Must know (overdrive) circuits?

[eh là bas ma]

Wampler sovereign is quite good and original.

Monarch Distortion - PedalPCB.com

Compare to Wampler Sovereign

www.pedalpcb.com

Mostortion is a nice one, EQ is really interesting.

Oxide Distortion - PedalPCB.com

Compare to Ibanez MT10 Mostortion

www.pedalpcb.com

OCD v.2 is just amazing, a real pleasure to play : https://www.pedalpcb.com/product/pcb542/

DOD FX76 Punkifier : It's always useful to be able to blend some fuzz to a good overdrive : https://www.pedalpcb.com/product/pacifier/

GCI projects are also very interesting :

https://www.musikding.de/GCI-Bass-Brutalist-parts-kit : Among my favorite overdrives, I like its gain texture and color. Various op-amps will give various results, always beautiful. Variant of a variant of Providence SDT-1.

https://www.musikding.de/NEW-Apostle-parts-kit : this one is great, Orange/Matamp amp's head emulation.

https://www.musikding.de/GCI-Baracus-parts-kit : Going from low gain driver to fuzz, with singular and beautiful sounds.

Boss BD-2 and OD-3 are also among my favorite circuits. Very efficient, beautiful, but not very singular. So popular and famous, they kind of feel like common places.

 

[Harry Klippton]

Thanks everybody. There's a lot to look at here and it's gonna keep me busy for quite some time. Feel free to keep adding on, too

 

[spi]

I don't see any jfet drives in your list, so I would add BSIAB2. This is similar to other jfet drives like the DLS or the ones from Runoffgroove.

 

[Laundryroom David]

I don't see any jfet drives in your list, so I would add BSIAB2. This is similar to other jfet drives like the DLS or the ones from Runoffgroove.

Supreaux and Supreaux Deux are pretty iconic as well and have been ahem inspirational to other designers.

 

[Bricksnbeatles]

Schematic looks verrrrry much like an “inspired by” Timmy to me.

Not gonna lie, I’ve never built or played thru a Timmy and never looked at the schematic for it. Ik it’s one of the quintessential of circuits, but I’ve somehow managed to completely ignore it for years

 

[Laundryroom David]

Not gonna lie, I’ve never built or played thru a Timmy and never looked at the schematic for it. Ik it’s one of the quintessential of circuits, but I’ve somehow managed to completely ignore it for years

Fair

 

[2204Stuff]

Red Snapper

 

[owlexifry]

Not gonna lie, I’ve never built or played thru a Timmy and never looked at the schematic for it. Ik it’s one of the quintessential of circuits, but I’ve somehow managed to completely ignore it for years

well, to be fair, looking at the schematic, to me it just looks like YATS with an inferior tone control, bonus bass control, and a lack of I/O buffers

 

[Laundryroom David]

well, to be fair, looking at the schematic, to me it just looks like YATS with an inferior tone control, bonus bass control, and a lack of I/O buffers

well when you put it that way ….

 

[szukalski]

well, to be fair, looking at the schematic, to me it just looks like YATS with an inferior tone control, bonus bass control, and a lack of I/O buffers

It’s not so far off. I would say a simplified tube screamer with an aim to have less impact on your frequency response.

For example, as designed you’re supposed to have the gain and low/high cut pots the same position to keep it flat as you increase the gain.

Timmy is a very flexible circuit starting point, and is awesome to stack.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Actually I've just thought of a few, Clark Gainster and the Honey Bee or sweet honey style pedal.

 

[The Gator]

Timmy is one of my favorite OD circuits. A lot can be done and goes great with teles and strats, and Gretsch tones as well.

The red llama goes all the way back to craig Anderton in 1977. An original design that he simplified later and put in a book.

Not sure on the origins of multi jfet overdrives but when done right, I really like that the best. At least to my knowledge at this point.
The wampler pinnacle, the columbo plexibreed, several catalinbread pedals. Im sure there's more.
When was that "done first"? I am not sure.

There's a million and one ways to do opamp overdrives. Some get pretty crazy with 5 dual opamps.

 

[szukalski]

Some of the Barber stuff is cool to explore clipping diodes. Tater Tot for example..

