Big Cheese OLC Vs. GGG

nollaigkeit · February 11, 2009, 05:19:11 AM

Hi there,

I'm new here so hello everyone.

I'm thinking about building a Big Cheese clone and I'm looking at the OLC and GGG pcbs. Anyone have any experience with them? Are there any differences? Is either one an easier build? Any input is appreciated.

Thanks!

petemoore · February 11, 2009, 08:57:10 AM

Do a parts count, count crossing wires, look the dern things over real good and you should be able to calculate/envision the difficulty level of most builds.

R.G. · February 11, 2009, 10:41:15 AM

OLC?

nollaigkeit · February 11, 2009, 11:38:52 AM

Thanks Pete, I'll have a good look at both circuits. I've only built one pedal so far, a perfectly working Muff but the Cheese seems to be a step up in difficulty...

R.G. This is the OLC clone:

http://olcircuits.com/olc_chunkycheese.html

R.G. · February 11, 2009, 12:02:10 PM

Thanks. I was interested in whether yet another budding billionaire entrepreneur had copped my circuit layouts to sell.

jefe · February 11, 2009, 12:10:32 PM

What's the name of the Big Cheese clone at GGG? I don't see it anywhere there.

nollaigkeit · February 11, 2009, 12:19:34 PM

Ah, it's your circuit? I couldn't find the build guide on the site but found this with google:

http://www.olcircuits.com/documents2008/olc_chunkycheese_buildguide.pdf

There's a demo on youtube too. OLC stands for Officially Licensed Circuits so I would have assumed it had been approved, no?

Btw, the GGG version is called the Great Cheddar.

jefe · February 11, 2009, 12:28:04 PM

Quote from: nollaigkeit on February 11, 2009, 12:19:34 PM
Btw, the GGG version is called the Great Cheddar.

Ah.. thanks!

R.G. · February 11, 2009, 12:56:53 PM

OK, no issues. If that's the PCB layout, it's clearly not mine, which is here:
http://geofex.com/Article_Folders/grtchedrschm6.PDF
Mine mounts the switch right on the PCB and the PCB is mounted in the box by the switch.

nollaigkeit · February 11, 2009, 01:11:57 PM

Thanks R.G. Are the circuits basically the same?

R.G. · February 11, 2009, 02:13:09 PM

Quote from: nollaigkeit on February 11, 2009, 01:11:57 PM
Thanks R.G. Are the circuits basically the same?

Sorry, don't know. I didn't go trace mine against the other one.

I bought an original pedal and reversed it, so mine matches what's in the original. Don't know about the BC from OLC. It would be a really good exercise for someone to match the schemos against each other, though.

nollaigkeit · February 12, 2009, 10:08:22 PM

Thanks R.G. I'm probably gonna build the GGG version at some point in the near future. Don't think my budget will stretch to building the OLC too tho'!

SonicVI · February 12, 2009, 11:00:34 PM

I've built the OLC and it sounds like the real deal, which I used to own several years ago.

R.G. · February 13, 2009, 08:56:21 AM

Kinda raises the question of who/what/how/when/where the Big Cheese was licensed from by Officially Licensed Circuits.

olcircuits · February 13, 2009, 11:20:06 AM

Quote from: R.G. on February 13, 2009, 08:56:21 AM
Kinda raises the question of who/what/how/when/where the Big Cheese was licensed from by Officially Licensed Circuits.

EDIT:

I re-read the thread and realized I jumped to conclusions. Nevermind.

SonicVI · February 13, 2009, 12:37:10 PM

olcircuits · February 13, 2009, 01:10:15 PM

lol ^^

Perhaps I can answer the overall question:

The GGG Great Cheddar and the OLC Chunky Cheese are mostly the same. The only difference between the two (as far as I know) is in the output section. Ours has more volume available, which means there are extra components where the output buffer is. The original Big Cheese has a minor complaint from some people about the output volume being kinda low... unity gain is around 3 o'clock. And that's what we modded/improved - ours gets loud if you want it to.

The GGG one is an exact replica and that would be a selling point for some people.

The OLC one has more output and that would be a selling point to some other people.

Regardless, I'm not here to sell anyone anything and I never will do that. I don't hype our products above other people's products. On the first 3 Chunky Cheese pedals, for example, I licensed GGG's/RG's layout. It's a good layout and easy to build. We ended up changing our circuit to increase output volume, but that's not a flaw with GGG's/RG's product at all.

I hope that helps.

EDIT:
One more thing. Both the GGG and OLC one are not all that difficult to build. There is more wiring than many circuits, BUT you don't have to bias transistors, which is where some people get frustrated. On either one, if you put the components where they belong, you're done and don't have to bother with a bunch of trimpots.

SonicVI · February 13, 2009, 02:06:23 PM

That's one thing I noticed immediately about the Chunky Cheese compared to the Big Cheese was the extra volume. When I had a Big Cheese unity was pretty much all the way up and I was always disappointed that I couldn't get a boost out of it at all. Now I know why!

If anyone wants to see my CC build you can search through my old posts. I'm sure I've pasted it enough times around here.

News:

Big Cheese OLC Vs. GGG