Distortion + vs. DOD 250…

[Coda]

Messed around with diodes today. I decided against LED’s…there just not enough different between them and no diodes at all. Right now I’m in between two options: 4148 and the GD859 in series (x2), and 4148 and GD859 in series, joined with an additional 4148. I think I like the former a tad better than the later. Still not sure what I want to do with the diodes, and I still have more options to audition (thanks, pedalhacker)…

There is a lot of treble, though. The tone control isn’t too helpful. It’s muffled to about 10%, and then the rest of the sweep is about the same…very bright. I have a C1M and a 2.2n cap in series right now. Every other cap value I tried eliminated the muffle…all treble.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Did you try a germanium on one side and led or silicon on the other?

 

[Coda]

Did you try a germanium on one side and led or silicon on the other?

I don’t think I did, actually. So many possible combinations. I’ll try it out tomorrow. I’ve got other builds planned for the weekend, and this one is a long term (a month or so) project.

 

[BuddytheReow]

What are your in/out caps at? Stock values are too treble-y for me

 

[Coda]

Output is 2n2, input caps are 1n (one goes to ground). I’ve put larger caps in the output, but then I lose all control with the tone control. I did alter C1 (to ground) but didn’t spend enough time with it to remember what happened. I’ll try again tomorrow.

 

[Coda]

Update: I perfected this circuit on the breadboard. Added a switch for more or less gain (a Wampler mod), a toggle for diodes (symmetrical/lift/asymmetrical), and a tone control. Sounded great on the breadboard. Put it all together today, and all I get is a clean, yet slightly quieter signal when engaged. No distortion, let alone + of it. Looks like its back to the drawing board.

 

[benny_profane]

How did you 'put it together'? If you nailed it on the breadboard, it just seems like something got lost in translation. Hopefully you captured the prototype with a schematic.

 

[Coda]

I have a schematic. I think the issue was translating the schematic to the build. I’ll have to go back and double check the trace. It doesn’t make sense to me that I’m not getting any distortion, since it’s all the same components as the breadboard.

 

[FormulaFourteen]

You might want to see if you can find a schematic for an EQD Grey Channel.

It was a very cool take on a DOD 250 / Dist+, with a whole bunch of clipping options. I'd highly recommend one.