What opamp are YOU using in your Eternity build? Here's my review of some.

[blaren]

Some background...
I'm a MEAN solderer who knows how to follow a layout or build from a kit...so I guess I'm an electronics paint by number idiot or a TAB guitar player. I'm not..cant even READ tab without instructions. I do the odd tube amp repair for people if it's a simple or obvious issue. Do biasing etc...I'm safe, careful, do NICE work with an iron...but I'm basically an electronic illiterate dummy.
I've been gigging in bars mostly since I was 12 (over 37 years now). I'm an old Marshall guy (no no..I like old Marshalls...I'm not even 50 yet!!) who likes non-mastervolume crunchy overdrive and I like the basic screamer/SD-1 type of low-mid gain dirtboxes.
I've built a handful of simple fuzzes.

OK so...a few weeks ago in a trade deal I was the recipient of 12 or 13 great pedals (that I had to sell) including an orange Lovepedal Eternity. While testing all of them before listing them for sale and the second I hit the GO switch on the E my jaw pretty much hit the floor. WOW!! I LOVE this thing!
Another pedal in the bunch was a CMATMODS Signa Drive and it sounded real close to the E but was more versatile with it's clipping mode switch(?).
Since my plan was to recoup my $ from the trade by selling all the pedals...
No WAY!! I'm keeping ONE of these at least.
So when I saw that the E was discontinued and can fetch some serious money, while the SignaDrive is still being made and can be had NEW for $135, I decided to sell the E and keep the SD.
Welll...I just couldn't stop thinking about the one that got away and so I went on the hunt for schems (ok FINE...I looked for layouts and kits) to build a clone of an E. Found a kit and ordered and then kept my eBay eyes peeled for a steal on a real E. They get big bucks but also can be had for pretty cheap...I've seen them go for UNDER $100...RARELY.
Wound-up snagging one for like $140 shipped, which was quite a bit less than I got for the orange Eternity (E6?). YESSS!

When I ordered the kit I also bought some extra op amps to try.
If you know the Eternity you know that there are a bazillion different iterations and versions. They have a chunk of the circuit epoxied to prevent anyone from stealing the design (which is a copy of the SoS, which is a buffereless TubeScreamer...protecting a clone of a copy???) and the IC has it's numbers and info sanded-off.
The circuits have been de-gooped so that is no longer a mystery but as far as the chip goes, there is only conjecture and guessing with a lot of the E-clone community saying the E chip is PROBABLY an LM1458N. Of course a 4558 works well and is what comes with most E clone kits. Other suspects are the Burr Brown 2604AP and LM833 among others.

Now, the "kit" I built is a Burst clone and not a "normal" Eternity. The E I currently have is blue and I assume it's an E6? Havent even really looked inside much but it seems to be a little less bright or aggressive as the orange one I sold.
I built it and it worked immediately :-O
Brought it to a rehearsal that night along with the real E and they bumped the CMATMODS SD and  OD-9 I had on my board. I did the first A/B test and they sounded EXACTLY the SAME!!!  I play an 18/36W Marshall clone at the studio and at home I mostly use a MAZ.
Brought them home and continued the A/B/C/D.....testing with different opamps and settings etc and found that..NO..they do NOT sound exactly alike. I think it's the mids. The blue E sounds a little honky/TS-ish but of course without the bottom end destroyer. I don't know if the E's mids are more upper or lower mids than the clone but the clone seems to be a little scooped compared with the real deal. It has more bottom (slightly) and top end and slightly different mids. This is with the 4558D.

Decided I'd try some of these other op amp chips. Oh and..last night I saw that youtube vid where dude tests different ICs and demonstrated that there is OO tonal difference in opamp tones. CouBULLSHITgh. Sure, a civilian might not HEAR an huge difference but there IS one for SURE. You might not feel it when wanking dirty chords but you WILL hear and FEEL the difference when you actually PLAY the guitar. Is it subtle? Depends on what YOU call subtle I guess...it isn't as huge as trying different speakers, tubes or strings but it IS big.

