuit boards for both DIY
and small commercial operations. You may not offer Naughty Fish boards for resale or
as part of a “kit” in a commercial fashion. Peer to peer re-sale is, of course, okay.
 Resistors Caps Diodes
R1 3k3 C1 1uF D1 1N914
R2 120k C2 10pF D2 1N914
R3 120k C3 100n D3 1N5817
R4 4k7 C4 2u2 NP D4 12v Zener
R5 12k C5 2n2 LED 3MM
R6 390k C6 1n8 IC
R7 22k C7 2n2 IC1 TL072
R8 22k C8 1n8 IC2 TL072
R9 220k C9 1uF IC3 TL072
R10 220k C10 4u7 IC4 LT1054
R11 560R C11 220uF Vactrols
R12 22k C12 100n VACT_1 MI1210CLF-R
R13 12k C13 10uF VACT_2 MI1210CLF-R
R14 1M C14 10uF Switches
R15 1M RANGE DPDT
R16 330R HI/LO DPDT
R17 47k HP/LP/BP DPDT
R18 180k Trimpot
R19 120k SWEEP 5k
R20 120k Pots
R21 120k GAIN 1MC
R22 330R PEAK 250kB
R23 1k VOL (optional) 100kB
R24 4k7
R25 jumper
R26 1k

7.27.15 Update: The three DPDT switches can now be either lug or PCB mount. This change
was made due to a request from some customers who have had trouble getting PCB mounted
switches.

PCB mounted switches:

On/On: http://smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com/dpdt-on-on-pc-mount/
On/On/On: http://smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com/dpdt-on-on-on-0221c1/

Use these 16mm pots for the Gain and Peak controls:
http://smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com/alpha-single-gang-16mm-right-angle-pc-mount/

And, this Alpha pot for the optional Volume control:

http://smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com/alpha-single-gang-9mm-pc-mount/

or, this 12mm one: http://smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com/alpha-single-gang-12mm-

solder-terms/

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 Shopping List
Value QTY Type Rating
330R 2 Metal / Carbon 1/8W
560R 1 Metal / Carbon 1/8W
1k 2 Metal / Carbon 1/8W
3k3 1 Metal / Carbon 1/8W
4k7 2 Metal / Carbon 1/8W
12k 2 Metal / Carbon 1/8W
22k 3 Metal / Carbon 1/8W
47k 1 Metal / Carbon 1/8W
120k 5 Metal / Carbon 1/8W
180k 1 Metal / Carbon 1/8W
220k 2 Metal / Carbon 1/8W
390k 1 Metal / Carbon 1/8W
1M 2 Metal / Carbon 1/8W
10pF 1 Ceramic 25v min
1n8 2 Film 25v min
2n2 2 Film 25v min
100n 2 Film 25v min
1uF 2 Film 25v min
2u2 NP 1 Non-Polar Electrolytic 25v min
4u7 1 Electrolytic 25v min
10uF 2 Electrolytic 25v min
220uF 1 Electrolytic 25v min
1N914 2
1N5817 1
12v Zener 1 1W
LED 1 3MM
TL072 3 DIP
LT1054 1 DIP
VTL5C3 2 Macron MI1210CLF-R or VTL5C3
DPDT 2 PCB / Solder Lug ON/ON
DPDT 1 PCB / Solder Lug ON/ON/ON
5k 1 Bourns 3362P
1MC 1 PCB Mount 16mm
250kB 1 PCB Mount 16mm
100kB 1 Alpha (optional) 9mm

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4
 1590B Drill Guide
4.43” W x 6.44” H

Download the Photoshop file used to make this drill template:

http://www.madbeanpedals.com/projects/NaughtyFish/NaughtyFish_DRILL.zip

Obviously, this is a very tight fit. To make your life easier, I suggest using smaller profile
input, output and DC jacks, if possible. Alternatively, you can build this in a 125B which
has more room. If using a 125B, you should also be able to top mount all the jacks.

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 Wiring Diagram

You can wire the two LEDs anywhere you like or simply solder them directly to the PCB.

If you do not wish to use the optional Volume pot, simply jumper pads 3 and 2 together
on the PCB and wire everything else as shown above.

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What is best in life? Crush your enemies? See them driven before you? Hear the lamentation of their women? Yes. And
so is making a clone of a super expensive piece of vintage gear in a small enclosure…like the Naughty Fish.

