DIY alternative to ZVEX Box of Rock

[i2k]

As the title says, pls recommend me an alternative to Box of Rock...something sounds like Marshall JTM.

[jonathan perez]

eighteen

[aron]

BSIAB, most of the FET based overdrives too. Smash Drive.

But I am talking about the description - not the ZVEX product which I have NOT heard. If you want the ZVEX sound, buy that one.

[Alex C]

the ZVEX product which I have NOT heard.

http://media.zvex.com/sounds/box_of_rock_demo.mp3
http://media.zvex.com/boxofrock.mov

No more excuses. 

[Mark Hammer]

the ZVEX product which I have NOT heard.

http://media.zvex.com/sounds/box_of_rock_demo.mp3
http://media.zvex.com/boxofrock.mov

No more excuses. 

Well, that would depend on what you listen to MP3 samples on when on your computer.  I doubt that any of the $10 "180W-PMP" speakers so many of us regularly use accurately convey what something "sounds like", except in a very general sense.

[WGTP]

In posts (do a search) Z indicated that the BoR was 3 mosfets, smiliar to his SHO, with some special filtering.  This may be a good place to start.   

http://www.diystompboxes.com/analogalchemy/sch/obsidian.html

[Alex C]

Well, that would depend on what you listen to MP3 samples on when on your computer.  I doubt that any of the $10 "180W-PMP" speakers so many of us regularly use accurately convey what something "sounds like", except in a very general sense.

Yes, I assumed that Aron meant he had not even heard a clip of it, though I suppose he meant "in person."  I guess I need to remember that other people leave their computer desks at least a few times a week.    (I do venture into the "real world" every now and then.)
(A case could be made for the use of sound clips not as definitive tones but as references- for example, in the BOR video linked above, there are clips of the Marshall dirty and clean before the pedal, which seems suitable for a general comparison, i.e. "This is a what a cranked Marshall sounds like through my 2" Dell speakers, and hey, the Box of Rock sounds pretty close.")

For the original poster- from the horse's mouth:
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=48930.0  -Zach has even posted a guts shot here
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=48544.0

-Alex

[sfr]

FWIW, I have my computer hooked up to my Studio monitors (not amazingly great studio monitors, but transparent enough and good enough for the job) and the sound between the pedal and the amp in those clips is pretty much dead on.  So yeah, the pedal sounds like a cranked marshall both through 2" Dell PC speakers, and through decent middle of the road studio monitors.  Also through my TiBooks internal speakers as well. 

[rockgardenlove]

And I think I can hear it quite well on my 60 dollar headphones that aren't fantastic but in general sound pretty good.   

[i2k]

This is a nice sample from a shootout beetween Jackhammer vs OCD vs BoR :
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=150904&songID=4495884

What I want is a Marshall in a box with good guitar vol cleanup.

[powerplayj]

What I want is a Marshall in a box with good guitar vol cleanup.

BSIAB2 or Thunderchief (cleans up quite nicely)

[trevize]

Definitely BSIAB, maybe run on 12 or 18v.

For the box of Rock sound you could try cascading different kind of gain stages.

I personally have found the perfect distorsion with a combination of a mosfet booster + two miniboosters.

Three pedals built in different "A" Hammond boxes that can be cascaded and always sound good togheter.

[WGTP]

Currently on my breadboard is a 4 stage:

Vulcan BJT
Vulcan Jfet
Vulcan Jfet minus bypass cap and sort of em/sim the emulations and to reduce gain to a managable level
Mosfet stage

The Vulcans produce their nice squishy distortion and the Mosfet stage... just has a really nice smooth sound too it.