High gain distortion - which one?

[Freppo]

Hi folk

A friend of mine asked me to build her a high gain distortion.

"I want to to sound hard and angry. The ideal sound is a sovtek mig100, when it's working hard. Not a soft or buzzy rock n' roll fuzz."

Any suggestions of a pedal that might suit? :)
/ Fredrik

[boratto]

Try a Sonic Titan with some mods to more bite. At high settings it´s a beast able to make a crappy amp sound huge. I will be glad to see some high gainer version of this one.

[Freppo]

Thanks for the suggestion!

I have built the Sonic Titan, but I don't like the decay of the notes. Seems like all LM386 distortions has this problem. The LM386-4 version sounds the best, but still has a funny decay...

If it helps, she plays guitar in this band:

[boratto]

MXR DIME Distortion is brutal, dry and in your face style, with a excelent mid controls for cut trough. But i haven´t see a schematic for this here.

[Frank_NH]

Your friend tone sounds awesome in the clip   I wouldn't classify it as metal, more like heavy rock.

Anyhow, how about one of these high gain, amp-like pedals?

Diefet - Diezel VH4S Simulator

GoosoniqueWorx Seventheaven

Black Forest - Uberschall Emulation

I haven't built any of these, but the demos sound good.

Another one that I eventually want to try is Dead Astronaut's Spitfire:

[Travis]

I came in here to say HM-2. Mainly because I just built one and it's awesome :D

I hadn't thought of those jfet high gain amp emulators but those would probably fit the bill nicely

[Freppo]

Thanks guys!
That black forest one sounded good in the demo. I might give it a try :)
I already built the HM-2, and and I don't think it's what she is after, but I like it personally.

[Vince]

Triple Wreck?... that is a brutal high gainer..
Disrotus Maximus is a good one too, especially with the mid scoop mods etc...

[Alex]

AmpTweaker Tight Metal?

[Freppo]

So many suggestions. I'm having trouble picking one :P
But I think I want to keep it at tops 4 controls, so that rules out a few ones..
Thanks again!
/ Fredrik

[dexxyy]

Then there`s also the barber dirty bomb

[cylens]

I've built quite a few distortion/OD circuits, but I've also played a MIG100 amp and to me few pedals go that way. It's quite dark sounding and very grainy (I also have a MIG50, which is quite bright in comparison), not what I would qualify as "high gain". the only one I can think of is the Green Citrus circuit (not that I've built everything, but I really like this one), really sounds like a "pushed too hard" amp... if you want to give it a try, I've got a few PCBs fabbed (without the Bosst control), and I will gladly offer you one (to thank you for all the great layouts/circuits), just drop me a PM.

here's good example of the sounds you can obtain so you can see if I am totally off topic: (zero processing, M160 in front of the cab, guitar is a baritone tele P90 neck pickup)

and a few clips with an optional cap selector switch (like the FAC orange control) guitar is a kramer alu neck, P94 neck pickup
https://soundcloud.com/cylens/lime-fac-guitar-low-gain
https://soundcloud.com/cylens/lime-fac-guitar-high-gain

[Freppo]

Cool, thanks!

I like the clips although I find them to be a bit too dark sounding for the sound I think she is after. I could be wrong though. She also discribed the sound as "kargt" which means something like "barren" or something.. I guess grainy is fitting but not too dark, but I don't know how to interpret that really.. lol. Anyway, I would love a PCB though, if not for her, then for myself. :)

The Green Citrus was a good tip aswell :)

cheers / Fredrik

[cylens]

yeah, this circuit is definitively dark sounding, and so was the MIG100 I played, but, those Sovteks amp could be very different from one model to another (that's the case with the MIG50s!)

[cylens]

djeez, don't know why but the first link didn't show up first time:
https://soundcloud.com/cylens/lime-demo-1

i've dropped you an e-mail for the PCB!

[Surgeon]

I've built a few (but more to come) and here are my preferred ones, in order no less:

1- Amptweaker Tightmetal.... just awesome...
2- Dr. Boogey
3- Wample triple Wreck... it's quite close to a draw between 2 and 3 frankly
4- Diezel VH4
5- Okko Dominator... I'm not that fond of it to be honest.

Most of them still benefit from being run at 18v too!

I'll have to back cylens: the green citrus is quite good! I wouldn't put it in the same gain-range as the aforementioned 5 though but that's just me.

[Freppo]

Seems like I have to try the Amptweaker Tightmetal aswell... :)