Low gain'ish od proto

V

Vasshu the humanoid typhoon

Unseen
Well summertime is always abit on the slow side work related.
So that last couple of weeks I have been tweaking away on this overdrive project.
Ever since we made the DC Drive in the CM days, I have been wanting to make another version that was more flexible and not nearly as gainy.

From the get go the DC had a "rectified" diode clip setup, and internal voltage doubler.
The last thing I need to get done is make the boost pre and post switchable.
That I will do tommorow I hope.

Have long tried to get that overly stiff feel out of the traditional opamp diode clip, so I added an outboard trim for that, also added an outboard trim for how much smack the chip should get, a balance knob between boosted chip or more balanced trim between the op amp and clippers.
It also has a switch for two different kind of diodes in the rectified clip setup, one is louder and more clean'ish, the other more driven and has a sweet grain to it.

Tested it on several amps and such today(clips will come later)
When the boost mod is complete I belive I have a complete prototype done.

Now I just need a name for that thing, and some more tests, and a few extra ears and such....
 
Re: Low gain'ish od proto

Call it the Sexitone! [emoji38]


Sent from my TARDIS using timey-wimey talk.
 
Re: Low gain'ish od proto

Just a run through a few different seetings on the fly...I am not going to talk about it.....uhm erm duh doh blah blah drive....blah transparent blah blah morganic, eebeer neebeer fnyt fnyt fluid blah blah crunchy....well you get the point...
As said just using a 50 watts combo with a Celestion Neo Century Vintage speaker, EL-34 tubes...I call it the HiShall amp....
First track...with Tele.

Second track, Ibanez 540 Radius with two L-90 Wilde humbuckers(close to PAF, but has more clarity and such blah blah)


I'll record some more later on...just threw these to up in a hurry....I am getting my daughter home from boarding school today!
 
Re: Low gain'ish od proto

And with backing track, and the Dead Dog dirty drive when I switch to the bridge pu later in the tune...and back to Lo gainer at the end.
Recorded at low volume.


And the second with my Tele...
Also at low volume.
 
Last edited:
Re: Low gain'ish od proto

cool. look forward to checking them out when i get home
 
Re: Low gain'ish od proto

Sweet clips/jams...that Tele tone is otherworldly ...just nuts ..INSANE hhaa! ...& ...I guess the hummer's don't really sound too bad either :lmao:

Man...you dial in some of the sweetest tones ever ...no matter the equipment/guitar :D
 
Re: Low gain'ish od proto

Thanks :)
Well I love that Tele, always easy to get some working sounds out of it.
Glad you enjoy them :)
Now I just need to make a few more tests, and the next prototype will be rehoused into something square.
 
Re: Low gain'ish od proto

Low gain you say ? Hehe, that's about as much gain as I ever use ... I think if you can exploit good clean tones (valve), and the guitar properly, the smallest amount of 'hair' can go a very long way, and can sound massive. So I'm always interested in stuff like this.

I like it a lot, it sounds great. I probably would have liked to hear a bit more chord work, as to my ear, that's where things can start to sound nasty quite quickly, but these clips sound really good, right in the area where I get interested. Where can I buy one, and how much ?
 
Re: Low gain'ish od proto

:) Well the interaction is working here, it can do less than I recorded as well...I like that almost not clipping sound that works well with a good sounding amp....this pedal I could not have made 10 years ago :D haha
I'll record some more with chords :)
Yep we can make a one/off for you...as I am not quite done with it, I still have not gotten around making the boost post or pre selected...

Right now it is a buffered pedal, if you want it more straight ahead we can make it religious bypass as well ;)
Then we can use a few parts less.
I'll calculate around some...see what we can do :)
 
Re: Low gain'ish od proto

I'd probably need it to be buffered as I only use two pedals, and one is a delay that usually goes in an effects loop. The only pedal I have on the floor is usually my 35-y-o, much modified Boss SD-1, but I accidentally killed it with reverse polarity. I had thought about looking into the new SD1w, but I like the sound of this much better.
 
Re: Low gain'ish od proto

Digging the creativity.
I think my love of drive pedals from boost to gain will last as long as I can hold a guitar.
How about "MatrixDrive" or is that copyright? Gainstage is cool but taken by a really great pedal and blogger. It beats fatboy22, which come to think of it is pretty cool name.
 
Re: Low gain'ish od proto

^Will dig out a name for that thing.... ;)
And a different look...as I do not work for CM anymore :D
Anyways here is the chord stuff clips...just hammering away without much thought, all kinds of chords that normally would go nasty with drive and other stuff.
Used the Tele and the HiSchall amp...this time I turned it up some more to realistic levels.
 
Re: Low gain'ish od proto

Yeah, that's right in the ballpark. Sounds great, fantastic. Well, it does to me anyway as I always have a bunch of amps of varying sizes so that whichever one is used does most of the work and only needs subtle boost/ overdrive to get to the hot spots. (I find that relying on a pedal too much compromises the core sound of the guitar, the frequency response suffers .... usually thins out too much). Your clip sounds like the low end is staying intact and not getting compromised.

I also think the lower gain allows for (or retains) more 'touch expression' and stays away from the compression that seems to come from heavy overdrive. Plus a guitar's own characteristics remain in tact at the low end of the dirt scale, as the dirt increases, the subtleties of a guitar's voice begin to get compromised. In this chord clip, it's always distinctly a Tele.

Yup, I love it. It seems to be the area I always look for in any overdrive pedal, but in most such pedals, that area is only a small part of their range at the 'lower' end, that can make it very difficult to dial in to the subtle zone with much accuracy because they're capable of a much wider range, most of which is simply too much for my applications.

I'm definitely interested in this if there might be a possibility, and would welcome your input on things like getting the most natural 'bypassed' sound and any other relevant thoughts. Although I build valve amps, I am not too clever with s/s circuitry, and I live and die with simplicity ... basically a good guitar and amp (non master volume as much as possible) and something I can step on to make the whole thing step up to the next level. After that, it's up to me to do something with it.

(Having spent 45 years playing and listening to others play, it is very evident to me that more dirt = less projection into the room, and the trick to sounding bigger is to use a little less gain than one might imagine is required. It puts more responsibility on the player, and if I can't take that responsibility after all these years, I should give up. Fortunately, I don't really know any other way, hehe).
 
Re: Low gain'ish od proto

:) Ok I'll get a one off done, I made this one for the very same reasons that you are stating.
One of the toggles is for a cleaner kind of clipping, and the "body" of the driven sound can be adjusted as well, so that it can give that nice feel even at low low drive(almost no clipping)
I'll write down a few pointers for what it does later on :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Artie
NID: (New Interface Day???) Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 Anniversary Edition
Replies
13
Views
275
Artie
Artie
idsnowdog
I built this
Replies
13
Views
310
playas
playas
J
What OD to put after my spring reverb?
Replies
10
Views
339
Cynical
C
C
New Fuzz
Replies
3
Views
110
Chistopher
C
idsnowdog
Addicted to Fuzz!
Replies
9
Views
336
idsnowdog
idsnowdog
Back
Top