It looks like to get the Drive knob to act this way, he changes R9 to a 47 ohm resistor.
Here are a few bits and pieces I pulled from the official website:
- I’m sending this pedal with the OPA2134 (Burr Brown) op-amp, but it will also come with a standard TL072, and also an NE5532 op-amp, for you to mess around with (more about this below). Mod your own pedal and further differentiate your sound!
- This is another thing that I’ve always thought about doing, and I’m happy to offer it to you guys now. It’s a bit of a labor of love for me to produce these units by hand, and to include the extra chips, which is why it will be limited. This variant will not be around long, and will be limited by nature of my ability to build. It sounds overall a bit warmer, fatter, a little cleaner, smoother, similar to the recently release “PROTOTYPE” version.
- This version of DRV also has a zero gain mode (a bit of an Easter Egg), which is really nice. When you turn the DRV knob all the way down, it takes all of the distortion side of the circuit, and you only hear the preamp. In order to get a useful sound out of this mode, you need to completely open up the CUT knob (turn it all the way down), and even then it’s still a little dark, but really cool sounding. At this point, you are hearing the dark nature of the preamp section that is “always on” within the DRV circuit. It’s really neat, I think! This also reacts differently depending on which op-amp you are using.
About the Op-Amp options included
TL072 - This is the standard, probably my favorite overall. It has a warm and soft low-end character, is very clear, and does the job nicely.
NE5532 - This one is used in one of my all time favorite pedals - the Bondi Effects Sick As. And while it doesn’t necessarily cause DRV to sound more like a Sick As, it adds a different midrange character, and tightens up the low end. Palm mutes become a bit more punchy, with a little more push, and a little less smoosh (to be technical), but it’s also a very good sounding option, clearly!
OPA2134 - I’m also making this one “Hi-Fi”, just for fun! This is a higher fidelity chipset, made by Burr Brown, and has a lower noise floor. I’ve previously only used this chipset in the Nickel-Plated DRV LTD version, as well as the recently released “PROTOTYPE”. This series will also be limited, and even further differentiated sonically. This version gets a little smoother on the midrange, warmer, fatter overall, and reacts noticeably different in zero gain mode, where it is even cleaner.
Very Easy mod to do.
