High gain

[Phil hodson]

So I have been on a quest to make some very high gain pedals for my board. I have some great TS style and distortion and MIAB but nothing that screams like pure metal!!
So down the rabbit hole I go. Here is some recent ones. I would love to know your suggestions for others.
They all give me exactly the sound I’m after, with the tight metal and hyperfuzz being my favorite at the moment. Subject to change
The hyperfuzz was my first actual attempt at Tayda UV printing from scratch and it went very well indeed. The others were done my Spencer @amplifyfun who’s work is as always perfect.

 

[Guardians of the analog]

way to step it up

 

[Paradox916]

Yes! Sooo much !

 

[jimilee]

Very freakin cool!!!

 

[Phil hodson]

Cheers guys. Not sure the family agree but these F'ing rock!!

 

[BuddytheReow]

Those are some gnarly builds you got there!!!! The tight metal is on my list of "i'll build it someday"...

 

[micmac]

Tight Metal is my favorite as well. I built both Aion's and PCB Mania's version of it. I built a lot of other distortions as well, but the TM beats them all in my opinion. I'm currently waiting for the PCB Mania Solid Metal Pro PCB to arrive in my mailbox. I hope to be able to get the side track loop to work so I can put effects into it like chorus for my clean tone, so that I just need a single button push to change between distortion and clean tone.

 

[Feral Feline]

Tried ELS's Hell's Gain?

Used to be a PCB for it, but it's no longer in the store but the build doc is still there.

 

[Phil hodson]

I havent tried that one. Shame its not around anymore. I think that too advanced for my breadboarding skills ;-)

Would be interesting to hear how the Solid Metal sounds.

 

[micmac]

There's a quick comparison between Ember and Solid Metal in Musikding forum.

Link

Maybe you can run it through a translator if you're interested.

 

[mdc]

Maybe give the Revv pedals a go? I like the G4 a lot as far as chuggy chug chugs go.
I'm also a big fan of the zvex box of metal, but afaik there aren't any DIY PCBs around for it that include the gate.

 

[Feral Feline]

I havent tried that one. Shame its not around anymore. I think that too advanced for my breadboarding skills ;-)

Would be interesting to hear how the Solid Metal sounds.

No need to breadboard it; The first link in my post about the Hell's Gain is for the PERF-board, so you could still build it — you built an AMP, a bit of Perf... Pffft! Easy-peasy for you.

 

[Phil hodson]

No need to breadboard it; The first link in my post about the Hell's Gain is for the PERF-board, so you could still build it — you built an AMP, a bit of Perf... Pffft! Easy-peasy for you.

Haha thats true. That could be an interesting winter project ;-) I think I have some board kicking around ;-)

 

[micmac]

Hi Phil & everybody,

I finished the Solid Metal Pro a few days ago. It's amazing, I have to say. For starters it sounds good, as expected when you know the "small" version already. Now there are three controls for the EQ instead of just one. And you have two more controls for the gate (a pot and a trim pot).

Also, I'm really enjoying the loops. There's a universal loop that is on when the pedal is on. Another loop for when the boost is on. And a loop that gets engaged when the pedal is off. You can switch between your dirty and your clean tone with just one button. For the universal and boost loops there's two switches to put them pre or post dirt. It's fantastic

And then you have even more switches, like Fat for both rhythm and boost modes, Smooth to cut some highs, another for more gain and two mid switches, one general and one for boost.

I had to go the 1590F route to get all the loops in. So it's pretty big. That's a bit of a detractor, but with all the features it has I don't mind too much. This thing is basically four things in one: Distortion, boost, loop switcher and noise gate.

Did I mention the internal DIP switches to switch from Metal to Rock mode? OK, I didn't even try the Rock mode yet.

PCB Mania build doc has a few issues and the PCB has some stuff oriented backwards. Would be cool to have this without the errors and maybe a little smaller, so it could fit in a smaller case (I wouldn't even mind if the DIP switches were missing).

Full build report on FSB in the PCB Mania section.



Kind regards,
Seb

 

[Phil hodson]

Hey Seb.
Gréât effort! Im going to have to have a look at this one for sure. Would be nice to have it built with Roberts skills though and not have to trouble shoot the build doc! Glad you got it all working well though.
Would be good in a smaller enclosure. Like you said if some of the dips etc weren’t there.

 

[micmac]

Yes Phil, agreed. I've put the Aion IVP with all the loops into a 1590DD. But the IVP has only two loops, whereas this pedal has one more. And obviously you still need input, output and 9V. I think it'd be really tricky to fit this into a 1590DD. But the loops are really providing a lot of value, so I wouldn't want to miss them.

 

[The Gator]

Great looking pedals!
I am not a high gain player, but I definitely appreciate the sound and skill utilizing it.
Check out Pedalpcb Brown Betty, and possibly the Tyrian distortion.

 

[drgonzo1969]

I agree with you. Tight metal and hyper fuzz are my favorite high gain sounds.

 

[micmac]

In the end it didn't pan out. The Pro clone just doesn't sound as enticing as the "small" TM. See FSB thread. I even found somebody there who also wasn't happy with it either.

Edit: Well, honestly he was the one who initially said that something is a bit off with the Pro clone. And only afterward I compared the TM and the Pro clones side by side and had to admit to myself that the guy is sadly correct.

 

[Phil hodson]

I guess we should just stick to what we know then. Well done for taking one for the team though.
I still have several of their board sitting gathering dust. I just don’t need the headache. Saying that the 3-4 I did build from them did actually work. But it’s like going to a casino. You just need to know when to walk away!