Rocktron "AustinGold" overdrive mod

[MartyMart]

For anyone who's interested I just picked one up quite cheaply, its the "US" built version from 1995.
It seemed a little too "clean" for my liking, but has a great tone and the "pre-bass" control is great for rolling off bass before the drive section, nice !.
So removed D4 and swopped the 10k drive pot for a 47K, this results in more drive available from about half way through the pots travel, I guess its about 2x the stock amount.
It sounds great now and still retains the guitars tone.
Taking it apart is not easy and the legend is stuck to plastic which sits under the pots, i lost some of it whilst removing it from the enclosure.
A couple of "Dymo" labels fixed it up fine.
Cheers,
Marty.

[bobbletrox]

Is the Austin Gold similar to the SD-1 or Tubescreamer?

[MartyMart]

Neither !
It sounds more like a "boutique" booster pedal with a touch of drive, very nice pure tone, mine now has a little extra 'drive"
There are two 8 pin op-amps and two 14 pin also, can't rmember what they are, ( could be cosm chips like 4049's) and its all put back together, which was a pain in the **tt !.
It did have diode pairs for drive, symetrical clipping.
Marty

[bobbletrox]

thatsa lotta opamps for an overdrive!

[jimbob]

Rocktron makes some decent stuff..esp for the price.. I own the Rocktron Vertigo Vibe. Neat little bugger..I dont care much for the jacks though. I would change them out with switchcraft if i thought i was going to keep it. Im suprised at the price too..