The Naughty Fish is a Mutron III™clone, like the madbeanpedals Nautilus, but shrunk down and simplified. Whereas the
Nautilus required a large rotary switch and a 1590BB enclosure, the Naughty Fish uses no rotary and fits in a 1590B. The
Naughty Fish also replaces the output section of the Nautilus with an optional volume control to save space (neither of
those are present in the Mutron III). In that sense it is a more accurate clone than the Nautilus, although both the Nautilus
and Naughty fish are nearly identical in terms of results.

 Gain – The input gain of the filter effect. This drives not only the filter portion, but also the envelope. As the
control is turned up, more overdrive is produced and the envelope becomes more sensitive to dynamics.
 Peak – Adjusts the intensity of the resonant peak of the filters.
 Sweep – This trimmer follows directly from R.G. Keen's suggestion. It allows one to make small adjustments to
the overall LED brightness in the envelope section. The LEDs are what drive the Vactrols which in turn produce
the sweeping filter effect.
 Hi/Lo – Selects between two sets of filters, high and low.
 Up/Down – Selects two different modes for the LED drivers. The Up setting drives the LEDs from dark to light
and the Down setting is the opposite.
 LP/HP/BP – Selects three different filter types. HP is high-pass, LP is low-pass and BP is band-pass.
 Vol – This is an optional output volume control. I highly recommend using it since the output volume can increase
quite a bit when the Gain pot is turned up.

The original Mutron used a custom made dual Vactrol which is no longer available. The Vactrol consisted of two
photocells, one for each filter stage, and an LED driver in a cylindrical case. The Nautilus uses two Vactrol divers so there
are two photocells, but one LED per photocell. It is imperative that you use the correct Vactrol for this build, otherwise it
will not work correctly.

You should use either the Macron MI1210CLF-R:

http://smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com/photocouplers-macron-mi1210clx-series/
or, the VTL5C3:
http://smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com/photocoupler-vactec-vtl5c3/

If you are unable to get either of these, then roll your own Vactrol using an LED and photocell with specs as close to 20-
50k light and 10M dark as possible. The closest match for this is the 9203 photocell listed here: http://smallbear-
electronics.mybigcommerce.com/photocells-cds-5mm-diameter/

The LED on the Naughty Fish PCB is envelope driven. It will give you some visual feedback as to how the envelope is
behaving, and thus how the Vactrols are being driven. You should mount this LED to the external part of the enclosure.

Technology of Envelope Controlled Filters: http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/ECFtech/ecftech.htm

Musictronics Mutron III info: http://www.effectsdatabase.com/model/musitronics/mutron/3

There are many subtle settings to be found in conjunction with the switches and potentiometers. Take time to explore…it
is one of the most enjoyable effects to fiddle around with.

The 1MC Gain pot is a bit too high in value, IMO. The first 1/3rd of the pot turn feels a little on the dead side to me…but
that is the value used in the Mutron. If you find it bothersome, use a smaller value like 500kC. I even built one with 250kC
and it still had plenty of gain range for my taste.

Start with the Sweep trimmer in the middle of its rotation. As you play around with the Naughty Fish, try tweaking the
trimmer up and down in small increments to get a feel for how it changes the envelope response. There is no one “ideal”
or preferred settings here…it is simply a tweak to alter the envelope to your liking.

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 Voltages 9.42v Supply
Right Left
IC1 TL072 IC2 TL072
1 3mV 1 1.34 .56V
2 3mV 2 1.1mV 1.2mV
3 .8mV 3 .7mV 1.1mV
4 -8.59 4 -8.6 -8.6
5 2.9mV 5 3.61 0.7
6 1.8mV 6 3.41 0.73
7 2.3mV 7 6.67 2.5
8 9.16 8 9.15 9.15

IC3 TL072 IC4 LT1054

1 0 1 1.5
2 2.2mV 2 4.98
3 0.8mV 3 .9mV
4 -8.61 4 -3.9
5 0.7mV 5 -8.6
6 0.5mV 6 2.55
7 0.3mV 7 1.41
8 9.16 8 9.15

Voltage readings will change depending on where the Range switch is set. The list above shows both sets for left and
right positions on the switch (up and down).

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