Your Favorite High gain build

[NuckChorris]

So I'm thinking my next build may be a high gain pedal. Something with a lot of rich harmonic content. So what has been a favorite in that style that you guys have built? I'm thinking of something ala Steve Vai

[motterpaul]

This is the kind of pedal I have been gravitating to - my goal has been to find a Marshall sound for a clean channel amp.

What I think you want is something with a very interactive tone stack - where you can get more bass and/or treble than you ever need. The Diesel Diefet does that.

So far I would highly recommend Deisel Diefet, Plexi with Trimmers, and the AMT B1 Legend.

In addition, I just did the Subdecay LovePedal and I found a mod that just puts it over the top for tight but solid overdrive.

Another one is the Catalinbread Sabra Cadabra - once you get it tuned in right.

I am just now working on the Wampler Ecstasy and will let you know how it turns out.

What I like about these pedals is recording. If I record my Marshall or EVH 5150 miked I know how they are going to sound - good, but predictable. But having a variety of pedals gives you tonal palettes for recording you never would have found otherwise.  

By the way, I am miking a Rivera Silent Sister iso-speaker box, and powering it with my 30-watt tube amp on the clean channel. I run the mic into my recording interface and monitor the sound through my KRK studio monitors.

I am not saying I would never  use these pedals for live, but my gig rig is pretty set and it uses tube gain.But - I am just saying I am really impressed with the recording capabilities I am finding right now.

I would say Sure Riot (that layout : http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.fr/2013/01/suhr-riot-fixed.html ).

Very nice and warm pedal, I really love the one I Built. Rich in harmonics it is!

Can be very dynamic to...

[Muadzin]

I'm a big fan of the Mad Professor Stone Grey Distortion. It replaced my Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret after six uninterrupted years as my main hi-gain distortion. That and a Big Muff of course, you can't do wrong with hi-gain with a Big Muff. In this case a Skreddy Mayonaise III, with mids switch of course.

[alex.s]

Both the Roger Mayer Mongoose and Spitfire seem to get very high praise when it comes to high gain dirt pedals. They're not quite fuzzes as they are billed, and have much more articulation and definition.

Haven't built either myself (yet at least..!), but heard a spitfire a friend had in a few occasion and it was a very good sounding distortion pedal indeed. Worth a go, perhaps in the "Mongfire" switchable version posted here in the layouts.

[NuckChorris]

Hmmm. A lot of choices I'll need to look into looks like. I just finished the Wampler Ecstasy and love it. It'll be a keeper. Looking for something to knock my Tonebone Classic off of my board now. Something a little higher gain than the Ecstasy. The Ecstasy actually was higher gain than I expected though. Very tweakable pedal. A must build IMO

[rocket88]

Hmm. When I think of high gain pedals I think of high gain distortion, rather then fuzzes. So things like the wampler triple wreck, or okko dominator. Both are supposed to be superb.

[NuckChorris]

I do as well. I've heard mixed things about the Triple Wreck. I once owned the Wampler Plextortion. It was ok. Just didn't do anything that I couldn't already do with my Tonebone. Had I been on this site then I would've posted a gut shot in case anyone wanted to try to build it. Right now I'm using a Tonebone Classic for my high gain stuff. It's a really versatile pedal. Just want another high gain pedal that's not a fuzz. I'm not a huge fuzz fan. Had to be just the right flavor for me

[motterpaul]

On bass I do like fuzz better than distortion, because you get that cool saxophone sound. But for lead guitar, or power chords, I think the fuzz effect makes your tone less distinct - more of a hairy sound with less dynamics.

So - I go for more of the "Marshall in a Box" sound in my pedal tone pursuit. The "plexi" circuits are good. Other good ones are the Thor, Earthquaker Talons, Catalin Sabra Cadabra.

