Favorite overdrive / distortion / boost

[bsas]

Hi all,

I want you guys opinion about your favorite overdrive / distortion / boost in the verified designs.
I already did some: Cornish SS2, G2, Timmy, TS9, OD808, OCD v3 and v4, Red Llama, EP Booster.

My favorite until now is the OD808, but I really like the Cornish SS2 with low gain.

I am planning to do: Klon, Pinnacle, Euphoria, TS9X, TS808, RC Booster.

So, which other one you guys recommend? Also which one do you guys think I should do first?

Thanks!

[Frank_NH]

What kind of music do you play.  I favor classic rock, which can mean everything from clean to distortion.

There is a "favorites" thread where I answered this question in detail, but some of my current favorites are:

* Klon
* Any tube screamer (TS-808 is good)
* Marshall Shredmaster
* Clark Gainster
* BJFE Model H
* G2D Cream Tone
* Madbean Rump Roast
* Hermida Zendrive
* Mi Audio Crunchbox

I've also built some PCB projects and the ROG Thunderbird was great (there's a vero here for that circuit). The Umble and Britannia are good too but not as good as Thunderbird.

The one fuzz I like is the Univox Super Fuzz.  But you need to build at least one Big Muff, right??

One of the problems you find as you build more is that the overdrive you thought was great now sounds only good after a building a newer circuit which really IS better.  Plus, our tastes change as well as our gear (amps and guitars), and that will affect your choices.

Have fun.

[bsas]

Awesome man, thanks!

I will try them! :D
Just a question: which "Klon" do you prefer in the site? There is a couple.

[rocket88]

Well I'll throw my hat into this ring. First off I'm a bassist that happens to dabble in that six string instrument you all call a guitar, so everything I build I expect to use it for both. My top 5 OD's

1. BJFE blueberry - a bass OD that if used on guitar thickens your tone and give a great low-medium gain. Similar to the BJFE honeybee, which was developed from the blueberry (with that in mind I would include the Bearfoot honeybee as opposed to the BJFE version, as I find it a little warmer)
2. Barbershop - this thing is simply beautiful and can go from low gain to near high gain
3. Wampler ecstasy - can go from low gain up to on the verge of fuzz with a flip of the diode switch
4. Blackout effectors mantra - very tweakable OD with an active bandax tonestack, need I say more?
5. Germanium Giant - I know you would think it would be higher, and if should, but it's one of those effects that fits multiple categories, so I moved it to #5 to be fair. It can do everything from clear warm boost to slight OD to full on distortion.

Top 5 fuzzes:
1. Big Muff - everyone needs at least one, and I've built nearly every version of this one, so I guess you can say I love this circuit. Each generation has a slightly different tone and feel, due to some slight differences in components. I personally would say the green russian muff is my favorite, super smooth, creamy as could be, and great low end retention.
2. DAM FR-69 - basically a Ge fuzzrite, has a few tweaks that just makes it a little better to my ears.
3. Ge & Si Fuzzface - Hendrix used both, enough said.
4. Tonebender - hard to choose just one, as each one is slight different and everyone has their favorite.
5. Anything Shin-ie - just raunchy, dirty, 60's garage psychrock in a box.
6 - Superfuzz - amazing fuzz, sorta like a big muff, but so much different. Everyone needs on in their fuzz arsenal.
7 - Buzzaround - see Shin-ie reasoning
8 - search Research graphic fuzz - just an oddball of a fuzz, too much fun not to build.
I had to stop myself cause I just kept going and could continue.

Top 5 boosts
1. Rangmaster - tony iommie, that's all you need to know

[Muadzin]

I've tried many an OD and I can't seem to pinpoint a really good one. I currently don't even have one on my board. If I had to throw out some names, the venerable TS-9 (there's a reason its cloned that often), the Wampler Ecstasy, and the Klon of course. Cause chicks dig the Klon!

Distortions are more my thing. Not metal distortions as I don't like that sound but I do love a cranked medium distortion. Currently the Stone Grey Distortion is my main go to dirt box. Even though I'm building at least 2 dirtboxes a month I don't plan to replace this one soon. Others that I recommend are the Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret (version 1, I still don't know anyone who managed to get version 3 working right), the Marshall Guvnor, the Crunch Box and the Pinnacle.

