Hi gain dist DIY pedal , too many to choose from, help.....

[Xavier]

After building successfully my AMZ overdrive pro, now I need a high gain pedal for my occasional Judas Priest evenings 

I know there's a lot of them, in fact too many I think. I've read all the threads about ,but there's not any of them mentioning all the available ones so far.

Here are the choices (mostly the ones with available vero layouts)

Chaos
Vulcan
Blackfire
Smashdrive
HMP (no vero layout)
Roseyray
Cauldron of gain (no vero layout)

Other than lots of gain (obviously), I need a tight sounding dist, good for palm mutings. Full bandwidth circuits only result in a mushy low end. The AMZ OD pro wasn't exactly what I was looking for. To my ears it sounds like a refined big muff, not what I have in mind for a "80's metal" dist. I tried lowering the input cap value but that didn't seem to help much. I guess the design is just not what I'm looking for. Great, great eq though.

Any suggestion?

[ElectroFreak]

Check out the Marshall Guv'nor clone at GGG, it was my first dist build and it sounds great; plenty of heavy distortion.  Nice tone stack too.
http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=50&Itemid=89

[Gringo]

I'm very pleased with my BSIAB2 for that 80's metal sound, and i'm quite sure there's a perf/vero layout around.

[kusi]

hi,

i like a modified Marshall shredmaster (like Dreadmaster or mr.hyde of the jekyll/hyde) for dynamic hi-gain sounds.

i build the AMZ overdrive and the HMP, but i don`t like they`re sounds...

greetings form switzerland,
khe

[Connoisseur of Distortion]

What you need, my friend, is a Dr. Boogey. it's the only high gain pedal that i get a pleasing palm mute out of... the only one with actual impact! 

[MartyMart]

Blackfire wins that little "race" !!

Marty.

[powerplayj]

Haven't tried those you mentioned but I agree, the BSIAB2 can do 80's metal quite well.  The upside to the BSIAB2 is that it has a great semi-clean tone as well.  Mine also responds well with an OD behind it.  Maybe your AMZ OD would go well with it?

[rumblefish]

Try this "http://aronnelson.com/gallery/Martys-layouts-and-photos/Spitfire_Fuzz1"  great sound  & dynamics and lots of space for mods (different caps,tone control etc.)










great sound  & dynamics and lots of space for mods (different caps,tone control etc.)

[Stevo]

http://aronnelson.com/gallery/SteveC/llama2?full=1



HERE IS AN OVER THE TOP AMP SOUNDING THICK DISTORTION OVERDRIVE TYPE PEDAL...It is a  little too much, need to keep it turned down or you will have oscillation.. you need a 4049UB type of chip ........a real nice sound to it like a cranked boogie on the overdrive channel....look it up there are a lot of people liking this pedal WAY HUGE RED LlAMA....Has good definition to picking yet will kinda of thicken up if picked to softly ....has the dynamics...I guess Smallbear can set you up, no vero though it is easy to free wheel it!!!!!! I have two of these and a Anderton Tube sound but the real killer is the HOT HARMONICS really nice ....I can point you to that too... it is harder lots of stuff to nip and tuck on the chip ...I freewheeeled it....... You need this pedal

[Xavier]

Hey thanks for all your replies !!!

The Spitfire Fuzz....... well, it's a fuzz and not a distortion, so that's not what I'm looking for. The Red Llama was my first build and it's a great sounding OD, kind of a tweed amp taken to its limit, but not a distortion neither.

Marty's suggestion seems to make sense, specially after hearing some sound samples. The Blackfire seems to be in the ballpark, but alas, no tone control....... not too difficult to implement one though.....

Please keep'em coming. This could be the be all-end all thread about diy dist pedals for metal.

What about Mark Hammer's Chaos? (I have one half built already....)

[petemoore]

  Blackfire, as compared to Obsidian, is a very easy build [per parts count] because there are no crossing wires !!!
  Opamp Big Muff...just because I 'think it's a distortion category, and I want to know what people think of the sound !!...I saw and printed the original schematic, and it looked pretty easy to follow.

[tungngruv]

What about Mark Hammer's Chaos? (I have one half built already....)

Finish yours!! I love mine!! I recorded some clips directly into my soundcard (no good mics at the time) but it really sounds great through a real amp. Mark designed a good one. Listen here:
http://home.grics.net/tungngruv/content/sounds.html

[Mark Hammer]

Thanks for the plug, Tung.

