Eric Johnson Strat Overdrive search

[aron]

I've been on a search recently to get an overdrive for my newly gifted Eric Johnson (EJ) Strat.
It has very low output and compared to every single other guitar I own, it is different in almost every way. Since Scott Henderson plays a somewhat vintage setup and swears by the SD9 - I went ahead and built one. On a bright amp, it's pretty rough sounding and has a lot of bass which he likes but I am not sure about this one.


I know EJ uses a Fuzz Face, so I built a Rocket which is not bad - however the guitar is low output so the Rocket could be modified to have more input gain.


I tried to build an OD-1 but somehow, that circuit is not working properly and I need to work on that one.


Also working on a Miss Piggy V3.


I modified a Tube Screamer and it's OK. But for some reason, it's not enough sustain.


So I hit my OLD stash. These are pedals that I built a long time ago. Most of them don't work properly due to cheap components that I used long ago. The pots are bad, the jacks corroded, some of the batteries exploded.


But one pedal sounded great! Yes the pots are crappy, the jacks bad, the box is way overstuffed. Which pedal?
The Booster 2.5 - or more correctly Doug Hammond's Sweet Thing.
It took a while to figure out what it was since I called it the FET Drive.
This pedal matches up PERFECTLY with the EJ Strat. I have the boost mod installed on a second switch and it is perfect.
It was made with the cheapest components. I need to replace the pots, the jacks, rebox it into a larger box etc.....
But it will be great with the single coils!

[Mark Hammer]

As Jake Peralta would say, "Noyce!".

I have a PDF'd thread from 2001, with a number of the "old regulars" exchanging comments: yourself of course, Doug Hammond, Joe Gagan, Ed Guidry, Jake Nagy, Jay Doyle, and a few other folks I don't recognize.

I love one comment Joe Gagan makes: "I think pedals that capture the elusive balance between gain/crunch and still retain the character of the guitar and the picking are a great feature of Aron's style. I noticed the same thing with the Rocket, and from what I can tell, the Hornet seems to have it as well.
Not often so with commercially available pedals. How many dist/OD/crunch/Fuzz pedals have you tried
that you couldn't tell which pickup you were on, or even whether or not it was HB pickups?"

So true, so true.

[Jdansti]

Cool stuff! What about putting a Tilman Preamp in front your pedals that need more gain on the input?

[aron]

Yes, I could do that. I ordered one of those larger Hammond boxes 1590XX? I need more space for the FET Drive/Sweet Thing since the original is so stuffed......
On my pedal board I still use my old DOD FET Preamp.
I really want to try that Miss Piggy V3. I noticed I said I would build it like 8 years ago! hahahaha
I also undid some mods I did on my small Fender Champ.

The EJ is so different from every Strat I have.... The neck is very thick to me. And so low output.

[Rob Strand]

I wonder if things improve by using the DOD preamp to make the level of the EJ the same as your other guitars,  then pass the boosted signal into other pedals.   The sweet thing is a mu-amp which has a fair whack of gain so it it could be taking up the slack on its own.

[aron]

Absolutely Rob!

I'm sure it would be OK on my standard pedalboard. Will try it.

[Steben]

As Jake Peralta would say, "Noyce!".

I have a PDF'd thread from 2001, with a number of the "old regulars" exchanging comments: yourself of course, Doug Hammond, Joe Gagan, Ed Guidry, Jake Nagy, Jay Doyle, and a few other folks I don't recognize.

I love one comment Joe Gagan makes: "I think pedals that capture the elusive balance between gain/crunch and still retain the character of the guitar and the picking are a great feature of Aron's style. I noticed the same thing with the Rocket, and from what I can tell, the Hornet seems to have it as well.
Not often so with commercially available pedals. How many dist/OD/crunch/Fuzz pedals have you tried
that you couldn't tell which pickup you were on, or even whether or not it was HB pickups?"

So true, so true.

Well tuned Fuzz Faces still are such a piece of magic in this regard. At least, when rolling down volume.

[aron]

I'm hoping the Miss Piggy V3 will be interesting.

[DougH]

As Jake Peralta would say, "Noyce!".

I have a PDF'd thread from 2001, with a number of the "old regulars" exchanging comments: yourself of course, Doug Hammond, Joe Gagan, Ed Guidry, Jake Nagy, Jay Doyle, and a few other folks I don't recognize.

