This Week on the Breadboard: Animals Diamond Peak Overdrive (with some mods, of course)

[szukalski]

I just verified my layout today (pics to come). MMBF4393 and 2N2218A (~100hFE). Very nice with a Strat so far!

 

[lrgaraujo]

Robert's layouts are as good as they get, but it's a lot of fun seeing how different people (all very capable) approach board designing

 

[szukalski]

Here’s my build. I’m still waiting on a faceplate so there’s no front shot. I really enjoy this, especially with a GeFET boost up front!

 

[Chuck D. Bones]

Sehr schön!

What's with the siamesed resistors?

 

[szukalski]

I try to keep to E6 series components, so there are a few values which need a series or parallel approach.

 

[Chuck D. Bones]

The values are not that critical. You could sub 100K for 91K in that circuit.

 

[szukalski]

And with the faceplate:

 

[HamishR]

Bloody hell! I just ask Chuck some advice about a pedal and look what happens! I am so impressed with what everyone has come up with. I basically just wanted a bass pot because i really like this circuit and wanted some more grunt. Mr Skreddy is a very talented designer and has an excellent ear for great guitar sounds.

Anyway this is what I have built and I love it. I'm no PCB expert and am perfectly happy to mess around with Vero.

 

[Chuck D. Bones]

Yeah, it kinda took on a life of its own. Respect to Marc Ahlfs!

 

[MattG]

The circuit topology appears to be virtually the same as the Hybrid Overdrive. (Not surprising, same designer, same circuit lineage as e.g. Lunar Module, Screwdriver, etc.)

In fact, after reading this TGP thread, Animals Pedals/Skreddy Info?, I suspect the Diamond Peak is a tweaked Hybrid Overdrive specifically for Animals Pedals. Lots of direct commentary from Skreddy/Marc Ahlfs in that thread.

We've clearly got a lot of mileage out of this topology. I don't think it would be too hard to make a "universal" PCB that supports all these variants (Lunar Module, Screwdriver, Hybrid Fuzz Drive, Major Overdrive, Hybrid Overdrive, Diamond Peak). Kind of like the Big Muff, there are BOM spreadsheets that describe all the different flavors that can be built. (Hint hint @Robert)

 

[Chuck D. Bones]

Absolutely. The difference between the variants comes down to how the gain is apportioned between stages and the tone shaping in various places. As much as I like the Screw Driver, the MOSFET front-end is too noisy. I prefer a JFET there, although a BJT works well too. Getting the bias right with the Screw Driver and Hybrid Fuzz Driver is tricky due to the germanium transistor, but it's doable and sounds great when dialed-in.