An oldie, but a goodie (I assume–Jack designs good stuff). It’s a unique high gain design with a 3-band EQ. In Jack’s own words:
It was made by combining the following circuit fragments: input gain stage is the Muffer, followed by the IC gain stage of the Fat Gnat, a tone control from the Fender Pro Roc amp and the output buffer of a TS-808! High gain boutique sound at its best, though not a clone of any existing pedal.
Here are some ideas for mods that can allow you to customize the sound for the best response with your gear:
- Use a bipolar opamp for IC1, even the LM741 will sound good!
- If it is too fizzy sounding, increase C5 to 270pF or 560pF
- For more bass response, increase C4 to 2.2uF or 4.7uF
- Use red LEDs for D1 and D2 for more output
- The tone control shown on the schematic has a big mid-range scoop. If you would like a more traditional response, increase C8 to 470pF or even 1000pF
Several people have complained about the low output of this pedal. The easiest fix is to change the clipping diodes to LEDs as suggested above. Not only does this increase the output but it also allows better control over the range of clipping. If you want slightly more output and some added even harmonics, just replace one of the clipping diodes with an LED – doesn’t matter which one.
Here’s the schematic for reference. I laid it out for board mounted pots in a 125B with top mounted jacks.
