- Build Rating
Here's my take on the @HamishR & @Chuck D. Bones collaboration, the Old Fashioned, which is a tweaked Animals/Skreddy Major Overdrive. It's a YASZ (Yet Another Skreddy Fuzz), based on the same topology as the Lunar Module (PPCB Aldrin Fuzz), Screwdriver, Hybrid Fuzz Driver, etc. My long-running favorite YASZ is Chuck's Modified Animals Diamond Peak (also sold as the Skreddy Hybrid Drive, not to be confused with the Hybrid Fuzz Driver). I actually bought the COTS Animals Major Overdrive many years ago with the intent of tracing it, but never got around to it. My laziness paid off, because @HamishR did the work for me!
Like the Churl of Toan I posted last night, the actual effect doesn't have a lot of components, and the majority of the PCB is cluttered with the overkill features I like to include: P-MOS reverse polarity protection, extra PSU filtering, buffered electrical bypass. Since this is a transistor-based circuit, instead of using an opamp for the buffer, I opted for a bootstrapped NPN BJT (i.e. the Cornish buffer). I didn't make room for the RF filter that I used on the Churl of Toan.
For the "money" transistors Q2 and Q3, I used 2n3903 with HFEs of 140 and 94, respectively. The actual Major OD that HamishR traced, as well as the one I never got around to tracing, used 2n5172 transistors. I have some 2n5172 that I got from AliExpress, and their HFEs are all over the map. It's possible this is the nature of these particular transistors, or it's possible I have fakes or factory seconds, given the source. Neither Mouser USA nor DigiKey stock these. In other YASZ designs, we use low-gain silicon or germanium transistors for Q2/Q3. @MichaelW used 2n3904 in his Old Fashioned build (per this comment). I actually used 2n3903 because I mis-remembered what Mike used - I only now realize he used 2n304. Whatever, it sounds great with 2n3903!
Everything worked perfectly on first power-up. I put it side-by-side with my Hard Rock Pinnacle (i.e. modified Diamond Peak), which has been on my board longer than any other overdrive, by a huge margin. It's such a great circuit. To my ears, the Major OD has a more distinct mid-emphasis. I wouldn't call the Diamond Peak transparent, but to my ears, it is more EQ-neutral than the Major OD. The actual distortion character seems smoother in the Major OD, where it's a bit raspier in the Diamond Peak. The core topology of these circuits is essentially a treble booster pushing a fuzz, but it's really versatile in terms of voicing. With the gain of the Major OD rolled back below 10:00 or so, it actually gets in the neighborhood of a Bluesbreaker/Prince of Tone voice (I noticed this because I was testing it right next to my just-built Churl of Toan). With single coils, using similar drive levels, the Major OD is a bit noisier than the Diamond Peak.
The obvious question is, which do I like better, the Diamond Peak or the Major OD? Too soon to tell! The Diamond Peak is a long-time favorite, it's going to be hard for me to replace it. But I really like the Major OD too, it feels familiar but has a different-enough vibe that I might rock for a while.
I have spare PCBs, I'm happy to send one to anyone who asks, just DM me.
Edit: I forgot to mention: the enclosure was last year's limited-edition St Pat's day green enclosure from @StompBoxParts. I'm a year late, but right on time for this enclosure! I used a Sunnyscopa waterslide decal for the graphics. It took two tries, as I mentioned here. I still didn't get 100% transfer on the second try, but I had basically zero transfer on the first try. The little bit that didn't transfer gives it a bit of a relic'ed look.
Like the Churl of Toan I posted last night, the actual effect doesn't have a lot of components, and the majority of the PCB is cluttered with the overkill features I like to include: P-MOS reverse polarity protection, extra PSU filtering, buffered electrical bypass. Since this is a transistor-based circuit, instead of using an opamp for the buffer, I opted for a bootstrapped NPN BJT (i.e. the Cornish buffer). I didn't make room for the RF filter that I used on the Churl of Toan.
For the "money" transistors Q2 and Q3, I used 2n3903 with HFEs of 140 and 94, respectively. The actual Major OD that HamishR traced, as well as the one I never got around to tracing, used 2n5172 transistors. I have some 2n5172 that I got from AliExpress, and their HFEs are all over the map. It's possible this is the nature of these particular transistors, or it's possible I have fakes or factory seconds, given the source. Neither Mouser USA nor DigiKey stock these. In other YASZ designs, we use low-gain silicon or germanium transistors for Q2/Q3. @MichaelW used 2n3904 in his Old Fashioned build (per this comment). I actually used 2n3903 because I mis-remembered what Mike used - I only now realize he used 2n304. Whatever, it sounds great with 2n3903!
Everything worked perfectly on first power-up. I put it side-by-side with my Hard Rock Pinnacle (i.e. modified Diamond Peak), which has been on my board longer than any other overdrive, by a huge margin. It's such a great circuit. To my ears, the Major OD has a more distinct mid-emphasis. I wouldn't call the Diamond Peak transparent, but to my ears, it is more EQ-neutral than the Major OD. The actual distortion character seems smoother in the Major OD, where it's a bit raspier in the Diamond Peak. The core topology of these circuits is essentially a treble booster pushing a fuzz, but it's really versatile in terms of voicing. With the gain of the Major OD rolled back below 10:00 or so, it actually gets in the neighborhood of a Bluesbreaker/Prince of Tone voice (I noticed this because I was testing it right next to my just-built Churl of Toan). With single coils, using similar drive levels, the Major OD is a bit noisier than the Diamond Peak.
The obvious question is, which do I like better, the Diamond Peak or the Major OD? Too soon to tell! The Diamond Peak is a long-time favorite, it's going to be hard for me to replace it. But I really like the Major OD too, it feels familiar but has a different-enough vibe that I might rock for a while.
I have spare PCBs, I'm happy to send one to anyone who asks, just DM me.
Edit: I forgot to mention: the enclosure was last year's limited-edition St Pat's day green enclosure from @StompBoxParts. I'm a year late, but right on time for this enclosure! I used a Sunnyscopa waterslide decal for the graphics. It took two tries, as I mentioned here. I still didn't get 100% transfer on the second try, but I had basically zero transfer on the first try. The little bit that didn't transfer gives it a bit of a relic'ed look.
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