Best Overdrive/Distorsion (no fuzzes) for DIYers

[moisho]

Hi guys... after building more or les 10 stompboxes, (two delays, three fuzzes, a couple of phasers, one tremolo, one chorus, a couple of boosters, a n autowah (I hate it specially), a some kind of ZVex Seek-Wah from the scrach, one looper and probably something else that I can't remember...) (hey men... there are a lot more than 10...  :shock:  :shock:  I'm an addict!!!!!!) Anyway... I realized I never built a pure distorsion...
It can't be possible!!!! I must do one!!! The problem is witch one???

Recomendations???

I thought about a GreatChedar (Lovetone Big Cheese) or a Brown Source (also from Lovetone)
I heard wonderful about BSIAB... What do you thing?

[MartyMart]

The BSIAB II is a great circuit and one for the list, here's a few more:

Phillips "Liquid Drive"
ROG "Grace" or "Big Daddy"
RDV's "HMP" ( heavy metal pedal )
Doug Hammond's "Highway '89"
Joe Davissons "Blackfire" or "Vulcan"
WGTP's "Distron Thrust"

There you go, another 7 to build !!!!  :wink:
(I've made them all and each has its own merits !  on the pedal board at
the moment - Highway '89, Liquid drive and Blackfire .....

Marty.

[robotboy]

For pure overdrive/dist, I've built the BSIAB II, Blackfire and Dragonfly's firecracker. The Blackfire is the heaviest and has a pretty saturated wall of gain tone. It's a fun and easy build, and it's great for getting into heavier territory. I built the BSIAB II on vero because I didn't feel like struggling through building a schematic of that size on perfboard. It's a very nice versatile distortion with a lot of mid-range punch and sustain. It also cleans up nicely when the volume is turned down and gives more of an overdrive type tone. The firecracker is a really easy low part count build that yeilds a surprising amount of tone. I'd characterize it's sound as plexi-esque. It's touch responsive and can also be set clean enough to hear every note. Dragonfly hasn't made the schematic for the firecracker public, so you have to PM him to get a copy. Lastly, I've also heard really good things about the Blue Magic overdrive at GGG. It will be the next overdrive I build, but I believe it's a lower gain bluesy type overdrive, so take that into consideration.

Two clips I made for further consideration:

http://towersofhanoi.org/fxclips/BSIAB2.mp3

http://towersofhanoi.org/fxclips/Blackfire.mp3

[Bernardduur]

I love my Colorsound overdriver..... It is a nutured Fuzz box, but it is a great overdrive. And easy to build.

[petemoore]

Things that influence what one person would call 'best' [a term I try not to use or respond to because it infers 'worse' to all other similar circuits]...
 The users ears, taste, amp, guitar, anything else in the signal path.
 This makes Distortion taste a super subjective matter.
 What you want and what you have have everything to do with what you'll get, elaborating on these related subjects [and others like 'simple/complex'] may help us help you decide what Distortion you might like to try.
 Of the ones mentioned, the BSIAB or B.S.II are quite popular choices.

[RedHouse]

And don't forget Doug's Highway89, it sounds really good!

[moisho]

Things that influence what one person would call 'best' [a term I try not to use or respond to because it infers 'worse' to all other similar circuits]...
 The users ears, taste, amp, guitar, anything else in the signal path.
 This makes Distortion taste a super subjective matter.
 What you want and what you have have everything to do with what you'll get, elaborating on these related subjects [and others like 'simple/complex'] may help us help you decide what Distortion you might like to try.
 Of the ones mentioned, the BSIAB or B.S.II are quite popular choices.

I totally agree!! I was considering this "best" term when I was writing the post, but right now, the results are excelents!!!! I'm getting a better idea to decide what to build.
The only thing I want, is to know the most popular and most accepted distorsions... I would like to build only one... (at the end I will have to build them all)
GT-2...what do you think???
And what about the Lovetone options I mentioned?

(Right now I thing the BSIAB2 is the choice... or perhaps the Blue Magic...)
Thanks to all