Omega - Muff Boost

[tcio]

I wanted to share this with everyone on this forum seeing how I have been helped so many times on this site every time I run into problems while DIYing.

After breadboarding for months I came up with 2 super sounding pedals both of them using the ROG Omega circuit as the overall foundation of the tone. I am a tone fanatic and very picky, always trying to get a good sweet tone yet with lots of guts. I am also a high gain freak as well and can NEVER get enough good snug shredding high gain out of a single foot pedal. The omega is the best sounding DIY pedal I have heard so far in regards to tone (IMO) but I couldn't get the drive out of it that I wanted so I experimented for months until I came up with just the right concoction(s). Yeah I know. It looks like a cobbled mess but they work great!

The first one is an Omega – Muff Boost which is the ROG Omega circuit going straight into the Muff Booster (Jack Orman) circuit from the AMZ website. I did a couple of minor mods on the Omega (resistor & cap value changes, Gain Pot). This is the best standalone pedal I have heard yet although it may need a little boost if you want play really heavy metal with it. The "Drive"knob is the "Volume control from the Omega circuit and cannot be turned up too much or it just sounds awful. I don't know enough what I am doing to fix that yet but it only needs to be turned up a couple of notches to start getting a really good distorted tone anyway. The "Tone" knob is the "Range" from the Omega circuit. The Master is the volume level from the Muff Boost circuit which I turn all the way up.

The second one is the ROG Omega circuit going into Aron Nelson's Smash Drive. This one really rips but sounds a little hollow without a mid boost to push it. I use an old MXR 6 band with a frown setting (mids boosted) and get an incredible Metal shredding tone yet with good tonal quality. These pedals are somewhat midrangy but nice and tight with no muddy bass so I run an EQ after them with the mids scooped. I may upload some sound files if anyone is interested. I find that running an EQ after distortion pedals results in a snugger tighter bottom end without getting muddy which is why I didn't do any tweaking to the pedals in that respect. Everyone has there personal preference but thats just me.


Maybe someone out that really knows what they are doing will like these and build on them even further. I think they sound absolutely fantastic!

They now have LEDs on them but I was too lazy to get the camera out again.

[ambulancevoice]

id like to hear some samples
im building a LPB driving an Easy Drive soon with some mods

[Auke Haarsma]

I need soundclips!

Btw, I second you on the Omega. It's a great sounding circuit. My version has three pots (range, control, level). My booster of choice at the moment!

[tcio]

The funny thing is that I really did not like the sound of the Muff Boost (no offense Jack) as it had a kind of muddy and fuzzy sound which I believe is what it was designed for. I normally like more of a snug tight bottom end sound with crispy chunky mids and highs. The Omega has a more mid range/high end type of sound. Perhaps that's why they sound so good together. Maybe it's a nice balance, I don't know but it certainly won me over.

I am not going through my whole rig although it really doesn't sound near as good lined straight into the PC. It sounds best cranked up and through speakers. I will try to keep it simple for the most part so the sound of the pedal alone can be heard as much as possible but I do also want to illustrate how nice it sounds with FX and equalization and how nice it drives a tube amp. I have played it through a solid state amp too and it rocked!




All of these sound clips were done running through a Hughes & Kettner Blues Master amplifier using a little gain but without changing the settings whatsoever during each recording.


Configuration during sound sample recordings: Guitar > Omega – Muff Boost > Blues Master (built in attenuator) > Art Tube EQ > Rocktron Xpression > Computer


Sound Sample 1 – Omega – Muff Boost pedal: Pedal off, Pedal on.

http://www.freewebs.com/tcio/Sample%201.mp3


Sound Sample 2 – Omega – Muff Boost pedal ART Tube EQ turned on: Pedal off, Pedal on

http://www.freewebs.com/tcio/Sample%202.mp3


Sound Sample 3 – Omega – Muff Boost pedal ART Tube EQ turned on plus Reverb from Rocktron Xpression.

http://www.freewebs.com/tcio/Sample%203.mp3




The Omega – Muff Boost pedal is more versatile than the Omega – Smash Drive and can do just about everything in the distortion department. It smooths out really nice while bringing the guitar volume knob down but again if you want to do screaming Metal you will want to drive it with another pedal or device. It only needs a little nudge though and can get a very heavy sound but the Omega – Smash Drive seems to work better for the real heavy stuff yet should be driven with a mid or treble boost type of pedal to to get rid of the somewhat hollow frequency sound it has by itself . If you have the time and the experience I imagine you could tweak it and balance the frequencies to sound better but when I run a mid boost (old MXR 6 band EQ - http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=64988.msg513878#msg513878) into it the thing just screams and makes me happy so I haven't bothered tampering any further with it.

[signalpaths]

tcio I cant get the links to your sound samples to work they just keep bringing me back to this thread??

Eric T

[tcio]

Not sure whats going on with that. I have been testing them out and at first they wouldn't work at all. Then Sample 1 did, then 2, then finally 3. Then I clicked on 2 again and it didn't work. I did find that you can always copy and paste the link into the browser (Navigation Toolbar) and it seems to work fine that way. Sorry about that. I have no clue

[John Lyons]

The last part of the first clip sound nice and crunchy on those full chords with high strings. The chords with high notes stand out as being a better sounding to me. More sparkle...I guess it just depends on what style you want to play.
For lower notes and heavy chords it's not as articulate...more fuzzy and clouded.  Sounds good though!