First tester was the LM1458N that seems to get the most DIY community votes as being the TRUE Eternity chip.
Maybe that dude from the vid was right? Not much difference. Still had the "wrong" midrange (which, if I knew ANYTHING about electronics, I'm sure I could "fix" with some r or c changes...or clipping diodes etc...) compared to the E. And I think a civilian would HEAR that so far, my clone and the E aren't the same and that even the different ICs don't sound the same.
Next was the Burr Brown and I had high hopes for this one. It was EXPENSIVE!! Where the others cost like $0.40-$0.80ea, the Burr Brown was like over THREE DOLLARS!!
Nope! Even MORE wrong.  This one sounded a little too hi-fi(?). It was also scooped compared to the real E but even more scooped than with the 4558 or 1458. Dammit.
The E's mids are the ones that really coax pinch harmonics to leap off the fretboard. Awesome for me but just a little TOO much TS/OD-9 mid hump in this E (compared to the orange one I had even).
Next was the LM833.
DING DING DING...SIRENS...CONFETTI....We HAVE a WINNER!
It is SO close it's not even funny. Is it EXACT? No..still not yet but it's SO close. The EQ seems just about bang-on frequency-wise but there could be just a little more mod boost in the clone if it wanted to be EXACT. It's actually just how I want it. It has the middy pinch harmonic thing happening but it has just a TOUCH less of those mids...so now it's Perfect! Or the PERFECT screamer for me.
It does EVERYTHING I LOVE about a screamer but less of what I don't love...which is those nasally mids (I like them...just not SO much) and the huge drop in bottom end you get with a normal screamer. It's like the PERFECT Screamer for me. I'm SO happy.
Would I rather have the orange E I just sold? I don't know. Maybe. But...I have NO problem getting rid of the real E now. It was just to A/B against my clone and it's RIGHT THERE. I have parts coming to build a few more E clones. Slightly different circuit (not the burst version exactly...Burst pot values but a couple of different board component differences) that I will need to keep the real E to compare with...suppose I could use my clone #1 as a benchmark but I'd really like to see if this slightly different circuit sounds closer or further from the real deal.
Once I get them built and sounding how I want them, I'll be selling a couple of them and keeping 2 for myself. One for my big main board and one on the smaller jam/session/travel board.
Sorry for the lengthy rant fellas.
The meat and taters of it is that...
In the circuit I built, the LM833 is THE Lovepedal Eternity chip. The second closest according to my ears and hands is either a 4558D or the LM1458N (those two seem very close to each other) and after those would be the Burr Brown. The BB just had a hi-fi or "sterile" think going on. I bet that a lot of people would actually prefer it to the others? Like say if a high gain metal head liked using a TS or OD-9 or 808 etc (a screamer) to kick his amp in the pants, he would probably prefer the BB opamp with it's tighter and maybe bigger bottom end, somewhat scooped mids, and nice tight searing crisp high end where an old cack like me who likes that crunchy, humped vintage Marshall thing will probably prefer the LM833.

The closest opamp I've found to the MYSTERY Lovepedal Eternity opamp is the LM833...in THIS circuit at least.
I haven't yet popped the REAL opamp out of the REAL E and tried it in my clone yet. That is gonna happen here shortly and I'll be back with a (shorter I promise) report. Who knows...when I start that A/B test I might recant all my rantings above and say...OK...the 1458 sounds EXACTLY like the mystery E chip.
Stand-by.

[Kipper4]

Can we hear a clip please?
Rich

[Jamers]

Nice report! thanks! Any link you can provide to the layout/kit/ or what you used? Thanks

[pappasmurfsharem]

Nice report! thanks! Any link you can provide to the layout/kit/ or what you used? Thanks

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=lovepedal+eternity+layout

[blaren]

There are kits to build an Eternity all over the place. On eBay, from sellers who are members here, from most DIY pedal and pedal parts dealers....
It's a very simple circuit and easy build. They are just a copy of a stripped-down version of a bufferless tubescreamer. The Eternity (most or all of their versions) circuit has been "reverse engineered" lol...well de-gooped and seen so the circuit and components are pretty much public knowledge.
It is a copy of the Son of Screamer...which is a copy of a TS.
The only mystery that remains is...why are we here? Oops...wrong philosophical discussion...the only mystery as far as the OTHER Eternity (the pedal) goes is the IC/op amp. Lovepedal always scrubbed or scuffed-off the chip's identifiers.
Later this afternoon I'm going to pull the "mystery chip" out of my real E and try it in my clone...and vise versa.
I only have 3 or 4 different op amps to test but I WILL be able to report on which, of the ones I have, is the closest to the real deal.
Stand-by.

As for clips...I might get around to it. I've only ever posted guitar clips once before in my life. Wasn't too hard and I'm not against doing it again...but...I kinda doubt that you would be able to hear a difference between the clone and real E. I mean my Wife thinks I'm stupid cause to her, they sound EXACTLY the same. Even to me they sound almost identical. The difference is SO vague. It's just a slightly different mid hump. VERY subtly different. I can FEEL the difference more than I can hear it. I mean I CAN hear it but...
So I have a feeling that if I posted audio ...or video clips at youtube or soundcloud or whatever it's called, that would be listened-to on computer speakers...or even earbuds, I'm 99.999% sure they would sound EXACTLY the same.

But...I'll still try to get some clips done and posted. If I cant get the difference between the E and clone to be very noticeable, I will (well I will anyway) also add a Maxon Od-9 and a modded SD-1 to the shootout as benchmarks or whatever.

If you're a screamer or Boss overdrive kind of person...if you find that the Screamers (especially) could do with a bit more bark and bite and whallopy crunch that doesn't neuter your bottom end and that doesn't add so much mids that your guitar sounds like a duck with a bad headcold and a clothespin on it's nose..beak..I mean BILL!!!  ....then you really NEED to try an Eternity.
With patience, diligence and a decent sniping program, you can find a real Eternity on eBay for not much more than $100....SOMETIMES. Plan on paying around $150+ for one if you want to win one like this week or today etc.

I've been a screamer or SD-1 guy for decades. Just recently fell into a pile of AWESOME pedals.
I used to always have a screamer of some sort..or the SD-1 on my board for med overdrive with another OD for mild gain...usually went with more transparent units like a Dingotone BSD or a Boss BD-2 for the transparent and mild gain.
Now I use the Eternity clone and a CMATMODS SignaDrive. I still haven't settled-upon the order and which to use as the mild and which to use as the med gain pedals but..
I don't have anymore nasally, mid humped and no punchy teeth having overdrives on my board. Just an Eternity (clone...I'm calling it the InfinitE lol) and the SignaDrive as overdrives.