If you want a quick & easy one the Soulkitchen with a Darlington transistor is good. It says "fuzz" but it is not that fuzzy. http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2014/10/soulkitchen-heavy-darling-fuzz.html

Or, if you want a real non-hairy, but solid gain I just happened to find a really good & fast circuit yesterday - the Subdecay Liquid Sunshine - but I did a fast mod to increase the gain & treble. I bridged the "Drive B' pot's lugs 2 & 3 with a 1k resistor.  This had an surprising effect - especially since I found it more or less by accident.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dJrC-XKmZDg/T_hPYJh7c9I/AAAAAAAAB04/wDa5uQW2nHQ/s1600/Subdecay+Liquid+Sunshine+V2.png

Here is a sound demo of that with the original circuit first - then it changes to the same circuit after my 1 resistor mod as described. https://soundcloud.com/paulmotter/liquid-sunshine

Here is a demo of my Diefet (recorded through a 40-watt Marshall DSL 40C)
https://soundcloud.com/paulmotter/diefet-pedal

[alex.s]

i'd class those Roger Meyer as distortion so to be fair, they're not fuzzes. they have a nice bite to them but the spitfire I heard had very good definition. Not my cuppa personally (would rather they were full on fuzzes...!) but I do suggest keeping those in the list, as they make good high gain distortion pedals!

[Beaker]

The Mongoose is a major part of kevin Shields sound.

[bogey]

Kevin Shields is one of my favourite guitarists/noisescapers...So that's the Mongoose on my build list. It just keeps growing.

[Muadzin]

rocket88 wrote

Hmm. When I think of high gain pedals I think of high gain distortion, rather then fuzzes. So things like the wampler triple wreck, or okko dominator. Both are supposed to be superb.

Metal does not have the monopoly on high gain though. And while metal is all about high gain, I absolutely loath the scooped metal sound. What's the point of all that gain if you're getting drowned in the mix?

[IvIark]

Muadzin wrote

I absolutely loath the scooped metal sound. What's the point of all that gain if you're getting drowned in the mix?

I love metal but I couldn't agree with this more.  I really have never got why anyone would want all the meat removed from their tone.

[rocket88]

can't agree more as well. i just found it interesting that as soon as someone mentions high gain it seems like a lot of people think of fuzz. not bad, just interesting is all. i think the triple wreak and dominator, and such pedals are all high gain distortion, but i think what makes them good is that you have full control over the tone, which helps prevent you from just having that scooped mids thing that seems to be the thing in a lot of metal these days.

[Beaker]

My favourite hi gain - the mightly Danelectro Fab Tone, much loved by Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite.

[Muadzin]

I'm of the opinion that some fuzz can be high gain, depending on how much gain there is on tap. It's a different kind of high gain but one that doesn't take any prisoners either. And probably one of the biggest reasons why alternative rock began to kick metal in the 'nads during the grunge years.

And lots of pedals can be and are high gain, certainly if you turn the gain knob fully on. Which I have to admit is always my first instinct with any new dirt pedal. I've never built the dominator but I have built two Triple Wrecks and to me it seems that what differentiates it most from the other dirt boxes is that the gain already starts quite overdriven. None of this clean boost bullshit, or cleans up very well with the guitar volume knob turned down bullshit. If I want a clean boost I get a clean boost pedal. If I want a clean sound I switch off my dirtbox.

That being said the high gain sound I prefer is more often a socalled medium gain dirt box with its gain fully maxed over a dedicated high gain pedal like the T-Wreck or the Box of Metal. There comes a point when I think too much high gain enters a point of diminishing returns and decends into becoming noise. Give me the sound of a fully maxed Marshall Guv'nor, or the Crunch Box, or currently the Stone Grey Distortion, I just love the sound of an 80's cranked Marshall, with plenty of delicious mids. Alternated with a massive Big Muff tone, with also plenty of delicious mids. That to me sounds a million times heavier then walls of Recto's blasting with scooped mids.

[alex.s]

My first ever guitar pedal!

Great high gain dist, but I'd recommend it for wall-of-noise, all out distortion a la Mogway/Mono (Taka is another fan of the Dano FT) rather than articulate boutique distortion...! :) That said, the former is definitely more my territory than the latter...

Also, we could start discussing major elements in Kevin Shields' sound, but that would lead to hours spent discussing, days of DIY'ing, tinnitus and angry neighbours...!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsFZCRuA4Qs

[Beaker]

Alex, I could not agree more!

[Travis]

I dig the Fab Tone too. Also bought mine because of Mogwai :)

Not sure that I'd build one when the original is so cheap, but I guess the advantage is a better enclosure and true bypass

Now that I think of it I think the only high gain distortion I've built is the HM-2 which is really cool