With second clip with EQ it does improve although it gets a little dark in the high end.

The EQ reverb clip actually sounds really nice for an 80's-90's metal sound!
Combo effects are fun.

If you get time pot some clips of the Smash drive with and without the Omega.

Thanks

John

[tcio]

Thanks John.

Yeah... I like the 80's and 90's guitar tones for the most part but it did loose some nice highs running direct into the PC. Probably the built-in Red Box. I never use that normally when I play. I just run through the built it attenuator and out to a power amp & cab. The sound clips captured the sound of the pedal for the most part but unfortunately with the sacrifice of some high end.

You are right though about style and taste. I do like a warm sound. I like to get a real ferocious tone and then kind of bury it just a little to make it smooth and warm yet with some bite behind it.

I do get more crisp highs though running this setup through my ART SLA-1 power amp and then into the cab but I didn't want to mess with my EQ or amp settings as they are all setup for my live sound and I have to play this weekend ( The Parametric EQ can take some time to tweak). So I just plugged in, ran through the built in Red Box and into the PC to lay the tracks.

I am surprised there are no sound clips for the Smash Drive anywhere but now that you mention it I don't recall ever seeing or hearing any. Perhaps if nobody else posts one I will in the future (have a super busy day today). I think it is a fantastic sounding circuit/pedal and couldn't have got my personalized Metal sound without it (Thanks Aron, and also a super thanks to ROG and Jack Orman!).

[suprleed]

I must say, those were some pretty nice samples.  Love the chunkiness as you worked thru the power chords.  I liked the lead tones as well, seemed very versatile.  Good riffage BTW!  I liked the "stock" tones of number 1 as well as the fine tuned tone of number 3.  Excellent job.   

Kudos for developing a setup that works for you and sounds good to your ears.  I think your clips demonstrate the power of a good boost pedal, or in your case, a dual boost pedal.    That's just friggin sweet. 

I'm eager to hear your Omega-Smash pedal as well...

[tcio]

Thanks for your kind words Superleed. I will post some sound files after this weekend of the Omega – Smash Drive. I think you'll really like it. This time I will use a mic & cab though. I ran through some older sound files of my pedals back when I was experimenting and the highs were much more apparent.

I usually always record with a mic in front of a cab but wanted to do my best to get a straight in sound when I laid these tracks. No matter what you plug into though it is going to affect the sound in some way or another unless you are plugging line in through some really serious stuff but then your missing out on all of the beauty of a hard driven speaker cab.

There's just nothing like driving an amp with an awesome pedal (or 2 or 3, etc) then pushing that speaker cab getting those speakers working for you too! It's like one big happy family 

[tcio]

When I uploaded the first samples for this pedal (Omega - Muff Boost) I recorded line in through a speaker cab simulator to the PC. I have always been a "mic in front of the cab" guy to the death but wanted to whip something up real fast just to give everyone an idea what this pedal sounded like.

John commented on how the highs were lacking somewhat and I knew that was not the case normally with this pedal but did notice it after he mentioned it so re-recorded it with a mic in front of the cab. I am glad John mentioned this as I didn't realize just how much quality got lost running through the speaker cab simulator. I discontinued the links to the other sound sample files as they just didn't do the pedal justice. Sorry for the confusion. I changed absolutely nothing on any of the settings other than running through a clean power amp to a cabinet and placing a mic in front of the cab. I know it may be hard to believe to those of you who heard the other sound samples but believe it or not it is the truth.

Gear configuration:

Guitar > Omega – Muff Boost > Hughes & Kettner Blues Master amplifier> Rocktron Xpression (only used Chorus & Delay on mellow part of Omega-Muff Boost sample) > ART SLA-1 Power amp (totally clean solid state power amp but needed to boost the volume to cab) > 2X12 Cab w/Eminence Legends V12 > Sure SM57.

New Sound Sample – Omega  Muff Boost pedal - Pedal off, Pedal on, Chorus and Delay from Rocktron Xpression on mellow section.

http://www.freewebs.com/tcio/Sample%201%20Mic%2DCab.mp3


Recording volume was low, about yelling at the top of your lungs level – Speakers weren't even driven hard.

Sorry again for the inconvenience but the link only works half the time  . I posted the actual URL also so a copy & paste can be done into the browser if needed.

[ambulancevoice]

get yourself an album in the gallery and you can upload your mp3s there, and get no crap from free(shit)webs
just type this in and go make an album
users: diyuser
password: j201

[John Lyons]

Yeah! that sounds really good. much more snap and harmonics!
Put some reverb on that and you're ready to rock. (Maybe grow your hair out as well)

Thanks for making the new clip. much improved!

John

[petemoore]

  Can't get the clip links to take me to other than this thread in another page...
  Sure sounds like it'd sound good though !

