Don Tillman's discrete FET guitar preamp | Tele... http://www.tdpri.com/threads/don-tillmans-discr...

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Don Tillman's discrete FET guitar preamp

Discussion in 'Burnt Fingers DIY Effects' started by wnorcott, Jan 27, 2009.

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Jan 27, 2009 #1

I have built Don Tillman's superb and easy to build FET guitar preamp. I would
like to share a PCB design and layout I created for it.

wnorcott
Tele-Holic
 862
 Sep 30, 2008
 New Hampshire, USA
Don Tillman's FET preamp is designed to always be in the signal path, and not a
"sound effect" pedal per se. It is a beautiful sounding preamp one of the best I
have heard. The only thing that makes it stomp box like is that it is portable: you
plug your guitar into it first, and then into a regular guitar amp.
The Tillman FET preamp uses a single J201 field effect transistor. The J201 JFET
is a common part that should be familiar to many of you. What is different here is
Tillman is not trying to drive it to saturation, he is keeping it clean and linear. The
circuit has a very high input impedance of 3 Megohm which means it does not
suck the tone out of your guitar and in that respect it also acts as a buffer. The
tone quality reminds me of the very best of high end tube amplifiers, flat response
and no noticeable tone coloration but still has that je ne sais quois that we know it
when we hear it. It is just amazing that such a simple, spare design sounds so
good. It only has seven parts and one of them is optional.

First the schematic this is from Don's site.

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These can be built real small but my days of building a ship in a bottle are over so
I scaled it so it is easy to build not clumsy. It will fit in the smallest project box that
can hold 2 guitar jacks and a 9V battery.

Here is my parts layout design for it. As seen from the component side.

Here is my PCB mask to etch your own printed circuit boards, the image may
display different sizes in your browser. When you print the finished size should be
about 1.2" tall and 1.5" wide. The easiest way to print might be open the image in
Paint and print on plain paper first, scaling it until the scale is correct. The size of
the PCB is not so critical.

The preamp is intended to be always in line and always on. There are no controls
it is a fixed 3dB gain amp, and operates on a single 9 volt battery. I wired mine
with a simple SPST toggle switch to power it on. IF you forget to turn it off I would
not sweat it: A 9V battery will last about 300 hours.

I built it with 1% tolerance metal film resistors. There are very few components in
this build so use good quality. There is only 1 capacitor in the signal path, C1 is a

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DC blocking capacitor on the output. So it is not cricitcal, but I used good quality
electrolytic. Use shielded cable on the input.

No project page would be complete without a demo so here it is. I have a

YouTube demo of it very clean guitar sound:

Stereo link for the above since it is a guitar duet one in left speaker the other in
the right:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDeJXaxguqU&fmt=18

It would be interesting to use the Tillman preamp as building block for a DIY
amplifier head, I would say right after the input jacks and before the tone controls.
You would probably need and additional clean gain stage to drive a power amp
since the Tillman is fixed 3dB gain. Just a thought.

And last but not least, here is the link to the original project page by the master
himself, Don Tillman:

http://www.till.com/articles/GuitarPreamp/index.html

I HOPE YOU LIKE IT!

Bill

wnorcott, Jan 27, 2009 #1

Jan 31, 2009 #2

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I've tried this curcuit and it sounds great! 3db is a good boost. Really lets your
amp tone come through.

pgambon, Jan 31, 2009 #2

pgambon
Tele-Meister

 183
 Mar 17, 2003

Feb 24, 2009 #3

I amde one of these for an acoustic that had no built in pickup/preamp. Very easy
to build. I've wanted to do the preamp cable version, but I don't really have any
need for it.

It worked great with the RadioShack piezo I got for a pickup.

Also, you can include a volume control by making R4 a 50K pot. This is handy in
udimet720 some situations....
Tele-Holic
udimet720, Feb 24, 2009 #3
 542
 Feb 26, 2008
 Tustin, CA

Feb 27, 2009 #4

Hi,

I'm interested in making this and found this http://www.muzique.com/schem

/multi.htm looks quite good, has any one tried these PCB's.

