Build Report: DOD Overdrive 250 w/ WIMA Capacitors & NE5534N OpAmp

[Rocket Roll]

Inside of the pedal:





How it sounds: http://www.box.net/shared/eyswgux8o8

(How it was recorded: Stratocaster into E-MU 0404 Soundcard, and then into AmpliTube Jimi Hendrix VST amp simulator, using "Plexi" simulation).

What do you think, does it sound like a DOD Overdrive 250 is supposed to sound like? Anything better, anything worse?

[Rocket Roll]

...and some project notes:

I went with a simple DOD Overdrive to test a couple of things: my first "Hammond box build", WIMA capacitors, etc... It's a Hammond 1590S box, as I usually make a mess if I try to work in smaller enclosures. It was wetsanded and sprayed with wheel paint in spray (no primer, as I hope wheel paint can last on aluminium surfaces).

PCB was made here, parts were also locally bought... I see very little mention of WIMA capacitors outside of Europe - they're polypropylene capacitors, and I would roughly label them "upper middle class". They were the best deal around, so I went with them, all the way.

As for opamp - I went with NE5534N as it's fast (10 mHz) and "low noise". Footswitch is robust, but only DPDT (if I want 3PDT for future projects, I'll have to order them from Berlin).

I've used thermoinsulator (what's the word? that blue tubing in the picture, it shrinks with heat) as musch as I could, since I've noticed that my builds tend to short-circuit.

And the box from above (I'm still waiting for decals):

[Rocket Roll]

"Clear-up" test: "Gain" at 60%, "Volume" about 50%. Yes, I know, I overdid it with gain, but boy, what harmonic content! 

http://www.box.net/shared/ich5mh9ssw