DGWVI
Well-known member
- Build Rating
This has been one that's been brewing in my mind for what seems like forever. I'm not a fan of tons of knobs and switches on dirt pedals, and I was over having 3+ various gain pedals on my board. I wanted the core tone and response of the Rat, but with the option of more jangle and some serious heaviness. Includes the Ringer, because no matter how many great octave ups I've played with, I always come back to this one.
I've always had a thing for 70's gear aesthetic, so that's where that inspiration for the box and layout comes from.
It begins with an always on Kliche Buffer at the input. The only mod to this is the voltage divider at the input- I increased the resistors to 2.2M. Buffers are cool, high input impedance is dope, and it also helps cut the noise that would be generated by the Rat down to damned near nil.
It's sporting a sexy metal can NatSemi LF353
Next is a Squidward, which started with the values from the Octave circuit of the EQD Life Pedal. It has a few other tweaks, but the most influential is the inclusion of a bridged-t filter at the input (the shrink-tubed black thing where C1 was located), bridging the base of Q1 to the Emitter of Q2. This is lifted wholesale from the Foxx Tone Machine to try to cop some of the Foxx's reliable octave generation. R2 increased to 100k, R4 increased to 4.7k to mitigate some of the gain generated by the added T filter in the negative feedback loop of the first two stages.
1N5817 diodes, CDIL BC109C for the NPNs, Siemen's BC177A for the PNP.
Last up is the Triad Distortion. This has quite few tweaks that are the culmination of years of playing and building dirt boxes. The Rat has always been my favorite Distortion for its cut, clarity and range. But, as versatile as it is, its always had shortcomings that I've had to supplement with stacking other drives. So, these mods are my way of getting exactly what I've been hearing in my head and chasing while just having one box
This took way longer than it should have to build, but I measured every single component before loading- primarily to get the best octave out of the ringer, but to also have a quick reference if I ever want to duplicate or modify this setup
Being built on PedalPCB boards, you know dang well they were a cinch to build. I obviously overcomplicated the wiring, but that's on me
I'm hoping to have the house to myself tomorrow, so a proper demo should be in cards
I've always had a thing for 70's gear aesthetic, so that's where that inspiration for the box and layout comes from.
It begins with an always on Kliche Buffer at the input. The only mod to this is the voltage divider at the input- I increased the resistors to 2.2M. Buffers are cool, high input impedance is dope, and it also helps cut the noise that would be generated by the Rat down to damned near nil.
It's sporting a sexy metal can NatSemi LF353
Next is a Squidward, which started with the values from the Octave circuit of the EQD Life Pedal. It has a few other tweaks, but the most influential is the inclusion of a bridged-t filter at the input (the shrink-tubed black thing where C1 was located), bridging the base of Q1 to the Emitter of Q2. This is lifted wholesale from the Foxx Tone Machine to try to cop some of the Foxx's reliable octave generation. R2 increased to 100k, R4 increased to 4.7k to mitigate some of the gain generated by the added T filter in the negative feedback loop of the first two stages.
1N5817 diodes, CDIL BC109C for the NPNs, Siemen's BC177A for the PNP.
Last up is the Triad Distortion. This has quite few tweaks that are the culmination of years of playing and building dirt boxes. The Rat has always been my favorite Distortion for its cut, clarity and range. But, as versatile as it is, its always had shortcomings that I've had to supplement with stacking other drives. So, these mods are my way of getting exactly what I've been hearing in my head and chasing while just having one box
- R1 & R2 increased to 2.2M to up the input impedance (not really necessary after adding the buffer, but whatevs)
- R3 reduced to 470r to increase the low end gain, and shift it up to about 72hz for a lil less flub
- C6 reduced to 22p for a slight increase in bandwidth, especially in regard to the high end
- Distortion pot replaced with a DPDT to swap between two separate pots- the first (Fuzz) is the classic 100k (108k actual) but with an added 10k to increase both the minimum and maximum gain. It starts out kinda chunk, and goes up into a heavy metallic fuzz
- The second (Drive) pot is also 100k (104k actual) with a 1k resistor in line. This pot also has an exclusive pair of back-to-back IR LEDs (measured 1.3vf) between lugs 1 & 3 for soft clipping.
- D1/2 omitted, switch pads jumpers for LED selection. IR LEDs (measured 1.2vf) always in circuit
- Filter pot has been omitted and jumped. R7 increased to 10k, C8 decreased to 2.2n to roll off everything above 7.2khz
- C9 decreased to 10n, to facilitate a bridged t filter (10k x2, 100n to ground) to scoop about 15dbs @ 500hz. This arrangement also further rolls off some highs. I've added this to accentuate the highs and lows, eliminate mud, and retain the 1.5khz kick in the throat the Rat is famous for
- R8 increased to 2.2M, R10 (2.2M) added between Gate and Drain of the JFET. This was originally done in the Turbo Rats to increase the headroom of the buffer stage. Probably not necessary here, but who you gonna call?
- C10 increased to 10u because that's what the Turbo Rat has, and we all wanna be turbo, don't we?
- Motorola LM308H and 2N4393
This took way longer than it should have to build, but I measured every single component before loading- primarily to get the best octave out of the ringer, but to also have a quick reference if I ever want to duplicate or modify this setup
Being built on PedalPCB boards, you know dang well they were a cinch to build. I obviously overcomplicated the wiring, but that's on me
I'm hoping to have the house to myself tomorrow, so a proper demo should be in cards
Last edited:
... Spent most of the day trying to get that sorted, and I'm giving it a rest for now.
. If you're wanting 3 lined up like on this build, a 1590D or 1590DD are fairly standard, and have decent space between each switch.
