Erik S
Well-known member
- Build Rating
I'm in this game more for the solder fumes than the tone chasing. Builds that don't strike my fancy right away usually just go in the drawer and I move on to something else. This was a rare exception where I put a tiny bit of effort into making something sound different.
Built to spec with a 741 I was into the character - kinda raspy ratty distortion sound, but there was something about how that raspyness sputtered out on the note decay at lower gain levels that I didn't like. It's less noticeable if I'm really playing, and not an issue at all with the gain cranked, but once I fixated on it, I couldn't get past it.
Cut to me spending a whole afternoon loading a bunch of different op amps, strumming a chord and listening to it decay with my eyes closed like I was tasting a fine wine. After the 741 I tried LM308, LM301, SD709, and OP07. I reallly wanted that 709 to work - I have a whole bag of metal can ones I got in an estate lot, and it would be fun to find a use for them. I found a post from a couple years ago where @DGWVI had built one of these with a 709 and I got excited. I tried various arrangements and values of comp caps, but couldn't make a winner out of it. It was a pretty good stand in for the 741, but had the same thing I didn't like.
In the end, the lowly OP07 won the day, but didn't really fix my issue.
Here's a long TGP thread that started from a similar complaint. Maybe an important point in there is that the crackle-sputter thing is much more pronounced at low volumes, low gain levels, and into a clean fender amp. Guilty on all charges there, so maybe this just isn't the right thing for my rig.
Built to spec with a 741 I was into the character - kinda raspy ratty distortion sound, but there was something about how that raspyness sputtered out on the note decay at lower gain levels that I didn't like. It's less noticeable if I'm really playing, and not an issue at all with the gain cranked, but once I fixated on it, I couldn't get past it.
Cut to me spending a whole afternoon loading a bunch of different op amps, strumming a chord and listening to it decay with my eyes closed like I was tasting a fine wine. After the 741 I tried LM308, LM301, SD709, and OP07. I reallly wanted that 709 to work - I have a whole bag of metal can ones I got in an estate lot, and it would be fun to find a use for them. I found a post from a couple years ago where @DGWVI had built one of these with a 709 and I got excited. I tried various arrangements and values of comp caps, but couldn't make a winner out of it. It was a pretty good stand in for the 741, but had the same thing I didn't like.
In the end, the lowly OP07 won the day, but didn't really fix my issue.
Here's a long TGP thread that started from a similar complaint. Maybe an important point in there is that the crackle-sputter thing is much more pronounced at low volumes, low gain levels, and into a clean fender amp. Guilty on all charges there, so maybe this just isn't the right thing for my rig.