 

[eh là bas ma]

I had a lot of fun building a Timmy on perfboard, it's a good simple project. I can recommend this layout :

Paul Cochrane's Timmy

Often cloned without giving credit to where credit is due (cough*lovepedal*cough), the Timmy is one of the most sought after overdrives on t...

effectslayouts.blogspot.com

Here is the build report I made at the time :

Timmy & Zendrive

Just finished a Timmy (earlier version) circuit on perfboard. I did it to practice on perfboard and join the Zendrive i built two or three weeks ago, on veroboard. I read it's a good combo, I tend to agree, but one of them needs to have the gain control down to be musical. I guess the idea of...

forum.pedalpcb.com

Edit : Ah, about JFET based circuits, Catalinbread 5F6 is surely worth mentioning. Emulation of Fender Tweed Bassman tone, it's amazing and definitely has its own character :

Tweed Man Overdrive - PedalPCB.com

Compare to Catalinbread Formula 5F6

www.pedalpcb.com

 

[Feral Feline]

...
Not sure on the origins of multi jfet overdrives but when done right, I really like that the best. At least to my knowledge at this point.
The wampler pinnacle, the columbo plexibreed, several catalinbread pedals. Im sure there's more.
When was that "done first"? I am not sure.
...

According to AionFX:

"Washburn® A-D3 Stack in a Box, a drive pedal first released in 1984 and intended to simulate an overdriven tube amp.

This description has become cliche in describing overdrive pedals, but this design was the first we’re aware of that used cascaded JFET gain stages to simulate the topology of a tube amp. There are no diodes: all the drive is created organically. These JFET stages are followed by op-amp gain recovery and tone-shaping, including a Baxandall-style active treble boost/cut control.

In the mid-2000s, JFETs finally caught on as a great way to emulate tubes in small-signal format, and these amp-sim circuits have a remarkable resemblance to this one. However, the Stack in a Box came 20 years earlier than the first of these, so there’s no doubt who got there first. As a result, the design looks remarkably modern—even anachronistic."

I believe the reference to the JFETs catching on in the mid-2000s is referring to Run Off Groove's Fetzer-Valve experiments. The ROG web page for it is copyright from 2001. The DIY-community's Dr Boogey appeared around 2005.

 

[geoffrey]

Can’t believe it hasn’t been mentioned (unless I missed it). But a Lightspeed is a must (Mach 1 here at PPCB)

 

[eh là bas ma]

a Lightspeed is a must

Are we sure it's not another transparent overdrive like the Timmy, with an expensive OPA2134 (8.50 euros) instead of a regular 4558, less gain and EQ on tap ?

 

[mdc]

I don't think it's been mentioned yet, but the fairfield barbershop is very nice.

 

[geoffrey]

Are we sure it's not another transparent overdrive like the Timmy, with an expensive OPA2134 (8.50 euros) instead of a regular 4558, less gain and EQ on tap ?

Awesome question! I love this discussion. I also have a Timmy and can definitely tell a difference between the two, and personally feel the Lightspeed is more than "just another transparent overdrive."

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Greer went to Paul Cochrane to seek his blessing because he didn't want to come off as just making "another Timmy" and Cochrane's response was like, yea, you definitely got something different going on here.

I can see the argument regarding the OPA2134 and totally respect that opinion. But I personally feel/hear a big enough difference between the two pedals even though they are both of a similar ilk. Whatever it is, the Lightspeed just has that mojo, IMHO

 

[eh là bas ma]

Greer went to Paul Cochrane to seek his blessing because he didn't want to come off as just making "another Timmy" and Cochrane's response was like, yea, you definitely got something different going on here.

I think this visit itself says a lot. Obviously, Greer was deeply ashamed and Cochrane, a bit embarrassed by this awkward visit, was just being polite, and probably realistic : "Timmy is going to get cloned, making ennemies about it won't change anything"...

Can you describe exactly what is the difference ? Even with the same chip in both circuits ? If you can't put words on the difference, it's probably pure placebo. Of course, no offense intended, it happens to all of us.

Like all these strange people who loves a Klon... Fortunately there are many well-known remedies to relieve these uncommon afflictions.

"mojo" is an other word for auto-suggestion, placebo, self-satisfaction, delirium, delusion, etc. Otherwise we'd be able to name and analyze it with precision ?

I've been there : Once you spent way too much money on a stompbox, you want to be happy about it, to justify the cost by any means. No one wants to feel like a sucker who got robbed, even if it means lying to ourselves. This tendency has been studied by scientists, again and again.
Youtube influencers and people getting secretly paid to sing the praises about a circuit, don't make it easier to assess an effect accurately.

I am not saying that a subtle difference doesn't count, I just think it doesn't put something on a "must know" list ?