XSSIVE
OCDologist
So i decided to step it up a notch with my Monroe Drive before i start taking orders and add more features....and a 9v battery for those guys who need one.
so now on top of my personal favorite tone that the Monroe Drive v1.0 which lives on my board has this one covers several other tones. It’s no secret that the circuit is based off a classic 808 just like 75% of the other ODs on the market lol. However with the careful selection of only the best parts, changed values, yadda yadda etc etc. plain and simple this does more and does it better while also looking better than any other OD! It covers what a famous “dynamic overpriced” (some of you will get that lol) pedal does and more with the addition of a toggle (left side) that’s described in simplest terms a bass boost. With that high dollar OD you’re stuck with the extra amount of low end which is great and a common 808 mod which single coil blues players who use it for a creamy lead boost love. however if you stick it in front of a high gain amp playing metal to tighten things up and add dynamics which is common and how I use my Monroe Drive 9 times out of 10 you get a sound that’s way too flabby, mushy and fat. You need to cut the bass and bring back some of the mids and that’s what the toggle on the left does. The toggle on the right changes between 3 clipping modes which again in simplest terms either add or remove gain or volume and change the gain characteristics to a classic yet tweaked OD sound to a crunchy marshall-esq sound depending on the setting.
like I mentioned I only used high quality parts for this, wima and AVX caps, 1% metal film resistors to reduce unwanted noise , neutrik isolated jacks, silver mica caps, high quality IC, etc etc. Lots of time and effort went into trying different things to find what parts work best and sounded the best. There’s LOADS of info out there about the 808 style ODs and I read as much as I could of it and then tried my own thing and mixed and matched this and that and came up with what I feel is the perfect OD pedal that covers several styles of music depending on how you set it.
NO I’m not telling you what’s in it exactly so don’t ask I’ve spent way too much time on this thing to give it up that easy lol. I’m working on a second prototype…on the bench now…to finalize a few things (graphic stuff and how wires are run…little detail stuff) and both of those will be given to a few people for testing and reviews and then I’ll take orders for them after I see what those guys say. These things take quite a while to build and the finish is VERY labor intensive let alone all the internal work so I certainly won’t be cranking them out…however…my price won’t be nuts for a hand built, hand finished, all high quality parts, USA made OD pedal! I’m not trying to compete with those familiar overpriced pedals by a few other builders when it comes to price…only sound!!!
You’ll also notice in the pictures that I fixed something I HATE about most boutique overdrive pedals. For some reason builders love to stick the stomp switch 1” way from the bottom knob so if your sloppy when you step you step on the knob along with the switch possibly moving the knob and changing your setting. NOT a good thing and just a sloppy design IMO!! So with loads of measuring trying several jack types to make things fit and throwing out a few messed up enclosures LOL I figured out how to fit everything including a 9v and keep the stomp switch nice and far from the bottom tone knob so you have to try pretty hard to step on the knob when you go to turn the pedal on and off! plus it's all still in a nice small mxr size enclosure.
The final version will look very much like this…
oh yeah, no need for a gut shot...all you see is the bottom of the board when you open it up to swap a battery. you can't see any components since they face down and it's made so only i know how to get to the guts without damaging the pedal :nana:
-Mike
so now on top of my personal favorite tone that the Monroe Drive v1.0 which lives on my board has this one covers several other tones. It’s no secret that the circuit is based off a classic 808 just like 75% of the other ODs on the market lol. However with the careful selection of only the best parts, changed values, yadda yadda etc etc. plain and simple this does more and does it better while also looking better than any other OD! It covers what a famous “dynamic overpriced” (some of you will get that lol) pedal does and more with the addition of a toggle (left side) that’s described in simplest terms a bass boost. With that high dollar OD you’re stuck with the extra amount of low end which is great and a common 808 mod which single coil blues players who use it for a creamy lead boost love. however if you stick it in front of a high gain amp playing metal to tighten things up and add dynamics which is common and how I use my Monroe Drive 9 times out of 10 you get a sound that’s way too flabby, mushy and fat. You need to cut the bass and bring back some of the mids and that’s what the toggle on the left does. The toggle on the right changes between 3 clipping modes which again in simplest terms either add or remove gain or volume and change the gain characteristics to a classic yet tweaked OD sound to a crunchy marshall-esq sound depending on the setting.
like I mentioned I only used high quality parts for this, wima and AVX caps, 1% metal film resistors to reduce unwanted noise , neutrik isolated jacks, silver mica caps, high quality IC, etc etc. Lots of time and effort went into trying different things to find what parts work best and sounded the best. There’s LOADS of info out there about the 808 style ODs and I read as much as I could of it and then tried my own thing and mixed and matched this and that and came up with what I feel is the perfect OD pedal that covers several styles of music depending on how you set it.
NO I’m not telling you what’s in it exactly so don’t ask I’ve spent way too much time on this thing to give it up that easy lol. I’m working on a second prototype…on the bench now…to finalize a few things (graphic stuff and how wires are run…little detail stuff) and both of those will be given to a few people for testing and reviews and then I’ll take orders for them after I see what those guys say. These things take quite a while to build and the finish is VERY labor intensive let alone all the internal work so I certainly won’t be cranking them out…however…my price won’t be nuts for a hand built, hand finished, all high quality parts, USA made OD pedal! I’m not trying to compete with those familiar overpriced pedals by a few other builders when it comes to price…only sound!!!
You’ll also notice in the pictures that I fixed something I HATE about most boutique overdrive pedals. For some reason builders love to stick the stomp switch 1” way from the bottom knob so if your sloppy when you step you step on the knob along with the switch possibly moving the knob and changing your setting. NOT a good thing and just a sloppy design IMO!! So with loads of measuring trying several jack types to make things fit and throwing out a few messed up enclosures LOL I figured out how to fit everything including a 9v and keep the stomp switch nice and far from the bottom tone knob so you have to try pretty hard to step on the knob when you go to turn the pedal on and off! plus it's all still in a nice small mxr size enclosure.
The final version will look very much like this…
oh yeah, no need for a gut shot...all you see is the bottom of the board when you open it up to swap a battery. you can't see any components since they face down and it's made so only i know how to get to the guts without damaging the pedal :nana:
-Mike
