Friedman overdrives - which is the lowest gain?

[HamishR]

I have a Dirty Shirley I built from a PCB here and it sounds pretty good now that I turned the presence trimmer up full! D'oh! I play more at the lower gain end of the spectrum though and with a Les Paul it has way too much gain even when it's on zero. I could modify or build another one with less gain but I'm wondering of the Small box has less gain. Anyone built 'em both?

 

[jesuscrisp]

I'd say build something else for Marshall type lower gain sounds. The Golden Falk seems popular for that in this community.

 

[HamishR]

I have a Golden Falk PCB but never got around to building it. It looks very similar to a circuit I have built before - I think it was a Ramble FX Marvel? It didn't really do much for me.

The reason I asked about the Friedman is because I think there might be something there.

 

[Fizz]

I have a Dirty Shirley I built from a PCB here and it sounds pretty good now that I turned the presence trimmer up full! D'oh! I play more at the lower gain end of the spectrum though and with a Les Paul it has way too much gain even when it's on zero. I could modify or build another one with less gain but I'm wondering of the Small box has less gain. Anyone built 'em both?

These are both quotes from Friedman's site.

The Friedman Golden Pearl is a transparent, lower gain overdrive pedal designed to push already overdriven amps into seductive saturation.

The Friedman Buxom Boost may be the most powerful tonal solution you ever put on your pedalboard. Like its namesake amp head, this pedal pushes a pure, clean signal to conjure the absolute most from your tone.

 

[spi]

now that I turned the presence trimmer up full! D'oh!

kind of confused--the only trimmer in the dirty shirley is the gain trimmer (there is no presence trimmer). Have you tried turning it all the way down?

 

[HamishR]

There are two "treble" pots on the top of the pedal - Treble and Presence - but when I turned the trimmer it seemed to make things a lot brighter, so I assumed it was a presence trimmer. I'll go back and check! I had set it in the middle at first and never really liked the sound, so the pedal just sat in my (embarrassingly huge) pile of pedals. I don't know why I revisited it. If I can get the sound it has now at lower gain I will be happy.

I do find having two treble pots on top more of a nuisance than a help. I'd prefer to have 5 knobs: Gain, Volume, Bass/Middle/Treble.