the TS-7 trick revealed

[bigjonny]

I've been scheming to build myself a Tubescreamer clone, and was thinking about using stripboard to do so, since that way I can incorporate some of the "typical" mods a bit easier, by having all my components on-board, rather than hacked-in to an existing PCB, and end floating in space.

Anyhow, I haven't played many TS pedals, and since the mod for TS-9 and TS-808 is so easy, I figure I will put a DPDT on/on (finger) toggle that will allow my to toggle between the two.

This got me to thinking further... My buddy has a TS-7, which has the "Drive/More Drive" switch on it.  It is a finger toggle switch, and he always wishes it was a stompable one.  So, I compared the TS-9 GGG schematic and the AMZ schematic to the TS-7 "schemaitic", and found that the only difference between the circuits is the aforemntioned mod (I suspect, upon inspection of my pal's TS-7 that the TS-7 uses cheaper parts, too).

Anyhow, long story short, here's a excerpt of the TS-9/TS-808 with the "Drive/More Drive" mod from the TS-7.  When the DPDT is "up", you get stock TS-9/TS-808; "down" is More Drive mode.  This can obviously be done with a stomp or toggle DPDT (my vote's for stomp).  Note that this looks very similar to Jack Orman's Fat Bass for Tube Screamers mod.  However, from what I know of Orman's description of his mod and my pal's TS-7: they won't sound very similar.  Also note that the one "blank" lug on the DPDT could be used to turn on an LED.  Finally, note that I didn't draw the DPDT "schematic" style, but rather "layout" style.  I suspect you get the idea, though.

I'll come back here and comment how it works out.  I'm just now in the planning stages, but I thought I'd pass this along, in case anybody else wants to try...