You know, just about any of these can designs listed sound great if the gain is tweaked to your needs, and just about any of them can sound much less than what you were expecting or had heard if the gain is not suitably matched to what you are feeding the pedal.  So study what makes the gain or bandwidth different, pick one, and build.  You should be able to tweak to usability with ease.  These are not complicated circuits, and all are well field-tested.  If that STILL isn't enough damage for you, just pair up the circuit of your choice with an extra gain stage in front.  Any of the clean booster designs should do fine.

I haven't tried the BSIAB or the Vulcan, but the Blackfire is quite the fire-breathing monster as high-gain pedals go.  What I particularly like about it is the manner in which it responds to guitar tone-control changes.  Not all that many pedals do, and if being able to complement palm-muting is a critical element of what you're looking for, I would endorse Joe's excellent design is a contender in that regard, as I would endorse any DIY or commercial design that responds to guitar tone-control settings for this sort of task.

[Xavier]

Thanks for the plug, Tung.

You know, just about any of these can designs listed sound great if the gain is tweaked to your needs, and just about any of them can sound much less than what you were expecting or had heard if the gain is not suitably matched to what you are feeding the pedal.  So study what makes the gain or bandwidth different, pick one, and build.  You should be able to tweak to usability with ease.  These are not complicated circuits, and all are well field-tested.  If that STILL isn't enough damage for you, just pair up the circuit of your choice with an extra gain stage in front.  Any of the clean booster designs should do fine.

I haven't tried the BSIAB or the Vulcan, but the Blackfire is quite the fire-breathing monster as high-gain pedals go.  What I particularly like about it is the manner in which it responds to guitar tone-control changes.  Not all that many pedals do, and if being able to complement palm-muting is a critical element of what you're looking for, I would endorse Joe's excellent design is a contender in that regard, as I would endorse any DIY or commercial design that responds to guitar tone-control settings for this sort of task.

Thanks Mark,

Judging from the sound samples, the Chaos sounds promising. I'll finish it for sure.

What I'm learning is that the "palm muting factor", if this makes some sense , means lowering the bass frequencies fed to the clipping section, even boosting frequencies around 800-900Hz like the metal zone does. Then you need an active bass control in order to compensate for the loss in thump.....

I'll post my thoughts on the Chaos when it's finished. This is becoming way too addictive

[Mark Hammer]

If the Chaos is your caprice today, feel VERY free to do the following:

1) replace the 1M gain pot shown with a 100k pot (the larger pot value only permits dialing in of subtler tones)
2) replace the 100k feedback resistor in the second stage with 150k or 220k to boost the gain (if you do, consider changing the 220pf cap for 150pf or 180pf or you'll lose edge)
3) changing the 2+2 diode complement in the second stage with a back-to-back pair of red LEDs.
4) replacing the 390pf cap in the tone control with 470-680pf for more midrange

Those changes should make it more of the pedal you seem to be looking for.  The swap of diodes to LED will raise the output level and clipping threshold, but the added gain in the second stage will compensate for change in clipping threshold.  The extra gain will help offset the substantial loss through the passive tone control and still provide a strong signal for pushing your amp.  My guess is that its "metal" qualities are far more likely to emerge with HB than SC pickups.

[goosonique]

Those changes should make it more of the pedal you seem to be looking for.  The swap of diodes to LED will raise the output level and clipping threshold, but the added gain in the second stage will compensate for change in clipping threshold.  The extra gain will help offset the substantial loss through the passive tone control and still provide a strong signal for pushing your amp.  My guess is that its "metal" qualities are far more likely to emerge with HB than SC pickups.
[/quote]

Its got that nice metal edge ...love that tone ctrl.... nice with singles and buckers but  only setback being noise.
I beleive Mark was clear bout microphony on the note that comes with schmey. Loose the Drive control with a 1M resistor... make it  a two knob killer. Needless to say mega sustain (metal speak)  ... and nice tone worx...i have started to repeat myself....

[Xavier]

OK guys,

I'm convinced. I'll finish it tomorrow, and will also test all of the mods suggested by Mark. As I said, I don't need ultra-mega-gain, but it must be able to rip the paint off my walls and have that chug-chug thang happening.

Did I say BREWTAL gain ?

Again, thanks for all the answers. I also promise to post a sound sample.

[Xavier]

I have just finished it following the original circuit, not enough time to fully test it yet and no mods, with level at maximum seems to achieve unity gain, so probably I'll have to drop in some LED's instead of the diodes.

I think it does have some gain . Sounds different from the BSIAB though. More comments to come...

[Paul Marossy]

Chaos, Blackfire or Shaka Express (it rox!) 

[Mark Hammer]

As far as I'm concerned, if it has Joe Davisson's name associated with it, it will breath fire, by definition.