Krank Distortion! where does it come from?

[jonathan perez]

mine is number 35, i got it simply to find out what it would sound like...and...well...being the natural "take-stuff-apart-and-poke-it-with-a-screwdriver" type of guy that i am, i opened it up and found NO distortion diodes...whats the deal? where does the distortion come from? how bout that chip, whats that about?

[phaeton]

that LM386 is really a small power amp.  It probably just overdrives the piss out of that to create the distortion, possibly similar to the Smash Drive.

[theundeadelvis]

Did you get that pedal on Ebay? If so shame on you! Just kidding, that pedal looks interesting, who makes it? Is it the same Krank as the amp manufacturer? I think Phaeton is right bout' the chip.

[Dave_B]

Hey, they soldered the switch right on the board.  How about that!   

[jonathan perez]

yeah, anything with switches, pots and jacks mounted on the board deserves a big stomp on the face...i guess hahah

yeah, its Krank who makes it. to be really honest, it doesnt sound very good by itself. ill have the krank distortion gain on around 9 oclock, but drive it with a tube screamer with its drive on Zero, and it distorts like crazy! so im assuming thats the chips doing...

AND NO! i didnt buy it on ebay. im still kicking the habit...although my feedback is now 1013...

I still cant figure that one out 

[Mark Hammer]

386-based distortion units are not all that new.  The "Hep Cat" (forgot who makes/made it) used one at least 15 years ago.

[BDuguay]

The 'Hep Cat ' was a Frantone pedal, no?
B.

[audioguy]

How does the Krank sound?  I cant find any clips of it on their page... why make a pedal and not offer any sound clips? I love their amps... but like most of us... cant afford them.

[jonathan perez]

How does the Krank sound?  I cant find any clips of it on their page... why make a pedal and not offer any sound clips? I love their amps... but like most of us... cant afford them.

out of 10 to closeness, id say its about an 8 and a half...maybe 9... which is still pretty good. id say this is a pretty worthy high gain pedal to check out, but if you want the real thing, you just gotta go out and get the real thing. haha. but as you say, most of us just cant afford it. i had the chance to own one for a while, and id say its pretty darn close. less tubey, but thats a given. im thinking about driving it into a "tube stage" type pedal, or the other way around...maybe thatll get it close to the real thing. 

[audioguy]

Interesting, thanks!

How does it stack up to the Joe D. family of high gain units?

[phaeton]

Hey, they soldered the switch right on the board.  How about that!   

Heh, I noticed that too, and thought about your recent thread

Switch, jacks, pots, LEDs, salami sammiches, everything soldered right to the board.  At least they socketed the chip though.

[Connoisseur of Distortion]

pics of both sides would be awesome...