Finally how do you identify the pins on the J201 and which one goes where ie
Ground, Source & Drain.
mmaatt
TDPRI Member Many thanks

 61
Matt
 Sep 17, 2008
 Kent, UK mmaatt, Feb 27, 2009 #4

Feb 27, 2009 #5

mmaatt said: ↑

Hi,

I'm interested in making this and found this http://www.muzique.com/schem

/multi.htm looks quite good, has any one tried these PCB's.

Finally how do you identify the pins on the J201 and which one goes where ie Ground,
wnorcott
Tele-Holic
Source & Drain.

Many thanks
 862
Click to expand...
 Sep 30, 2008
 New Hampshire, USA
Anything made by Jack Orman is good: Jack is the Godfather of pedal design.
Orman is the most experienced guy out there by a factor of ten as far as I am

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concerned.

To identify the pin out on J201 you can refer to the chart that I added earlier for
that purpose:

Transistor Pin-outs Chart Transistor Pin-outs Chart

Bill

wnorcott, Feb 27, 2009 #5

Mar 23, 2009 #6

I'm waitning for my board to arrive from Muzique and was thinking of putting a
switch then an LED (check light) after the 9v+ will this affect anything?

Many thanks

Matt

mmaatt mmaatt, Mar 23, 2009 #6

TDPRI Member

 61
 Sep 17, 2008
 Kent, UK

Mar 24, 2009 #7

Well as you can see I put a toggle switch on mine which is fine. A LED will draw a
lot of current. I am not a big fan of LED's. On the Tillman an LED will use up more
power than the Tillman preamp does: without the LED a fresh battery will last up
to 300 hours.

You should not put a LED in series with the +9V the best way to do it is you have
to connect the LED beween the power rails i.e. between +9V and ground, after
wnorcott soldering a suitable resistor to one leg of the LED. Another thing to keep in mind
Tele-Holic is the current draw of an LED can cause a popping sound when you switch it on

 862
Bill
 Sep 30, 2008
 New Hampshire, USA wnorcott, Mar 24, 2009 #7

Mar 29, 2009 #8

Hi,

I tried to make one these using a Jack Orman mulit purpose PCB and followed
the componts/values as below.

PCB layout here: http://www.muzique.com/news/tillman-fet-preamp/

mmaatt R4 - 3.0M
TDPRI Member R5 - 6.8k
R6 - 2.2k
 61
R7 - 51k
 Sep 17, 2008 R9 - Jumper
 Kent, UK C1 - Jumper
C2 - 4.7uF
C4 - 10uF
Q1 - Jfet transistor (2N5457, J201, MPF-102 or similar)

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It just buzzes, I wire a switch between battery and P+ rail, but it doesn't seem to
make any difference to signal. what should i check first.

Many thanks

Matt

mmaatt, Mar 29, 2009 #8

Mar 29, 2009 #9

Did you check the pinout on the transistor and make sure it matches the proper
orientation on the circuit board?

wnorcott, Mar 29, 2009 #9

wnorcott
Tele-Holic

 862
 Sep 30, 2008
 New Hampshire, USA

Mar 31, 2009 #10

Got it working, the problem was with one of the jack sockets

I had to change R5 from 6.8k to 2.2K to get the J201 to bias a 5.7v, with 6.8k it
was just over 4v measured between drain and gate.

One thing I have noticed, which I'm not sure is right is, if I play through the
preamp, the volume is lower than if I play straight into my amp?? I thought this
mmaatt would be the other way round?
TDPRI Member

Apart from that the tone is great.

 61
 Sep 17, 2008
Many thanks
 Kent, UK

Matt
Last edited: Mar 31, 2009

mmaatt, Mar 31, 2009 #10

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Apr 1, 2009 #11

No it should be louder but only 3 dB louder, when you play through the Tillman.
But the volume does not matter much, as your point out the Tillman is about its
beautiful tone.

wnorcott, Apr 1, 2009 #11

wnorcott
Tele-Holic

 862
 Sep 30, 2008
 New Hampshire, USA

Apr 2, 2009 #12

Thanks wnorcott,

I've realised what I've done, by trying to get the bias right I've reduced the output
inpedance, the drain resistor should be 6.8k for this reason.

I'll reduce the source resistor which will increase the drain voltage (I think!!).

mmaatt Thanks again

TDPRI Member
Matt
 61
 Sep 17, 2008 mmaatt, Apr 2, 2009 #12
 Kent, UK

Apr 2, 2009 #13

Would this circuit work to warm up the sound of a SS amp? I've got a nifty little
Yale Reverb that's slightly sterile sounding played clean.

mmaatt, did you get the JFET that was recommended in the article or did you use
another brand?

