Distortion idea with schematic.

[fixr1984]

I drew this up and was woundering how it looked. I'm sure there are obvious errors to some people
and I was hoping to get some help to give me a better idea what I'm doing. Basically its 2 Electra Distortions together.
Maybe this has been done and I missed it. There are parts that I just filled in that came from other things I saw and wasnt sure if
what I have here is correct or not. I'm pretty sure the pots are wrong. I was thinking the input pot would work as a volume
and the pot on the output would work as a gain but I'm not sure. I saw another schematic that did something similar. Thanks

[tcobretti]

First, the pots will work exactly the opposite of how you described them, and you will likely want the 100k at the output of the circuit and something like a 50k-100k at the input.

Second, the best thing you can do now is build it on a breadboard and tinker with it. 

Ideas:

Make the diodes on the first stage switchable.

Make the 10k resistor after the first diodes a pot.

Make the 47k bias resistors trimpots so you can play with the bias to find a sound you like.

Use large caps (10uf-20uf) in parallel with the 680R resistors to increase the gain of the transistors.

Play with the cap values.  The Left-most cap eqs the signal going into the pedal, the cap in the middle eqs the signal going to the second transistor, and the final cap eqs the output.  I would likely try bigger caps (2uf-10uf) in the first two positions, and then tweak the final cap to eq the overall sound of the pedal.

Anyway,the  breadboard is your friend!!

[fixr1984]

What if I took out the input pot. put a 100k on the output as a volume.
If i took the 10k in the middle and put it on a pot like you suggested , would that work as a 
gain control? Or would leaving the gain on the input be a better idea.
Thanks for some of the ideas.

[tcobretti]

I am not a fan of the input gain knob; you could just use your guitar's volume knob and get the same effect.  I think the 10k would act as a gain pot, but you'd have to try it to see if it would work.

[fixr1984]

Off to the breadboard I go.
Thanks again.

[slacker]

I think you need another capacitor between the first set of diodes and the 10k resistor. Otherwise the diodes are going to mess with the biasing of the second stage. Might sound good how it is though.

[aron]

I remember somebody putting 5 stages in series.

[mac]

I remember somebody putting 5 stages in series.

It made me remember the begining of "back to future 1"...

mac

[edster]

$.02 from the new guy...

I like tcobretti's idea of making the 10k R  a pot. If not, at least a V divider. It'll give you some control over the charecteristics of the 2nd stage.

Also, in a circuit that has multiple sets of clippers, I like to increase the headroom as the signal goes down stream. Maybe double up your Ds in the 2nd stage or try some LEDs. It'll make this circuit a little more touch sensitive and dynamic.

A 500pf across the second 2.2M will take a little sizzle off the top.... or maybe a 10k in place of the final 1k. I'd probably go with a 100k pot for the final pot.

Since you didn't really say what you were looking for, this is based on what I'd like to hear from this circuit.

[newbie builder]

+1 to something like LEDs for the second set of diodes, +1 for a 100k pot for master volume at the end, +1 for making those 47Ks trimpots (at least for breadboarding purposes). A cool gain control is to have a 10uf cap in parallel with the 680ohm resistors but with a 5kB pot in between the 10uf and ground as a gain control (credit is due to AC (dragonfly) for the place I first saw this implemented). Also, might want to try a trimpot in place of that final 1k to, as edster said, take off some sizzly high end.

[ambulancevoice]

pots should the other way round (i think anyway)
input to lug 3, out through 2 ground 1
and the 10k pot after the first diodes should be done like so
in through lug 3, out through lug 2 to the next stage, and lug 1 should be jumpered to lug 2 as well

[DDD]

Hi fixr1984,
First of all try the device just as it's shown without any mods. The original schematic seems to have ability to sound good.

[fixr1984]

Hi fixr1984,
First of all try the device just as it's shown without any mods. The original schematic seems to have ability to sound good.

That was my first thought. I have 2 electras and put them in line together and thought it was pretty good
and wanted to make a circuit to incoroprate them together.

[Dragonfly]

I remember somebody putting 5 stages in series.

Wasn't that Joe Davisson ?

[mac]

i have the schem of joe's 4 transistors using electra stages.

mac

[Dragonfly]

i have the schem of joe's 4 transistors using electra stages.

mac

thats the one i was thinking of.

[grapefruit]

For it to work like two electra distortion in series you'll need to put a DC blocking cap between the first set of diodes and the 10k resistor.

Stew.

[aron]

ooops, you mean Joe only used 4? 

[fixr1984]

I took off the pot on the input and added the gain pot as suggested earlier.
How does that look? Should I have a 10uf on each 680R? Baby sleeps alot so I havent been
able to get much done on the breadbord and have to keep asking ?'s to get everything down on paper first.

[mac]

ooops, you mean Joe only used 4?

yes, and 1n34 and 1n4001 back to back across a feedback 470k, and incresing interestage resistors.

mac