The Stone Grey Distortion, Guvnor and Crunch Box use IC's and will pose no problems. The Dirty Little Secret and the Pinnacle use JFET's which can be a pain in the ass to get working right for two reasons. Firstly JFET's are no longer in production so they are both expensive to get and there are shitloads of fakes on sale. Basically avoid buying JFET's from Chinese sellers as they will probably be fakes. Get them from reliable sources instead. Secondly, he DLS uses 2N5457's in a mu amp configuration so other then finding some real ones no problems like biasing or matching them. The Pinnacle however needs 6 J201's that are matched to the right resistors so they will bias properly. When JFET's were cheap and plentiful this would be no problem, if you call having to buy at least 100 J201's to find out matching sets not a big problem. In this day and age J201's (real ones, not fakes) are harder to find and getting 100 of them will be quite expensive. So if you're going to build the Pinnacle, forget the official Tagboard layout. It works, nothing wrong with it, if you manage to find 6 J201's that are properly matched to the right voltage as provided by the biasing resistors in that layout. I recommend using this layout instead: http://guitar-fx-layouts.42897.x6.nabble.com/Wampler-Pinnacle-with-Trimmers-td15351.html, as that will provide you with trimpots so you can bias the transistors to the right voltage instead. It works. Also since reliable through hole JFET transistors are rare and expensive I recommend using SMD JFET's instead. You can solder them to adapter boards and then solder them into your board like through hole transistors. Or insert into sockets. SMD JFET's also have the advantage that they are far more consistent then their through hole counterparts, which basically eliminates having to buy hundreds of them and then measure and search for matching sets. I get mine hereL http://www.diyguitarpedals.com.au/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6&products_id=52

After this long story on to Fuzz. Not really big on Fuzz as most of them are too bassy and woolly for my taste. There are a few that I like though. The Big Muff. As has been said, everyone needs at least one. Like Rocket88 I have build all of the EHX variants as by the Kitrae schematics and quite a few of the boutique ones. My EHX favorites are the all ceramic caps Triangle, the Violet Ram and the Civil War muffs, I prefer Muffs that have more clarity and are not drowning in bass. Favorite boutique Muffs are from Skreddy, the Muff Master himself. The P19, the Lady? and the Mayonaise III I highly recommend. Other fav fuzzes are the Skreddy Lunar Module, basically a Fuzz Face on steroids and a Fuzz Face that gets along with buffers, so no more of this having to stick it in front of your chain bullshit. I also like the Fuzz Factory. For all sorts of nasty glitchy, spluttering, oscillating goodness. You might also want to explore Devi Ever fuzzes. They all sound nasty and gnarly, and they're easy to build. No rare expensive unobtainium parts, quite the opposite in fact as they all seem to have the same components. The joke is that Devi each time threw those components into the air and soldered them in place where they landed and presto! Another fuzz was born.

Boosts. The MXR Microamp, the EHX LPB and the ZVEX SHO are favorites of mine. The LPB in particular is elegantly simple. I don't use trebleboosters but the Rangemaster is always a winner. I do like the Catalinbread Naga Viper. It has a few extra controls plus no germanium transistors. I'm not that keen on germanium transistors, they sound great but they're finicky and a pain in the ass to source. And that doesn't even scratch the pain in the ass that is PNP.

[rocket88]

i forgot about distortions.
 my short list would be
1. DAM Ezekiel - just badass, and can do OD to brutal distortion
2. 1st Gen Rat - i built mine and used Ge diodes instead of Si, which smooths it out, but by far just fucking fantastic.

as far as the Klon goes, the layout for the silver, layout, is supposed to be the closest sounding to the original and seemed to be very well loved. i haven't had a chance to build one, and intend to modify it for bass, but i do have a production klone of it, and at the risk of being burned at the stake for this it's just ok IMHO. i could be using it wrong, but it just never did much for me and my setup.

[Frank_NH]

"which "Klon" do you prefer in the site?"

Go for the revised version (Rev 2):

http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2014/05/klon-centaur-with-optional-bass-control.html

They're all very similar.  I built my Klon using a Aion Electronics PCB, but the vero build should be straightforward.  In fact, I wouldn't mind doing a vero build so I can try out some of the mods.  You can't have too many Klons!  

[squirrels]

I've built a a bunch of dirt boxes since I've been into this hobby. My favorite OD's have been the Black Arts Black Forest, Earthquaker Talons, DAM Sonic Titan and the Paul C. Timmy. My favorite fuzzes have been the Black Arts LSTR, Fuzzhugger Algal Bloom and Earthquaker Bitcommander.  I really like the Red Witch Fuzz God II so far. The biggest disappointment for me has been the OCD. It just sounded very bland to me.

[Sensei Tim]

The Klon and Timmy are probably my top two overdrives; mind you i use overdrives more as a boost rather than on their own.

The zendrive was ok, but it wasn't really for me.

Tubescreamer. stacked really well with the Timmy, but on it's own... meh.

OCD: wasn't too impressed. i found it to be a bit harsh.

With the timmy i was able to get REALLY close to the clean guitar tone on Def Leppard - Hysteria.

[bsas]

Wow! Thank you guys a lot for all the responses! I think now I have a bunch of pedals to do :)
Yesterday I just box the Zendrive and was "okish" for my taste.

