building a distortion box, but which one?

[mindrot]

hey, im considering building a distortion box to add to my guitar rig, but have no clue which one!  none of the discriptions i've read really jump out at me... ive been playing for about 9-10 years and am in a good old punk rock band.  right now im just using my amps boost, but it's waaay too crunchy sounding for my tastes.. want something with a bit more distortion.  i have a american deluxe strat w/dimarzio super distortion in bridge, this goes straight into 50watt jcm800 lead series head, into 350w laney quad..  the stuff we usually play is very rhythm based, so something that'll give nice thick machine gun palm muted sound that feels like a kick in the gut.   not really looking for anything screamy/squeaky... so like 80s hairmetal artificial harmonics and that stuff.. dont want that :-).

i did electronics in highschool and im doing a topic at uni that has us building simple sine wave modifying circuits every week (signal boosters, high pass/low pass filters, a true net 0v dc square wave generator, etc) so following circuit diagrams wouldnt be a huge problem as long as they're correct and dont assume too much stomp box building theoretical knowledge...

oh yeah, the guy i got the rig from had a old marshall shredmaster that he didnt want to sell.. that sounded hell good, so something similar sounding.  & 3 band eq would be very desirable.. but no clue if it should be pre or post!.

any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! thanks guys!

[Marcos - Munky]

Try the Obsidian (transistor version). Is easier than the Shredmaster and sounds better to my ears. Tell me your e-mail and I send the schematic to you.

[mindrot]

thanks for the reply, email is mindrot@telstra.com

i basically would like to use the jcm800 boost chan. as 'clean' for lead lines and then use the stompbox as OD for chording, ideally something that would give me that jcm900 hi-gain or mesa boogie dual-recifier(pipe dream, i know) sound... i dont really know too much about the gear side of things(hey, i just play).

thanks

[Marcos - Munky]

Check your e-mail. You will find the PCB layout in my site.

[Oliver]

thanks for the reply, email is mindrot@telstra.com

i basically would like to use the jcm800 boost chan. as 'clean' for lead lines and then use the stompbox as OD for chording, ideally something that would give me that jcm900 hi-gain or mesa boogie dual-recifier(pipe dream, i know) sound... i dont really know too much about the gear side of things(hey, i just play).

thanks

Hi,

that JCM900 HighGain Sound is not made from pure Tubedistortion!
there are some clipping Diodes doing the Job.
I Think, you can get your favorite JCM900 HighGainSound with a
DS-1 Like Distortion Box...

cu
Oliver

[Peter Snowberg]

If you want crunchy stuff and not squeeky stuff, I would recommend looking at CMOS inverter distortions. I have been playing with a few designs lately and have been very happy with some of the results. The designs I've used don't take as kindly to single notes, but 5th chords have a wonderful rough grit. Larger feedback resistors in early stages and medium (.022-.047) coupling caps seem to help grit formation. Some inverter circuits sound totally different, but have the same underlying character in the tone.

A parallel mix of CMOS inverters with a diode clipper brings out many new tones

Talke a listen over at http://www.runoffgroove.com/ for some sound clips.

-Peter

[Mark Hammer]

I love CMOS invertor type distortions too, but I have to put in a good word for the Proco Rat.  It's a nice thick and meaty pedal that holds up pleasingly when aiming for rapid, lightly-muted strumming of the wound strings.  Quite mod-able for slightly different tones too.

If it makes a difference, it was Scott Ian's (of Anthrax) pedal of choice for years.

[Kleber AG]

"""If it makes a difference, it was Scott Ian's (of Anthrax) pedal of choice for years.""""""""""""""""""

Wow... That really makes difference!!!  :shock:

Thanks for pointing that out!
Kleber

[BillyJ]

NOT!