[Ben N]

Funny, I was just thinking about putting an Omega in a box with a Minibooster, but the question that occurred to me was whether the second stage of the Omega, which is really just an output buffer, makes any sense between the Fetzer stage and the minbooster. I think it might make sense to leave the mosfet out when the miniboost is in the circuit, and only include it when the Omega is on its own--or put it after the MB.

I imagine the same considerations would apply here, no? Your thoughts?

Ben

[petemoore]

  ~?sound different when coming off source of mosfet.
 

[tcio]

get yourself an album in the gallery and you can upload your mp3s there, and get no crap from free(sh*t)webs

I hear you there. I didn't know about this before so I went ahead and did as you suggested but it appears to be to late to change the link now as there is no "Modify" button available. Thanks though. I know it is a real pain but a copy & paste in the browser seems to work every time.

Funny, I was just thinking about putting an Omega in a box with a Minibooster, but the question that occurred to me was whether the second stage of the Omega, which is really just an output buffer, makes any sense between the Fetzer stage and the minbooster. I think it might make sense to leave the mosfet out when the miniboost is in the circuit, and only include it when the Omega is on its own--or put it after the MB.

I imagine the same considerations would apply here, no? Your thoughts?

Ben

Unfortunately this is beyond my understanding as I am really new at this. That may work though as I can only turn the Omega level up about 1/4 of the way before it gets way overly distorted and pure mud. But I haven't tried that and don't know if it would affect the tone by not driving the Muff Boost in the same way. All I can say for sure is that I built just about every pedal I could find schematics for (the basic ones) that had a good sounding sound sample file and this is where I ended up. Many of these pedals sounded absolutely fabulous to me but I always have a problem getting exactly what I want out of both rhythm AND lead.

I cannot even measure the hours and months I tested pedals out searching for a sound that could meet my needs not to mention the years off and on prior to my DIY approach. Seems when ever I get a super cool distorted riffing sound, I go into a lead and start bending notes or reaching for rich pinch harmonics it's either too buzzy, thin, muddy, or flat (non tube) sounding even playing through a tube amp. On the other hand, I get an excellent juicy lead tone that sounds good even when I bend the string and/or hold them for a smooth nice sounding vibrato note, I go back to rhythm and its muddy or too bassy or just crummy sounding and if I spend an hour tweaking it and getting it to sound good for Rhythm, well, there goes the great lead tone. This has been my life story.

I am super picky and perhaps it is the way I hit the strings and/or hear things that makes it so hard to get exactly what I want, I don't know but after stumbling across it I really wanted to share it seeing I would have never discovered it if it wasn't for the DIY community. Perhaps someone else may try this concoction and hate it lol! You really never know but it works for me and my style it surely delivers.

[Ben N]

S'all cool--this is how things develop! Thanks for getting it going with a very ciool pair of developments.

[tcio]

Perhaps some people out there may not appreciate this post because it is currently not a stand alone DIY pedal yet but is dependant on additives.

As mentioned before, I came up with this concoction running through an old MXR 6 band EQ pedal first with the mids boosted up just a little, then into the discovered circuits (Omega & Smash Drive), which then went into an amp (Blues Master with built in attenuator) and a post EQ with the mids scooped.  IMO the Omega Smash Drive currently sounds terrible all on it's own.

I am still currently trying to find the schematics to the 1970's version of the MXR 6 band EQ. The goal is play around with the circuit, tweak it, then add it to the Omega and Smash Drive circuits so it will be complete DIY pedal. I have tried a few other boosters searching for the MXR EQ sound with no success but I am still looking. Any help is more than welcome.

I personally like having the MXR on for mild distortions and then kick the Omega Smash Drive pedal on for a nice sonic punch, heavy chord work,  and/or heavy lead work but it would be nice to have a version that is non dependant and sounding good all on it's own. I don't seem to have the knowhow to tweak the circuits in order to get the sound I get with the MXR EQ driving it so I am just searching for the MXR schematics.


The sound clip and configuration is: MXR 6 band EQ on, Omega Smash drive turned off at very beginning , then on , the ART Tube EQ on, Reverb from Rocktron Xpression.

It's a little flashy but I wanted to give a good example of the pedals shredding capabilities.

Omega Smash Drive

[John Lyons]

tcio
Yeah, that does sound great and has a good low end definition. Nice shredding by the way!
So what you have going is:
Mid boost via MXR 6 band>omega>smashdrive>EQ with scooped mids correct?

How much bass and treble are you cutting on the MXR? (roughly)
How much is the MXR boosting?
The trick for a well defined sound is to cut some low bass (muddies up the distotortions definition) and possibly cutting some high treble going in (noise amplification/hiss ) and then cutting some high at the end of the circuit to get the low end and low mids balanced.

There have been some bandpass filters threads lately, this is what you are doing with the mxr eq basically, a wide band pass.
For the mid cut you can use a notch filter either fixed or with a variable pot to adjust the amount of mid cut.


Maybe take a look at the MR EQ circuit at ROG.
You were saying that the omega is not turned up much as well correct? You could rework that so the gain range is lower and you get more pot rotation and shades of distortion going into the smashdrive or muff boost.



Do you have a breadboard?