NECRONOMICON GATE MKII

Let the THE NECRONOMICON GATE be the only thing standing between you and the disgusting hordes of chaos and disorder.

THE NECRONOMICON is a BLACK GATE (OF MORDOR), OUROBOROS COMPRESSOR and true bypass loop switcher to harness all your dirt effects with brutal attack and endless sustain, all at once.

Do you want your attack to be vicious?
Do you want palm mutes to punch you in the gut?
Do you like virtually endless sustain?
Do you want one of those magical "always on" pedals that you feel like there's something missing if you have to play a rig without one?

The concept is simple: suppress noise, feedback and hum while sacrificing as little tone, pick attack or sustain as possible.
From an engineering standpoint, easier said than done, especially when the most common IC chip to make this happen has been discontinued. Luckily I've found an alternative that works equally well and (for now) is available. I'll be buying up about 100 of these chips I've found as soon as possible and after that, who knows?

The OUROBOROS uses an envelope follower to trigger an LM13700 OTA voltage controlled amplifier. This produces compression which is so much more than simply making quiet and loud things the same volume. That effect is an extreme form of compression referred to as "limiting". Limiting is useful in a studio but less so before a guitar amp (in my opinion).

While not playing, an OTA in the dynacomp circuit is running at max gain, producing its maximum amount of output noise.
Using a "feedforward" as opposed to "feedback" approach so that the OTA is in the loop of an OPAMP is how the OUROBOROS works; the OTA acts like a current-controlled feedback resistor.

The way the Ross/dynacomp (same deign with some value changes) and clones of these (which is all most guitarists have ever tried) were designed, they made sure they let you know the pedal is on by changing the tone.

A good compressor should be almost totally transparent. It’s about not what it does to the tone but to the dynamics and feel.

The big knob is a "ratio" control which essentially works like a clean blend.

The internal trim pots are:
•Threshold (how much signal it takes to trigger the compression envelope)
•Attack (how fast/slow the volume comes in)
•Release (how fast/slow the volume fades)
•Volume (also known as "make up gain")

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Guitar goes to the input which triggers the gate.
It’s then buffered into the OUROBOROS COMPRESSOR and then to the send of the loop which you put all your dirt effects.
The return of loop is effected by the BLACK GATE and goes to the output which goes to either mod/ambiance pedals etc then amp or into the effects return of your amp.

NECRONOMICON GATE comes in the blacked out “None More Black” (NMB) version, the black/metal krackle with black switches, LED bezels and blacked out etching (like the NMB) and a limited color Krackle blacked out.

INSTRUCTIONS:

The setup might seem complicated at first but once it clicks you'll get it down:

Plug your guitar directly into the input (tuner first is fine) and then put anything you'd normally put in front of an amp (or the preamp itself) in the DIRT FX LOOP and then to either your amp input if you use it as a pedal platform or into the FX return if you use amp gain.
Let me clarify:

You will put compression, wah, fuzz, distortion, overdrive, boosts or anything else you like before your gain INSIDE THE DIRT LOOP.
(We will call all of these "dirt" pedals to simplify things in the instructions)

•If you run all pedals into the front of a clean, pedal platform amp:

1) FROM the SEND jack of the BLACK GATE >
TO the first pedal your "dirt" pedal chain>
2) FROM the output of the last pedal of your "dirt" pedal chain >
TO the RETURN of the BLACK GATE>
3) FROM the OUT of the BLACK GATE into your modulation and ambience pedals (chorus, delay, reverb etc.) >
TO the input of your AMP.

•If you use a high gain amp:

1) FROM the SEND jack of the BLACK GATE >
TO the first pedal your "dirt" pedal chain
2) FROM the output of the last pedal of your "dirt" pedal chain >
TO your amp/preamp input
3) FROM the SEND of the AMP FX LOOP >
TO the RETURN of the BLACK GATE
4) FROM the OUT of the BLACK GATE >
TO the RETURN of the AMP FX LOOP

•If you use modulation/delay/reverb and a high gain amp

1) FROM the SEND jack of the BLACK GATE >
TO the first pedal your "dirt" pedal chain
2) FROM the output of the last pedal of your "dirt" pedal chain >
TO your amp/preamp input
3) FROM the SEND of the AMP FX LOOP >
TO the RETURN of the BLACK GATE
4) FROM the OUT of the BLACK GATE >
TO modulation/delay/reverb pedals
5) FROM modulation/delay/reverb pedals >
TO the RETURN of the AMP FX LOOP

(Don't worry, I'll draw a diagram and post it in the photos and make a short video explaining the connections)

The external knob controls the threshold. This sets the point at which the gate kicks in and how much gating there is.

•There are two pots inside for trim and bias.
•There is a third trim pot for decay which helps to set how long the note holds before cutting off.

Too short and it cuts off too soon, too long and some feedback/noise might creep in after a mute. We will be setting these before hand. If you do decide to tweak this, take a close up, hi-res photo first!!

All BLACKHAWK pedals and preamps are true bypass and standard “one spot style” 9v, Negative tip, 2.1mm barrel.

CURRENT DRAW 100ma to 200ma

Please allow 1-2 weeks build time as every BLACKHAWK pedal is made by hand for YOU.