First Build Report: Peachtree Overdrive

[iamjackslackof]

Build Rating

5.00 star(s)

This is not my first build by a long shot, but the first one I've written up and posted here. It's the Peachtree Overdrive, a clone of the Missing Link Audio Hotlanta Dual Drive. I'd never heard of it until it was available on PPCB, but given that it's an attempt to recreate Duane Allman's tone, I was instantly interested. This thing is classic rock in a box. I usually chase the Zeppelin/Marshall kind of classic rock tone, which I've found best in the Jump Drive, but this a much different tone altogether. I'm not familiar enough with Duane's tone to say how close it gets, but what it does do I really like. It makes me think of old Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac, I think Danny Kirwan's live tone. Killer! This is definitely staying on my board for when I don't want a Marshall base tone.

For the enclosure, I did a little experiment with Posca pens. I'd never used them before but I've seen them used a lot for labels/text. I saw someone (maybe @MichaelW) tape off the top of a bare enclosure and paint it a solid color, which I thought looked really nice. It didn't quite come out how I wanted, but it is at least an interesting look/texture lol. Yellow knobs, since it's the closest to a peach color I had!

Definitely not my cleanest wiring on the switches, as I'm used to using breakout boards, but I was pretty happy with the DC and in/out jacks.





EDIT: This is the 2nd pedal I've built recently with 2N7000 MOSFETs that I've really liked. Does anyone know of any others I might want to try?

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

I dig both the color and the texture.

 

[jjjimi84]

Looks great! For 2n7000first thing that comes to mind is a zendrive, give that a shot.

 

[MichaelW]

Zen drive and the the Zen derivatives.
Grover Drive (Lovepedal Dover Drive)
5lb Bag of Gold - Fuzz Side (Lovepedal 200lbs of Gold without the Boost)

These are both drives that use the Zen clipping arrangement of 2N7000's along with Bat46 and Germanium diodes.

I can't say that they'll sound anything like the Peachtree though....Duane's sound was derived from a cranked 100watt Marshall Head.
Dickey Betts used a 50 watt head and if you listen closely you can hear the difference of the extra headroom in Duane's sound vs Dickey's in some of the early A-bro's recordings.

 

[spi]

ADHD is another mosfet clipping pedal.

 

[swyse]

As @MichaelW mentioned, the zendrive, dover drive, and 200lbs of gold all feature this soft clipping arrangement. The ADHD @spi mentioned has it as hard clippers in various configurations depending on the version you build. The charlie brown from JHS uses BS170, which is a fairly similar mosfet ( you could socket and try 2n7000 in it rotated 180 degrees), but the clipping is only coming from the mosfets as amplifiers. If you haven't tried a greer lightspeed, you might like that if its the knee softness from the multiple series diodes you like.

 

[szukalski]

Modus Operandi has a 2N7000. I love that pedal.

 

[swyse]

Modus Operandi has a 2N7000. I love that pedal.

How dirty does it get? I’ve seen that circuit mentioned so many times here. Definitely looks interesting.

 

[szukalski]

If you haven't tried a greer lightspeed, you might like that if its the knee softness from the multiple series diodes you like.

I would go for a Timmy before a Lightspeed. I can get everything from the Lightspeed with a Timmy and more flexibility on top. The circuits *cough* look very similar.

 

[szukalski]

How dirty does it get? I’ve seen that circuit mentioned so many times here. Definitely looks interesting.

It's a boost, so a mild crunch at best, but it is my favourite boost by far. I love it for a slight bump, makes everything feel more electric blue (if that makes sense).

 

[MichaelW]

How dirty does it get? I’ve seen that circuit mentioned so many times here. Definitely looks interesting.

The Modus is really a boost/tone conditioner than a drive. I'd wait for @Robert to finish tracing and release the Jackson Prism Preamp (which contains the Modus boost).

 

[iamjackslackof]

wait for @Robert to finish tracing and release the Jackson Prism Preamp

Nice! I didn't realize he was. I've heard a lot about the Prism and it sounds really neat. I'll definitely be building it when it's out.