I have an original OCD v1.4 (v4) and I did a v3 and v4 vero. Don't know why, I don't think they are the same :(... My original sounds fuller and more open. I think maybe it is a matter of components (type of caps, resistors, ICs and diodes) but that is my guess.

Quick funny question: it is just me or anyone here suffers to box the pedals? It takes FOREVER and there is always some glitch, like bad footswitch or grounding jacks, etc. A lot of times takes me like 1h to make the whole vero and like 4h or more to box it :(

[rocket88]

Boxing takes the longest, and the biggest PIA. Btw, without things getting out of hand, there's no magic in type of components, only their values. It's a long debated thing, but through actual testing, there is no different in the audio, but if you change the value it will change the audio. The difference between the two OCDs could be down to the component value, as I think you have a V1, and it's just the 4th revision of the board itself. Sorta like what you see on big muffs of the same vintage.

[Muadzin]

Boxing is the least fun part of building. Soldering components to a board is always fun. Installing the pots and switches to an enclosure is fun too. But the wiring everything up, not so much. Although having a wire stripper really really helps. And developing a routine. It used to be that I made the most mistakes doing the wiring, nowadays almost never.

My golden rule for doing wiring is the less wiring, the better. And I always use shielded wire for the pedal input, output and effect input. Both to shield the main signal going through the pedal and into the circuit, but also for grounding the effect. Why use an separate wire for grounding when you can use the ground connection of the shielded wire? Less wiring, always better.

[Sensei Tim]

Muadzin wrote

 Why use an separate wire for grounding when you can use the ground connection of the shielded wire? Less wiring, always better.

That's a great idea!

[bsas]

Question about the ROG Thunderbird: can you use it as a pre-amp? Like, straight to a power amp?
Also, how do you like it? I saw the demos and the PCB and I am super tempted to do it :)

[Beaker]

bsas, I have been looking into this same idea for my son. He wants to use his Marshall 9000 stereo valve power amp, into a couple of PA cabs.

His original idea was more complicated, but he has now slimmed it down to wanting a Sunn Model T Bass preamp (there's one recently posted on FSB) feeding one side of the power amp, into one cab, and a Fender Bassman preamp feeding the other side of the power amp into the other cab. He wants a AB-Y switcher so he can switch between them, or have both on at the same time.

I'm not seeing any Bassman pedals though!

The problem with stomp box preamps, is that they output an instrument level signal, but the power amp needs to see a line level signal. So you need to fit an instrument to line level converter between the preamp and the power amp - basically a DI box should in theory do the trick.

EDIT: I also believe that some filtering of the top end of the frequency range of the pedal would be needed. Could a cab sim do this?

We are still working on this, so have no results of whether it works yet, but I hope this helps.

If anyone else has any ideas, please let me know.

[bsas]

I was thinking about using something like the EHX Magnum 44.
The idea is to build a simple and very small pedal board that cab be plugged to any can and you can gig with. Therefore, building a super portable gig setup :)

EDIT: Also I was thinking that a cab sim and a di box could make you plug straight to a PA system. Do you know any good vero in the forum for DI boxes and CabSim?

[Muadzin]

Methinks cabsim is something you use to convert a pre-amp signal, either line or instrument, into a signal with simulated cabinets that goes straight into a mixing desk. I have some AMT preamp pedals (LOVE the F1) and they can go either straight into a power amp or flip a switch or use a different output and go straight into a mixing desk with cab sim. In the case of the F1 the manual however states that the Amp ouput level is at +4db and the Cab Sim output level is at -10db.

It seems also superfluous to hit a power amp with a signal that is filtered to sound like its going through a cab when said power amp will put that same signal out again through a cab.

Maybe a clean booster, either inside the preamp pedals, or as an external pedal, is the solution to increase the signal from instrument level to the hotter line level?

[bsas]

Where can I find the schematic of this "Methinks cabsim"? :)

[Muadzin]

bsas wrote

I was thinking about using something like the EHX Magnum 44.
The idea is to build a simple and very small pedal board that cab be plugged to any can and you can gig with. Therefore, building a super portable gig setup :)

I tried using two Magnum 44's to drive 2 cabs in conjuction with my pedal board which had an AMT F1 preamp pedal. When it worked, it worked fine. But if the Magnum 44's got too hot a signal a weird tremelo effect started to happen. Highly annoying!

EDIT: Also I was thinking that a cab sim and a di box could make you plug straight to a PA system. Do you know any good vero in the forum for DI boxes and CabSim?

The most used and available cab sim layout is the ROG Condor. There's a layout for the Marshall can sim I think on Sabro. THCustoms has boards for both the Condor and a circuit that will convert your signal from unbalanced into balanced. That way you can build a pedal with cab sim and XLR output, thus eliminating the need for a DI box as well.

[bsas]

Interesting. Do you know any kind of DIY circuit that can do the same of the Magnum 44?
It would be cool to make our own power amp.