Box of Rock vs BSIAB

[MmmPedals]

These are two similar sounding circuits, are they similar? what are the perks of each. I would like to build them but i already have a guv'nor and 3 would overkill so i need to settle on 1 to build.
Oh yeah, one more, how does it compare to THOR by ROG.

[John Lyons]

They are different circuits. Similar tone sections but otherwise not similar.

[T1bbles]

BSIAB would be an easier build, Box of Rock would be a bit more versatile.

Both have been described as having  a 'cranked marshall' sound.

I'd say build an MI Audio Crunch Box lol. Not the answer you were after I know, sorry!

[oliphaunt]

I have a BOR on my breadboard now but have not built a BSIAB.   What I hear about the BSIAB is that it has a lot of gain.  The BOR has a pretty good amount of gain but it is not over the top.  It is quite useful as a medium or even low gain drive.  The tone stacks on The two are the same, and so I would imagine there is some tonal similarlity there.  This scooped stack is what gives the BOR Marshall sound to me.  I replaced the tone stack with something more versital and capable of a failry flat response and I think that really brings the BOR to life.  It has a very "open" quality, natural sounding with a 3 dimension quality to the sound that some other pedals don't have (I'm thinking of the flatness of a Tube Screamer). 

[Mich P]

oliphaunt  wrote :

"I replaced the tone stack with something more versital and capable of a failry flat response and I think that really brings the BOR to life"

Would you tell me more about that ?

thanks,
Mich P.

[oliphaunt]

Nothing fancy, just a James/Baxandall

[T1bbles]

That's;



Save you searching

[Mich P]

Ok thanks,
Mich P.

[caspercody]

I have built both the BOR, and BSIAB (both BSIAB and BSIAB2). The BSIAB2 was more work to build as far as squealing, and dialing in the pot for the one stage (but not complicated). Had to move wiring around to get it in the box without squealing noise. Like it was written earlier the BSIAB is a high gain, and the BOR is more medium to low gain.

I have also built the Thor, which is a high gain pedal. This one like the BSIAB needs a little more attention when building it. But I like the sound of this better (just goes not have much tone control, if you want that).

They are all different in sound, so look for sound clips. Go to Zvex website for BOR, go to GGG website (they have a kit) and they have sound clips. Or go to ROG website for sound clips of the Thor. Or check out Youtube.

[oliphaunt]

oliphaunt  wrote :

"I replaced the tone stack with something more versital and capable of a failry flat response and I think that really brings the BOR to life"

Would you tell me more about that ?

thanks,
Mich P.

I should mention that I got some nasty high picthed noises when I simply replaced the Big Muff stack with the Baxandall.  To make it work I had to put the tone stack after the dual low pass filter in the BOR circuit, so the tone stack is the very last thing before the volume control.

[caspercody]

But with the filters, you are losing some bass. If you put the bax tonestack after the last stage, and remove the filters it might work. You may have to add a recovery stage after the bax, but you will get a better tone responce.

[oliphaunt]

That didn't work for me, as there is way too much high end in the circuit without the filters.  I don't notice any appreciable low end loss as a result of using them.

[caspercody]

Good to know, thanks!