Modded Animals Pedals Major Overdrive

[HamishR]

After loving the Diamond Peak and modding it to add a bass pot with Chuck's inestimable help I looked around to find more interesting Skreddy designs - Marc Ahlfs is an incredible designer. And I apologise if I spelled his name wrong!

So when I saw my local music shop had an Animals Pedals Major Overdrive in stock and it wasn't crazy expensive I jumped on it. Animals Pedals are well built in a similar way to current Skreddys. The enclosures are very robust, seemingly made by One Control and the pedal sounds fantastic. At first I was a little underwhelmed as I tested it through a Brown Deluxe style amp, but once I tried it through my little 1x12 Plexi I was smitten. So I (again with Chuck's help) traced the circuit. It's very close to the Diamond Peak but the few parts which are different give it a much more plexi-style sound. So I did as I had done with the Diamond Peak and added a Bass pot which is actually really useful with this pedal. As it has such an old-school plexi sound I called my version the Old Fashioned.

This is what I ended up with:



I may make another with less gain on tap because with a Gibson I seem to play it with Gain on zero or not far above that. It's an amazing sounding overdrive - absolutely world-class and worthy of a Pedal PCB PCB in my humble opinion! Here is my Vero board version:

 

[HamishR]

Forgot to mention: Keen observers may notice the characteristic style of the graphic designer used by @MichaelW. I have long been an admirer of Michael's work and worked out who he uses to design his graphics. Ever since I have used the same guy who doesn't want to be named. But I love how subtle his work is. You barely see it.

 

[MattG]

Here are some gut shots of the Major Overdrive if anyone is interested. I bought that pedal over a year ago with the intent of tracing it. It's been sitting disassembled ever since I took those photos. Thank you @HamishR, my laziness paid off!