Brighten up a Tube Screamer

[Pedal_man86]

Built an 808 clone and compared to the XB-MB I built, it's kind of dark. I know I could use LEDs for the clipping diodes but that's not really the type of gain I want from the pedal. Any other ways I could brighten it up?

 

[jesuscrisp]

Change the fixed lowpass filter.

There's a 1K resistor in between the 2 halves of the op amp (for reference R8 in the XB-MB) and a 220n capacitor to ground (C5 in XB-MB).
You can make either the resistor or the cap smaller, which is the easiest solution. The stock filter is at 720Hz.

 

[Pedal_man86]

I was saying the 808 was dark compared to the XB-MB

 

[Cvoxdog]

Build a plumes!

 

[cdwillis]

Replace the C5 220nf cap with something a little smaller like a 150nf or 100nf cap. The 1k resistor and 220nf cap make a 720hz low pass filter. 150nf would be 1khz and 100 would be 1.5khz.

You could also replace R8 4.7k with a 3.3k resistor. You'll get a little more gain and the high pass filter there will shift from 720hz to 1khz. I'd describe that as a thinner rather than brighter mod.

 

[owlexifry]

don’t knock it til you try it - seriously try some red or green LEDs for the clippers.
it’s the easiest and quickest thing to try out and reverse if you don’t like it.