GGG's Blues Breaker question...

[Pierre]

Hi !!!
I was just about to populate GGG's Blues Breaker pcb and i noticed that i dont have any 914 / 4148 diode...Can i use 4001/ 4002...?, how about leds?...germaniums..?
Thank's !!!!

[MartyMart]

The sound of the drive will change, but try either 2x pairs of 2x Ge diodes ( 1N34A's etc ) in series
to replace the 4148's approximately or try using 1N4001's, these will clip later and provide a touch
more volume.
MM

[Pierre]

thank you !
I think im going to try 4001s...

what about leds..?

[Meanderthal]

 Yes you can try leds... they clip too. Different colors make a difference. They won't sound the same as 914/4148, but who can tell, ya might like 'em.

[shanter]

Well ill tell ya from my experience. i used the tonepad layout and socketed both the led and the IC using an IC chip for both. Whats great about the tonepad layout is that you can  use the IC chip whole and place it right in place of the diode pairs. So i can plug the diodes in and out and try different sounds.

LED's sounded no different than 1n914's but germaniums sounded different...awfully buzzy but different. i didnt try 4001's but id assume they would have very little noticeable difference. i now have 1n914 in there and its pretty much the only overdrive i use.

another thing to note is the when ur using the bluesbreaker, if your drive knob is dimed then u wont get ANY noticeable sound difference with the diodes changing. I guess its the circuit, and alothugh i know noting really about electronics, i assume the IC takes over the distortion once the lknob reaches max. Again, i say this from experience with the pedal and no electronics knowledge.

[Barcode80]

probably it is because at max gain the voltage going through the circuit is more than any of the diff diodes can handle before clipping, so there is no opportunity for dynamic difference.