G2D Cream Tone Build

[Frank_NH]

Just finished testing the Cream Tone, and I have to say it is a really outstanding overdrive circuit (and I've built many!).  I find the sound to be quite transparent but with smooth breakup (not as grainy as some diode-clipping circuits), and the tone control has a great sweep.  It's capable of a lot more gain than I expected, putting it squarely into Tubescreamer territory but with less mids.  And it stacks really well.  Putting the Klon(e) in front of this (set for low gain boost) = tone heaven!

The only puzzle is the boost mode.  I does give a boost but not a really big one (the Solo pot range is rather subtle).  I'm conflicted as to whether to add the Solo switch as a toggle, eliminate it, or try something else.  It sounds good with boost on or off, and I'm tempted to wire it with the boost part of the circuit always on.  I also thought about using a dual pot to control both the Drive and Solo 10K pots simultaneously, which I thought may provide a good range of gain sweep.

Anyhow, this is a great circuit, and I'm sure others will want to try it out.  It will definitely find its way onto my pedal board eventually once I can get it boxed (unfortunately my boxing queue is a mile long right now but this one may jump to the front of the line ).

[IvIark]

I do like looking at pics of built up boards, and that's a very nice looking board

Looking at the schematic, when the Solo switch is turned off, it bypasses an opamp stage completely.  The gain from that stage is only 2x anyway and so the boost isn't going to be great.  If you want to increase the Solo stage gain, increase the value of the 10K resistor at pin 9 of IC1

[negativefx]

Very pretty.  Are 5% resistors common among this group?  I tend to only use 1% unless I need some weird BJFE value like 3k1415 and then just test 5% resistors until I find one close.  

[Frank_NH]

Thanks IvIark.  I try to make my veros tidy, and often have to be creative in how to fit bigger components into tight spaces.  I'll look into increasing the 10K resistor in the boost section, as I might go ahead and put in the boost option (still mulling it over).  I'll also experiment with my dual pot idea and report back if that seems to work well.  That way, the Cream Tone could function as a normal three knob Volume-Gain-Tone overdrive.

 Are 5% resistors common among this group?  I tend to only use 1% unless I need some weird BJFE value like 3k1415 and then just test 5% resistors until I find one close.

For dirt boxes, I like using 5% 1/4W carbon film resistors.  They are a good size for vero, usually pretty close to the labeled value, and 99% of the time the variation in value won't make any appreciable difference in sound (at least for me...).  The one exception to this rule are PCBs I purchase from various vendors online - I'll use the 1% metal films for those as they seem to fit easier, but I have sprinkled in some carbon films when I ran out of a particular value...grrrrr .  (It's usually 1Ks, 10Ks, and 1Ms that go fast).  Another exception would be time-based effects (e.g. tremelo, phaser, delay) - I would think that the resistor values may make more of a difference there, but having said that, you also have to take into account that the capacitors are 5 - 10% tolerance, and pots can be larger still.

[fenderguy79]

This one sounds great!!  Well, at least it did while it was working.  I gave up trying to trouble shoot it, for now.