Transparent overdrive schematic request

[gigimarga]

Hello,

I've listened the demos of new Danelectro CoolCat serie pedals and i'd liked very much the sound of the "Transparent Overdrive".
Has anyone a schematic of a transparent overdrive that sound like that?

Thx a lot!

[gigimarga]

This is the pedal which i talked about: http://www.coolcattone.com/overdrive.html

[Mark Hammer]

My sense is that a lot of what you hear in that clip is coming from the amp and guitar.

We have had a lot (make that an annoyingly large amount) of discussion here about "transparent" sounds of different types.  People mean many different things in their use of the word "transparent".  Listening to the clip, though, my sense is that Danelectro is essentially doing what so many of the TS-9 spinoffs have done, and that is to put back some of the bass, and take away some of the heavier clipping, from a basic TS device.  So, make yourself a TS, change the .047uf cap in the clipping stage for .22uf, change the 500k drive/gain pot for 250k, and replace the 1+1 diode pair with a 2+2 diode complement or even a pair of back-to-back red LEDs, and you are 75% of the way there.

Keep in mind that once you raise the clipping threshold by using a different combination of diodes, that clipping will be absent from a great deal of what you play until the gain is cranked and you really dig in with your pick.  Since the clipping threshold is higher the circuit does not need to be "protected" quite so much from the bass portion of the signal the way it does with a standard TS.  Since the output level is not as severely limited as it might be with a simple 1+1 diode pair, you don't need quite so much gain.  Your max gain will be 65x using what I suggested.  Far from fuzz territory, but enough to get you some grit and noticeable boost.

Finally, you may want to tailor the tone control a little bit to suit your needs.  Read the articles over in the labnotes section of www.muzique.com (e.g., http://www.muzique.com/lab/tstone.htm).

[gigimarga]

Thx a lot...i will try tonight!!