Kintsugi, revisited: a JFET overdrive based on the SSBS Mini with a dynamic sag circuit based on the SSBS F-k overdrive.

marksescon

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A year ago I became really determined to figure out the dynamic sag portion of the SSBS Fk Overdrive. At the time, no readily available schematic of the dynamic sag circuit existed other than a rudimentary diagram The Tone God had shared. Therefore, I had to deduce what I believed was the circuit based on numerous blog posts by Brian from SSBS in conjunction with tracing photos of the PCBs from the various pedal forums and Instagram. As Dino from DeadEndFX would later inform me, my final result was off by 2-3 parts and one incorrect signal path. Not bad for surmising a circuit with the limited resources available to me.

I stuck that dynamic sag circuit into a SSBS Mini, which is in turn a derivative of the SSBS Fk Overdrive. The final product sat on my pedal board in an unmarked, hammer-finished enclosure for over a year. I never had any intention of releasing this as a commercial product, but I wanted to make something more “official,” more complete. I spent a few months figuring out how to do artwork - as in, have the labels align with the knobs, sent the design to AmplifyFun, and reboxed my work.

I don’t have a schematic right now to share, but I do offer this free project for the Mini, and if you look up the Fk Overdrive schematic on PedalPCB or DeadEndFX, you can finagle the circuit together. Furthermore, my version adds a sensitivity control and a control that determines the magnitude of the voltage drop in the sag, threshold knob. I did remove the Heavy/Light control from the Fk OD because the Kintsugi knob made it sonically redundant.

Anyways, I just want to share because it’s great to reflect upon my progress and see how I went from literally melting the PCB of my first pedal kit to being able to create a viable pedal that I put together from idea to PCB CAD file to artwork.
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