Jack Knife, Apr 2, 2009 #13

Jack Knife
Friend of Leo's

 2,080
 Oct 24, 2003
 Magdalena, NM, US

Apr 2, 2009 #14

I used a J201 - N-Channel JFETs - Vishay Siliconix.

I've read that the tolerances of these things are quite big, I ordered three an they
were all similar, I had to use 4.4k resistor on the source (R2) and 5.6k on the
drain (R3) to get just over 5v between the drain and ground. I dont know if this
due to the varying tolerances of J201's.

mmaatt R3 dictates the output inpedance so bias R2, I had R3 at 2.2k and this lowered
TDPRI Member the output so much that guitar straight amp was louder.
Hope this helps
 61
 Sep 17, 2008

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 Kent, UK Cheers
Matt

mmaatt, Apr 2, 2009 #14

Apr 2, 2009 #15

mmaatt said: ↑

I used a J201 - N-Channel JFETs - Vishay Siliconix.

I've read that the tolerances of these things are quite big, I ordered three an they were
all similar, I had to use 4.4k resistor on the source (R2) and 5.6k on the drain (R3) to
get just over 5v between the drain and ground. I dont know if this due to the varying
tolerances of J201's.
11 Gauge
Doctor of Teleocity
R3 dictates the output inpedance so bias R2, I had R3 at 2.2k and this lowered the
output so much that guitar straight amp was louder.
 10,225
Hope this helps Click to expand...
 Mar 21, 2003
 Near BWI Int'l
JFET's are notorious for having gain levels that are all over the map. This makes
trimpots worth their weight in gold. As a plus, you might even be able to get right
up to around unity with a 2N5458 or similar unit.

11 Gauge, Apr 2, 2009 #15

Apr 2, 2009 #16

How about warming up a SS amp? Does it work good for that?

Jack Knife, Apr 2, 2009 #16

Jack Knife
Friend of Leo's

 2,080
 Oct 24, 2003
 Magdalena, NM, US

Apr 2, 2009 #17

It makes nearly everything you play sound better on nearly every amp. I recorded
it the demo (above) on a 1973 Peavey theClassic

It makes the tone clearer but if you pick sloppy it makes the mistakes clearer too
so it is a double-edged sword.

Bill
wnorcott
Tele-Holic wnorcott, Apr 2, 2009 #17

 862
 Sep 30, 2008
 New Hampshire, USA

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Apr 4, 2009 #18

Hi guys,

I looked at this preamp for a while now, but what I would like is that it would
accept phantom power (48v)... I know the preamp cable of the same author does
this, but what about this preamp ? Is it possible to adapt the schematics to get
48v instead of 9v ?
Sorry if this is a stupid question, but my electronic level is not great...
zorgzorg2
Tele-Meister M.
Silver Supporter
zorgzorg2, Apr 4, 2009 #18

Age: 38
 142
 Feb 27, 2008
 Norrköping, Sweden

Apr 4, 2009 #19

48V to 9V DC using voltage divider

You can drop 49V down to 9V with a simple voltage divider I would use 1% metal
film to get as accurate as possible since this is a divider.

Vin = 48V
R1 = 1K
wnorcott R2 = 240
Tele-Holic Vout = 9.29V

 862
 Sep 30, 2008
 New Hampshire, USA

http://www.raltron.com/cust/tools/voltage_divider.asp

That is pretty close to what a 9 volt battery actually puts out.

If it were me I would us a 9V battery instead of expose my expensive phantom

power supply to the smoke test but the numbers work out.

Bill

wnorcott, Apr 4, 2009 #19

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Apr 5, 2009 #20

Thanks for the answer !

To clarify a little, my thoughts were to have phantom power as an extra option, so

that the battery doesn’t get empty when recording on a mixing console...

If I end up with something else than smoke, I’ll keep you updated ;-)

zorgzorg2 M.
Tele-Meister
zorgzorg2, Apr 5, 2009 #20
Silver Supporter

Age: 38
 142
 Feb 27, 2008
 Norrköping, Sweden

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