I love one comment Joe Gagan makes: "I think pedals that capture the elusive balance between gain/crunch and still retain the character of the guitar and the picking are a great feature of Aron's style. I noticed the same thing with the Rocket, and from what I can tell, the Hornet seems to have it as well.
Not often so with commercially available pedals. How many dist/OD/crunch/Fuzz pedals have you tried
that you couldn't tell which pickup you were on, or even whether or not it was HB pickups?"

So true, so true.

Well tuned Fuzz Faces still are such a piece of magic in this regard. At least, when rolling down volume.

Someone posted a schematic of an "Eric Johnson Fuzz Face" or something decades ago. It was a simple tweak (from my recollection) and sounded real good. The other thing to remember is Eric used his fuzz face through a cranked Marshall Plexi, so there was more than one source of gain in that chain.

[GibsonGM]

Yes...the proper dialing in of amp gain vs. fuzz (or OD, or other drive pedal) can make worlds of difference!

[Ben N]

Dover Drive may work for you, too, Aron, although it's less about crunch and more about singing. It's a FF + Zendrive. Schematic here.

[Steben]

Since this thread is getting revived.... 2 pedal(s) (familes) are still unbeatable when it comes to retaining character and offer drive at the same time.
Fuzz Faces and Bluesbreakers. Ow yes, you can combine them.

[Gus]

This is interesting.
Lower output could mean lower inductance
OR
weaker magnets

I would guess the pickup height is setup

If the pickups have lower inductance the guitar(pickups volume and tone control), cable, input of what is next could change the sound between different guitars into the same following devices.

Something like a clean input buffer(good fet rail to rail opamp) with changeable input resistance and switchable input cap values then a parametric EQ(or a different EQ) might be helpful for getting data for a custom overdrive for the guitar.

[aron]

The EJ is (to me) the best sounding Fender I have ever played. It sounds EXACTLY like what _I_ thought a Strat would sound like.
Unfortunately for me, it's really difficult to play "modern" music on it The neck is thick and while the tone is fantastic, as soon as I play my Suhr, I know... why would I suffer to play this guitar live when it is effortless to play the Suhr? So I practice a lot on the EJ and when I play live, I go for my Suhr as the tone is - while not pure Fender - the tone is fantastic on the Suhr with the mods I did.

[Ben N]

Aron, didn't you used to play a Pacifica?

[DougH]

The EJ is (to me) the best sounding Fender I have ever played. It sounds EXACTLY like what _I_ thought a Strat would sound like.
Unfortunately for me, it's really difficult to play "modern" music on it The neck is thick and while the tone is fantastic, as soon as I play my Suhr, I know... why would I suffer to play this guitar live when it is effortless to play the Suhr? So I practice a lot on the EJ and when I play live, I go for my Suhr as the tone is - while not pure Fender - the tone is fantastic on the Suhr with the mods I did.

I don't understand how people can get comfortable with those baseball bat necks. I'm assuming that's what the EJ strat has, but to each his own. But I do think low output is key to a good strat tone.

[Ben N]

I used to like baseball bats, but the last 15 years or so I gravitate to my thinner neck guitars. My maple neck Highway-1 Strat used to be my #1, but lately I find it to be a bit too much, and I gravitate to a ~'96 Pro Tone Squire with a much slimmer neck.

[aron]

>Aron, didn't you used to play a Pacifica?

Ben.... you know how it is. First a Charvel (just to fool around and have - NOT to play guitar - don't worry I said).
Then the Pacifica - which was worked on and worked on - good recording guitar.
Then a higher end Pacifica - you know, the one before was "low end".
Then a couple of Bullets which actually play really well!

Then the Suhr, because - could it really be that good? ANSWER: Yes!

Then the EJ, which was given to me - in sad circumstances.... But I promised to play it.
The EJ sounds so good. I haven't heard a better Strat yet (that I have played myself). The main problems - thick neck - although I can play it, and buzz (of course).

[mac]

Then a couple of Bullets which actually play really well!

Mike Rutherford likes this 

mac

[egisseur]

Hm, very interesting. Although I do not own a EJ strat I feel my low output guitars could use something like the Doug Hammond's Sweet Thing.

Does anyone perhaps have an active link to the schematic? I could only find a 1 page pdf with circuit board layout, the rest of the links posted have been lost to time it seems... Would love to pull it up on breadboard first before I commit