Favorite low gain drive pedal on pedal Pcb?

[innerlight]

Hi all!
Thinking about my next build. I want an”always on” OD pedal out front of a silver face Princeton. Really just to add a tiny bit of breakup. Think Ricky Wilson B52s.
I was using a Duocast, however I just got an old Epiphone with some pretty hot humbuckers, so now the minimum drive on that is too much. I’ve switched to a Prince of tone clone and that does an ok job but isn’t quite what I’m after.
Does anyone have any recommendations? I would prefer a pedal Pcb build!
Many thanks!

 

[Locrian99]

Hi all!
Thinking about my next build. I want an”always on” OD pedal out front of a silver face Princeton. Really just to add a tiny bit of breakup. Think Ricky Wilson B52s.
I was using a Duocast, however I just got an old Epiphone with some pretty hot humbuckers, so now the minimum drive on that is too much. I’ve switched to a Prince of tone clone and that does an ok job but isn’t quite what I’m after.
Does anyone have any recommendations? I would prefer a pedal Pcb build!
Many thanks!

Chop shop seems to be a popular one. I’ve bread boarded it and it works out pretty nicely. I like the glory hole myself with my LP but that like the PoT is another Blues breaker type.

 

[innerlight]

Chop shop seems to be a popular one. I’ve bread boarded it and it works out pretty nicely. I like the glory hole myself with my LP but that like the PoT is another Blues breaker type.

Can a chop shop user tell me if it gets drivey on single notes (I only ever play single notes in this band). I hear it drives a little on a chord. Demos sound great!

 

[spi]

For me it's the Mach 1, with Kliche as the runner up.

 

[bhcarpenter]

+1 for the Mach 1 or another Timmy variant.

 

[innerlight]

I built the Mach one but I didn’t love the EQ profile of that one. The drive level was nice though.

 

[zgrav]

I like the Chop Shop as well.

 

[phi1]

Timmy gives a little different eq profile and control than the Mach 1, so I’d say build timmy type and the chop shop both. I think the chop shop will give single note saturation if you play with the gain and sag contols. Typical Jfet sourcing advice applies (no eBay, I’ve had good success with smd, with conversion pcb from pedalpcb, or thru-hole j201 by central semiconductor on mouser).

 

[spi]

You might want to try the Red Herring. I built it but don't love it, but it has a huge fan base of people who do, and if you don't like the EQ profile of the Mach 1, the RH might be more in your alley.

The Zendrive is another that has a big fan base but didn't do it for me.

 

[bhcarpenter]

Well crap. I thought I was all sorted with low gain drives, but now I’m going to have to try out the Chop Shop

 

[innerlight]

Thank you all! Im thinking the Red Herring and Chop Shop might be my next moves!

 

[jwyles90]

Thank you all! Im thinking the Red Herring and Chop Shop might be my next moves!

The Chop Shop is awesome. Especially now that the board is updated with trimmers for biasing the jfets. I'd also throw the Son of Ben Preamp in there. It can definitely go into the medium gain if you want it to, but sound so good as a low gain/clean-ish boost.

 

[KR Sound]

I dig the Chop Shop but my friend loves to put an ODR1 as his always on.

 

[The Gator]

Hmm.
I love the chop shop. It sounds like a little amp turned all the way, in my opinion.
Not sure it is the best always on OD pedal, but ya gotta build one!
Im gonna go through my overdrives and see which one is the best at super low gain with the les paul.
You said you humbuckers are pretty hot? Hotter than PAFs?

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

I have to pile on the chopshop love. It was my first thought when reading the question but said nothing at the time because I use it on bass. Feels more relevant now.

Whether it's good for "always on" or not, Fairfield sells a version without a bypass switch so they seem into it.

 

[innerlight]

Hmm.
I love the chop shop. It sounds like a little amp turned all the way, in my opinion.
Not sure it is the best always on OD pedal, but ya gotta build one!
Im gonna go through my overdrives and see which one is the best at super low gain with the les paul.
You said you humbuckers are pretty hot? Hotter than PAFs?

Hotter than PAFs! It’s a 70s Epiphone Crestwood

 

[innerlight]

Timmy gives a little different eq profile and control than the Mach 1, so I’d say build timmy type and the chop shop both. I think the chop shop will give single note saturation if you play with the gain and sag contols. Typical Jfet sourcing advice applies (no eBay, I’ve had good success with smd, with conversion pcb from pedalpcb, or thru-hole j201 by central semiconductor on mouser).

I got the SMD ones for sale on here! I’ve had some terrible luck in the past. Hoping this goes better

 

[HamishR]

I like the Chop Shop but have never quite understood its popularity. It makes a killer boost and I like what it does as an OD but it's all a bit too woolly and unkempt for me. My suggestion would be for (another Timmy variety) the Dane.

The Animal is a great pedal too, especially if you reduce the size of the gain pot. Rocket makes a series of ODs which are very, very similar but vary in gain mainly through using different values of gain pot. I would suggest using a 100 or 250K gain pot for a lower gain OD. The Animal is the highest gain version in their series.

The Pro-10 Blue is a cracker too.

 

[eh là bas ma]

When it comes to classic circuits, with decades of brilliant people adding some clever modification to a famous circuit, I'd rather build one circuit with all the most interesting mods, than build two or three of them with their respective mod.

In that perspective, PPCB, isn't the most accomodating circuit designer. If you want to mod your circuit, nothing has been anticipated on the board or in the instructions, you are on your own.
PPCB isn't as "mod friendly" as many other diy brands, like Aion, Lectric Fx, GuitarPCB, etc....
A simple look at PPCB build docs will show you what I mean, it's very minimalistic compared to other brands.

I don't mean to criticize PPCB, keeping projects as simple as possible has its own benefits : more time to make more projects available, for exemple.

I can recommend a Morning Glory with all the mods, from Delyk's. "Ultimate King Of Tone" as advertized.

El Rey Glory kit, 30,00

Transparent overdrive pedal

www.musikding.de

This circuit is amazing. You can turn off the extra Morning Glory gain stage to go into Blues Breaker territory. Only downside is that the build doc hasn't been updated from v.1 to v.2. (it's been years, and still... !)

Mr Daley sent the V.2 docs to me eventually. If you're interested, i'll give them to you.

Edit : I've posted the docs here, reply #42 : https://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=126208.msg1262360#msg1262360

 

[Robert]

PPCB isn't as "mod friendly" as many other diy brands, like Aion, Lectric Fx, GuitarPCB, etc....
...
I don't mean to criticize PPCB, keeping projects as simple as possible has its own benefits : more time to make more projects available, for exemple.

No offense taken, that is a fair assessment and is intentional.

I'm not a fan of having a bunch of optional components and alternate values scattered around where you have to reference a document just to build the straight forward stock version of a circuit. My goal is for standard assembly to be as straightforward as possible.

I'm fine with an alternate component value listed in a doc here and there but if a modification requires jumper wires, omitted components, and completely different footprints I feel like an entirely new PCB is warranted. (as a general rule, there are exceptions of course)

I feel it should be as easy as possible for a beginner... More experienced builders who want to make modifications should be more than capable of doing their own research.