Introducing "Mr Mostorto" ( not a magician ! )

[MartyMart]

So much to build, so little time.
Sounds good marty! I'd love to hear more.

John

John, new samples in a new thread with the CE-2 and Ross comp
Let me know if you want them for the clips site too ?

MM

[mydementia]

Ready for my Saturday morning...


...should be able to etch tomorrow...

[tcobretti]

That really does sound good, and it's very simple to boot!  I don't normally build distortions (fuzz is my thing), but I may have to throw this one together.

[GreenEye]

I need to perf this and check it out!  I haven't done anything for ages, and I'm tending to not play as much high gain stuff, but the right sound might get things going for me again!

[mydementia]

LAYOUT VERIFIED
I finally got around to building this cool circuit.  My build pix are in the gallery:
http://aronnelson.com/gallery/album89

Build notes:
For R4, I used a 4.7k resistor to the Q1 Drain - this still only knocked the voltage down to about 8.2V - I'll have to defer to Marty on how much this impacts the overall tone. 
The PreGain pot doesn't do much until about half-way... then it's pretty much 'on'... maybe a 5kB would be better here to get some 'real' variation on the control...
I biased Q4 to about 4.5V using the trimmer.

The tone is great - mine sounds VERY much like Marty's sound clips (rare, I know!).  I tested this circuit on my little Ibanez amp right in front of my 36" Sony TV (big tube tv) and it was dead quiet... no squeeling, hissing, or other annoying sounds hi-gain circuits tend to have (especially when I test them without turning the TV off!!!).  Also note the length of my I/O and pot leads... no heroic efforts here to control noise... just a good design.

Highly recommended circuit!!  Great job Marty.

Post back here if you build from my layout - always nice to hear success stories!
Mike

[mydementia]

Hmm...no modify button...

Just plugged this thing into my main rig - oh my goodness!!!  This circuit REALLY likes my PeaveyXXX tube amp!!  It even likes my Schecter with EMG 81/85's (not so with all distortion effects).  It's not as dark/compressed as my Dr. Boogey...but lets the individual strings ring AND does the nice chugga-chugga palm mute thing... friggin awesome Marty!

This should be on top of everyone's 'disortion to build' list.
Mike

[brad]

The PreGain pot doesn't do much until about half-way... then it's pretty much 'on'... maybe a 5kB would be better here to get some 'real' variation on the control...

Thanks for the heads up.  I was wondering whether the pregain knob was really worth including.  What modification would be necessary to get rid of it altogether and just leave the 1st stage running at full gain?

[tcobretti]

I believe that you'd want a 10k resistor and a 4.7u cap each running from the source of Q1 to ground.

[MartyMart]

Thanks for the report Mike ... I'm VERY pleased that you like it so much 
I have a similar feeling on the "pregain" pot, half way "on" but then It does have a large
effect on overall distortion to stage two above that, so 5K B pot or 10K B ( linear ) would be
better.
For a "Max gain" fixed setting, it would need something like a 680 Ohm-to-1k2 and the 4u7 cap, as the
"lower" resistance = higher gain !
Pot at 10k is CCW so turned down
I recommend the pot though for some medium gain tones & fine adjustment.

MM