a quick comparison of boosts/ODs

[vdm]

Hey guys,

I've been building a few pedals recently to try and get some nice rhythm OD sounds and a nice solo boost

Ive gone through a bunch of different pedals either recently or in the past and here is my opinion of a few:

Blue Magic
Used it for about 2 months, but just couldn't get myself to like it.
Seemed to choke my tone quite a bit. I didn't have anywhere near as much bottom as usual.
Tone control didn't have a huge effect, despite the standard format

Dist+
Ive built this and rebuilt this a number of times (it was infact my first functioning pedal)
But despite the nostalgia the harshness that it comes with isnt too enjoyable.
Ive tried a bunch of different mods which do help some, but not a very interesting sound.

The Crank
Mark Hammer's design. Built it a week or so ago.
Nice gentle grit for a booster, but not enough headroom in the boost
I wish the gain knob had more range (might try changing some values and a 25k DG pot)
Would much prefer it to have unity on min gain, and then grit with increasing volume and lose the volume pot
I get the feeling its not working properly though as I think it should have a bigger boost - I'll get back to you

Bluesbreaker
Built this one about 2years ago, and havent put it back together to try with my new tube amp
I loved the tone this thing spat out, but it never had enough boost and was noisy
The tone control had good range, but due to the noise I couldnt have it up high where I wanted it
Great tone, but I might have to try my own layout and some hi-freq taming to quieten it down a bit
Just writing this has me excited to try it again now that I know so much more than i did then

Peppermill
Just put this one together and I'm quite happy with it.
havent had a chance to put it through the new amp, but thats what tomorrow is for.
Much more happy with preservation tone than the quite similar blue magic
I think this will be my boost from now on. Has plenty of headroom.
Will be nice as a solo boost that I can adjust the gain on without worrying about too little clean boost

SHO
The ZVEX pedal is a bit of a tack on the end as I didnt build it, but borrowed from a friend whilst overseas
I had it for a good 6months and its a great little pedal with HEAPS of volume boost.
I liked it pushing my old marshall AVT100 clean channel despite its low voltage single tube preamp (amongst ICs)
Not as much of a fan pushing my new amp - not a huge fan of its preamp distortion
the pedal does however do a great job of boosting any signal and is really useful for recording
I also used it to plug a mic into the FX return of my amp, boosting the signal right up and giving a vol control
Dont understand why he doesnt set the gain to max and put a standard volume pot at the end
-the 'crackle-ok' pot doesnt seem to change tone, just volume, so to me i'd prefer it without the crackle.
it is near on noiseless as well and ever so slightly boosts highs.


phew... well thats all I can think of now... Didnt discuss my fuzzes and distortions... but maybe another day

thanks guys... hope this helps someone

Trent

[RDV]

You should try the Dist + with the volume all the way up and the drive set to taste. It makes my JCM900 sound better than it really is, but then I like a lot of gain. I don't like them at all the other way round.

RDV

[Toney]

Hey VDM,
Wanted to add a big thumbs up for the Peppermill. Built it a few weeks back and I love it. Sounds lovely fender to fender amp. Sweet and transparent. Transparent.....
Also the Dist+ can have quite a few personalites, I've found. My favorite combo is stock values  741, film caps and silicon diodes.

[cbriere]

NIce comments, it helps figure out ,before building, the results of those circuits.
On my side, after a lot of trial and errors with all sort of OD circuit,
-fet based circuit dont do it as it does not compress enough like tubes do,
- 1n914, 1n34a or LEDs to ground , good for crunch
I'm back with my tube screamer circuit,
I like so much the compressed effect it delivers,
now i want to had features around it,
(add Bass, treble, and an volumeboost)
see my post:
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=39143.0

cb

[MartyMart]

Fuzz Centrals "Liquid drive" knocks the socks off any other Dist+ version
I would recommend that VERY highly.
The Crank is wonderful, sounds like you may have a small problem with
that .... or ..... it just doesn't suit your setup, which can sometimes be the case !!
Peppermill is a very useful bit of "spice" for any rig, I would put that in my top 10
builds for sure.
Thanks for the comments anyway 

Marty.

[vanhansen]

Cool comparisons.  A few of those I have tried.  I find myself going back to my own booster every time though.  I don't know what it is but my Marsha Valve just does what I intended to, and that was to slam the front end of my Marshall for more dirt yet keep the tone intact, and it does it better than any OD I've tried with it.

The Bluesbreaker is one I want to try and the Guv'nor too.