I modded a Ross Distortion

[DAJE]

Long ago, before "vintage pedals" were a thing and you could buy beat up old pedals for a reasonable sum, I was given a Ross Distortion that had been, shall we say, modified by someone with a limited budget and a limited skill set. Which is not to say that my own budget or skills are anything to brag about.

A chunk had been crudely carved out of the top and a Boss-style DC jack installed, held on with gaffa tape. And it had been coated with layers of metallic glitter glue in red, blue, green, gold, silver, and possibly other hues. Which had dried and set into a rock-hard substance that was impervious to everything. I wish I knew what kind of glue they used, because that stuff was solid.

Anyway, I used it for a while then moved onto other things and relegated to a box, where it moldered for decades and through various moves and periods in storage etc until a few days a go when I pulled it out and had a look at it. Hooked it up and was mildly impressed that it worked.

I decided that it was worth zip as a collectible, so I might as well experiment with modding it.

I didn't take "before" shots of the outside because I didn't think of it, suffice to say it looked truly terrible. I did take "before" shots of the PCB because I find that's a smart thing to do before you start changing things.

I hit the box with everything from warm soapy water to turpentine and it didn't do anything more than remove the grime, leaving the glitter glue layer intact and shinier than ever. So I flaked off as much as I could with a knife then sanded the rest. There's still some glitter on it but I got most of it off.

I compared it with versions I found online and it seems pretty standard except that it has a 1N914 diode which appears to be factory original. See pics 1 and 2.

Pic 3 is a pair of Germanium diodes, which are, I'm sure, super M0J0 vInTaGe unobtanium. They look cool anyway.

Pic 4 is, I believe, a pair of early tantalum caps, 1uF 35V, in a fetching shade of red. More ViNtAgE M0J0.

Pic 5 is the op-amp, a nice looking RC4558P. Soldered direct to the PCB, no socket.

TBC

 

[DAJE]

Here's what I did:

Replaced the DC socket with something better and cut a slice of aluminium from a beer can to make a stopgap. Held in place by big brass washers and some tape on the inside of the pedal. Yes, it's kind of ghetto, but still an improvement on the mound of black gaffa tape that used to be there. Also replaced the rest of the DC power wiring.

Added a couple of wires to the bottom of the PCB so I could truly bypass it.

Replaced the footswitch with a 3PDT and wired it for true bypass.

Added an LED, using the site of the original DC power plug (next to the input jack) which was exactly the right size for an LED bezel. I like having the LED at the side, and I used another of the disappointing Tayda UV LEDs here because it somehow worked with the design. I used a 1.8K resistor this time.

Rocked it, boxed it, all working.

EDIT: Those are CTS pots, dated Jan '79 and April '79. I would have guessed earlier in the 70s, but there you go.

 

[DAJE]

And finally, leftovers. The battery clasp works perfectly and is uncorroded so I'll keep it for possible future use. And the footswitch is, I think, also potentially useful and full of vintage M0J0 too.

 

[DAJE]

How does it sound? Not much low end, plenty of highs. Kind of nasty without being harsh, almost but not quite a fuzz. Would surely cut through a mix pretty well.