Obsidian vs. Smash Drive

[H4T]

I'm looking to create a heavy metal distortion unit, the kind that will pound the audience's brains, lol. I'm looking at the Obsidian right now, but I did find some good news about Aron's Smash Drive, though I haven't found any sound samples.

I already have an authentic American Big Muff Pi, so I'm looking for something with a serious crunch. The Obsidian sounds wonderful, though I've also heard of the Smash Drive, the HMP...I don't want to into a super complicated build like the DS-1 or the MT-2, I just want the absolute most heavy distortion I can achieve musically, lol....for fun, but its gotta be functional.

[aron]

Let me be the first to say that Joe's circuit's ROCK!!!!!! I love them!

I consider the Obsidian to be a most advanced circuit compared to the Smash Drive.

The Smash Drive might be what you are looking for, but be warned that the type of distortion it provides is very...."hard". It's like the opposite of the "brown sound".

I just can't describe it. For my tastes I lean towards the Obsidian, but the smash drive is so easy, just try it and if you don't like it, it's not a big deal time-wise.

[H4T]

lol neato.

I did a lot of searching on these forums for a sound clip of the Smash Drive, and I found that you posted one a long, long time ago, and the link has been broken since then.

I realized after posting this thread that I forgot to change the subject, lol...I know the Obsidian would probably lay down heavier distortion than the Smash Drive, I'm not sure what I was saying in the subject lol.

Right now I'm looking for a PCB layout of the Obsidian, if anyone has one, let me know, I'd love to have it. Also, if anyone feels that there is some other DIY pedal that is heavier, and has a PCB layout, let me know!

[aron]

I found an old example of the Smash Drive:

http://diystompboxes.com/pedals/sounds/smashdrive.mp3

Here's the Obsidian:

http://diystompboxes.com/pedals/sounds/obsidian.mp3

[Fret Wire]

Gringo (Pablo) has a Joe Davisson pcb layout pack on his site which includes the Obsidian.
http://gr1ng0.tripod.com/Downloads/dl.html

[H4T]

Alright, well I've decided to go with the Obsidian, might build the Smash Drive if I wind up with the right extra parts from other projects lol.

I took a look at Joe Davisson's Analog Alchemy site, and now I'm trying to differentiate between the Obsidian, the Blackfire, and the Vulcan...lol. I haven't heard the Vulcan yet, but from the sound of it, the Obsidian sounds the heaviest..

Why are there so many similar distortion pedals! lol

[aron]

This will get you. They are ALL fantastic! I've built them all and they all sound and feel different!  

[H4T]

Hahaha...I suppose I'll go and pick a slightly random one then, lol. I'm sticking with the Obsidian, and one of my quarters picked the Transistor version over the MOSFET...it had better not let me down, lol.

Thanks a ton for the help, as always!

[ragtime8922]

My vote is for the Vulcan. Obsidian is a close second but the Vulcan that I made and modded/tweaked is one of my favorite metal pedals.

I will make the standard statement that needs to be stated any time you refer to Joe Davidson's stuff:

                       "But all of Joe's projects are awesome"

And they truly are!

Also, you must try the Cauldron of Gain. Very Heavy Metal 18-volt fire breather.

[H4T]

Hm, the Vulcan. Well if those mods/tweaks you used made it heavier than the Obsidian, then I'll go with the Vulcan, will you please tell me about the mods/tweaks so I can use them as well?

[Alex C]

I built a Smash Drive about 2 years ago.  I omitted the tone section at the end (to save pots), and to offset the huge amount of treble, I tacked on a low pass filter at the end.  This reduced the drive considerably, and now it's almost TS-like.  I was a beginner then, and only tried a few cap/resistor combos in the LPF, but as I recall there was a large amount of tonal variation available.  I'll have to check into this more.  
Since mine sounds more like a typical "overdrive" rather than "distortion", I can't advise you on whether to build the stock circuit.

[troubledtom]

My vote is for the Vulcan. Obsidian is a close second but the Vulcan that I made and modded/tweaked is one of my favorite metal pedals.

I will make the standard statement that needs to be stated any time you refer to Joe Davidson's stuff:

                       "But all of Joe's projects are awesome"

And they truly are!

Also, you must try the Cauldron of Gain. Very Heavy Metal 18-volt fire breather.

what? please fill use in!  cool ! i play metal w/ wrath :twisted:
             peace,
                    -tt

[ragtime8922]

My vote is for the Vulcan. Obsidian is a close second but the Vulcan that I made and modded/tweaked is one of my favorite metal pedals.

I will make the standard statement that needs to be stated any time you refer to Joe Davidson's stuff:

                       "But all of Joe's projects are awesome"

And they truly are!

Also, you must try the Cauldron of Gain. Very Heavy Metal 18-volt fire breather.

what? please fill use in!  cool ! i play metal w/ wrath :twisted:
             peace,
                    -tt

I just posted the Cauldron of Gain Rev 3 yesterday. Nikolay did a layout of revision 2 and that is in the post as well. Also instructions for making rev 2 layout work with rev 3. (only omits 2 parts) Try it. Very Cool Metal Pedal.

As for my tweaks for the Vulcan I will look for the schematic that I made before building it. There were only a few mods but it made the difference for me. I didn't like the tone of the "in line parallel diode" mod listed here and on Joe's site. I can't remember why but just not as good.

[H4T]

Ahhhhhhhg. lol. I'd really like to decide on one of these.

I need heavy.  Between the Obsidian, the Vulcan (with your mods included!), and the Cauldron of Gain I think I will rule out the Cauldron of Gain, simply because of the 18v thing; I'd rather have 9v.

So, I'll wait a little bit to see if you can find that schematic, but if not, I've already got the PCB for the Obsidian-T, and I may go with it.