Basic high gain distortion

[edo1123]

Hi guys. I was looking for some high gain distortion with a ridiculous small amount of components. I'm looking for something like a 7th heaven or a Tone wrecker without tone stack. I don't know how to use ics, but I think that a tl074 and a tl072 should do the job. I know it's a particular "request" so if anyone has some hint or knows a pedal like this please let me know.

[induction]

The Lovepedal Purple Plexi 800 is ridiculously high gain and uses an LM386. I don't know how it compares to the 7th Heaven or Tonewrecker, but I modded mine for less gain because it was pretty overwhelming. It's a bit trebly, stock, but easy to modify. You could breadboard it in a few minutes.

IvIark's layout is already pretty small, but I have a hybrid layout that's the size of a postage stamp that I plan to post pretty soon.

[motterpaul]

This one blew my mind, for 5 components (and two pots) it sounds amazing. I can't imagine a smaller subset circuit to give a layout both volume and gain.

[induction]

The Em Drive will give a decent boost and some overdrive, but it's pretty far from a high-gain distortion.

[motterpaul]

I suppose you're right. It sounded pretty crunchy with with humbuckers pushing my JCM800 it, but with a different setup probably not so much.

[rocket88]

the em is nowhere near high gain or even crunchy IHMO, purely a simple boost/od. there's a few things that come to my mind, not sure how high gain you're thinking

1 -  DAM sonic titan: thick and heavy, based on the LM386



2 - MP stone grey distortion - thick, heavy, and good cord definition, based on the CB4069UBE and TL051



3 - Dead Astronaut XFuzz - more of a fuzz, but i think it may fit the bill. stupid simple and based on 2 2N5088

[Sensei Tim]

Off the top of my head and in no particular order

Body rot ii
Suhr riot
Crunch box
That new jhs Andy Timmons pedal

[edo1123]

Sure they are high gain, but I've tried the body rot and it has the lm386 decay I don't like. That's why I'd like a jfet based. I'll give a try to the lovepedal plexi (maybe not all the lm386 based have the same response) and that little booster.

[tabbycat]

this has only one component, which costs about £20 or less used.

it's basically the classic marshall shredmatser with a fixed 68k resistor instead of the 100k bass pot. bass is the least useful control on the shredmaster. anything above two thirds (or 68k of a 100k) is mud, anything below can be far better controlled with the treble control. so it's a wise substitution. if you want it full spec shredmaster remove the 68k resistor and replace it with a 100k pot. simple and quick mod.

all through-hole quality components, metal enclosure, true-bypass, etc. great spec pedal for no money.

and save your building time and energy for something you really want that you can't buy for £20. lots here.

title of this clip is just 'click bait' provocation. let your ears decide if it's what you are looking for.

[Muadzin]

I've built a Purple Plexi, and while it was high gain, it also sounded a little too woolly for my taste. Kinda fuzzy. I've tried many distortions over the years and the ones I like most are the Marshall Guvnor, the Crunchbox, the Dirty Little Secret and the Stone Grey Distortion. The DLS was on my main pedal board as my main dirt pedal for years on end, with nothing able to kick it off. Until I build a Stone Grey Distortion. Which I think cuts a little better through the mix. But for me all four are close. Give me one only of those four and I'll be perfectly happy.

[edo1123]

Re: tabbycat
This is the sound I'm looking for. In Italy it costs almost 45€ and no one sells one used. If there were a vero for something like that with just volume and gain I'd build it with no regrets .

Re: Muadzin
I saw every possible demo of the stone grey and it seems to almost achieve what I'm looking for though, form demos, it seems not so heavy as a shred master. Thanks for the comment on the purple plexi. I was sure it was fuzzy as other lm386 distortion.

[rocket88]

The issue with the lm386 fizzy decay has to do with the model chip. You really want to get an lm386N-4, for some reason the other model numbers produce a fizzy decay.

[edo1123]

Can a lm386N-1 be a replacement for the lm386N-4? I have a pair sitting in my components box.

[tabbycat]

edo1123 wrote

Re: tabbycat
This is the sound I'm looking for. In Italy it costs almost 45€ and no one sells one used. If there were a vero for something like that with just volume and gain I'd build it with no regrets .

Re: Muadzin
I saw every possible demo of the stone grey and it seems to almost achieve what I'm looking for though, form demos, it seems not so heavy as a shred master. Thanks for the comment on the purple plexi. I was sure it was fuzzy as other lm386 distortion.

peccato! i sold mine last month for £20 (piu o meno). i would have happily sent it to you in italy had this post appeared then.
you can get them from ebay china for £25
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JOYO-JF-04-High-Gain-Distortion-Effect-Pedal-True-Bypass-From-Crunch-to-Metal-/141613527478?hash=item20f8d2f1b6:g:tIsAAOSwrklVL2lU

or the shredmaster vero is here
http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/marshall-shredmaster.html

but admittedly it's not a small build with so many pots.

basic fuzzes and overdrives can be pretty small but decent sounding distortions seem to need something more.

maybe something like the dba interstellar overdriver? simple loud and hard distortion, although it doesn't have that hard slam-crunch of the shredmaster. yt demo in post.

http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/death-by-audio-interstellar-overdriver.html

[edo1123]

Don't worry tabby :-) ! If I don't find one for the right price I'll build a shred master with some fixed resistors. Maybe an interstellar overdrive is a little "quiet". In the meanwhile I'll give a try to the stone grey with the cd4049.

[rocket88]

Yea. You can swap the N-4 with the N-1. The suffix denotes the voltage it can takes and how much it puts out. The N-1 is 12V/325mV and the N-4 18V/10000mV. If I'm not mistaken.

[Beaker]

Not a small build, but the Danelectro Fab Tone is a great distortion.

The Roger Mayer Mongoose is a great distortion too, and only a small build, but it's not massively high gain.

Both are on the main page.

[Sensei Tim]

Dr. Boogie is a great high gain distortion. the part count isn't huge and it's relatively simple to build. you just need reliable J201 jfets

[edo1123]

I've seen the mongoose and the fab tone. The second is closer to what I want. The problem with the dr boogie are the j201. I've listened to same demos of the tight metal and it seems not so hard to "shrink" (isolating just the high gain section with the two ics and nothing more), but I'm not an engineer so it maybe harder than it looks. Any ideas on how to do that?

[Hozy31]

The BSIAB II is high gain but can be pretty noisy, and it does use J201s and 5457s.