Our christmas was derailed on christmas morning when my wife tested positive for Covid. She had been coughing all night. So all our plans were shot. But that's ok - we had plenty of food, we had already exchanged gifts with our son the day before and my wife isn't too badly sick. So we had a very quiet day, and I used the time to fiddle around with pedals. 
I have just discovered that the Basic Audio Futureman is just about the best sounding boost I could wish for with my Strat. So I wondered how much it differs from the Colorsound Overdrive which it's based on. It's a bit tricky to find out because the Futureman is very well built and hard to tear apart. I didn't want to destroy it so had to make a few best guesses as to what was connected to what, but I am pretty confident I got it right because I just built one and it sounds fantastic! It's of course very similar sounding to the original circuit but slightly more refined and less ragged when pushed. Anyway, I love it! It's a good overdrive on it's own, especially into a low-powered tube amp. Or maybe a high powered one if you can turn it up loud enough.
For anyone who is interested, here is a list of which parts are different from PPCB's Powersound PCB so you can get close to making it sound like a Futureman. I can recommend it!
Pedal PCB part Futureman value
R2 100K
R13 2K7
C4 330pF
C5 4µ7
C8 4µ7
C9 330nF
Q1-3 BC549B
And there is a 1nF cap across the Base and Collector of Q3 in the Futureman. The original has no cap there.
I'm not certain but I suspect the Futureman uses a C10K for Drive. I did and it works in a very similar way.
What I like about this pedal as a clean or slightly dirty boost is that it can make my Strat bridge pickup sound bigger and fatter but not at the expense of clarity. It still twangs ad barks and doesn't get fuzzy - not in my rig anyway. The neck pickup doesn't get as boomy as it does with any other boost I use which I have set up to make the bridge pickup sound bigger. And it has just the right level of mids to add some vocalness to the sound. It cleans up well.
I think I have finally found the perfect boost for my Strat! Yay!!
I have just discovered that the Basic Audio Futureman is just about the best sounding boost I could wish for with my Strat. So I wondered how much it differs from the Colorsound Overdrive which it's based on. It's a bit tricky to find out because the Futureman is very well built and hard to tear apart. I didn't want to destroy it so had to make a few best guesses as to what was connected to what, but I am pretty confident I got it right because I just built one and it sounds fantastic! It's of course very similar sounding to the original circuit but slightly more refined and less ragged when pushed. Anyway, I love it! It's a good overdrive on it's own, especially into a low-powered tube amp. Or maybe a high powered one if you can turn it up loud enough.
For anyone who is interested, here is a list of which parts are different from PPCB's Powersound PCB so you can get close to making it sound like a Futureman. I can recommend it!
Pedal PCB part Futureman value
R2 100K
R13 2K7
C4 330pF
C5 4µ7
C8 4µ7
C9 330nF
Q1-3 BC549B
And there is a 1nF cap across the Base and Collector of Q3 in the Futureman. The original has no cap there.
I'm not certain but I suspect the Futureman uses a C10K for Drive. I did and it works in a very similar way.
What I like about this pedal as a clean or slightly dirty boost is that it can make my Strat bridge pickup sound bigger and fatter but not at the expense of clarity. It still twangs ad barks and doesn't get fuzzy - not in my rig anyway. The neck pickup doesn't get as boomy as it does with any other boost I use which I have set up to make the bridge pickup sound bigger. And it has just the right level of mids to add some vocalness to the sound. It cleans up well.
I think I have finally found the perfect boost for my Strat! Yay!!
