- Build Rating
Here's the other build I finished up this weekend, the Mystery Meat. The schematic isn't available yet, but clearly it's on the more complex side for an overdrive, given that it uses four dual opamps, and is packed pretty tightly with other supporting components.
The diodes in the upper left of the board (presumably clipping diodes) are two 1N34A and one 1N270 (both germanium type). I had 1N34 diodes on-hand, but not 1N270, so I used a BAT41 instead. As with the Pro-10 build I also finished up this weekend, the Mystery Meat was another case of instant gratification: worked perfectly on first power-up, and sounds great.
I know this term gets overused, but I think the Mystery Meat might be worthy of the "transparent" label. At least, with the tone controls around noon, and gain down low, it feels like it doesn't perturb the core amp/guitar tone too much. But the tone controls seem to have a nice, practical range, so you can tweak the flavor a bit.
I was going back and forth between the Mystery Meat and the Pro-10, trying to decide which I liked better. I call it a draw - I like both for different reasons, though I might give the Mystery Meat the edge in gigging usefulness, given the additional tone-shaping ability.
The external appearance is probably the worst part. I've had that yellow enclosure for a while now, and I'm trying to declutter and use up old parts. The yellow itself isn't so bad, but I didn't think through the printing of the no-film waterslide decal. Specifically, the 8.5x11 sheets of those Sunnyscopa waterslide decals are too big for a single pedal. So I usually print one, cut the label off, then re-use the remnant later. The problem is, that first printing puts a light "haze" of toner over the entire waterslide sheet - I'm assuming my printer needs some kind of cleaning. As I typically use darker enclosures, the messiness of the decal isn't noticeable. But it's definitely noticeable against the bright yellow! I guess I could just say that was deliberate, and I was going for a "reliced" effect! I also wished I'd put the status LED between the level and gain knobs. Oh well, it's what's inside that counts!
As with my last several builds, the bypass circuit is my own microcontroller-based relay bypass.
The diodes in the upper left of the board (presumably clipping diodes) are two 1N34A and one 1N270 (both germanium type). I had 1N34 diodes on-hand, but not 1N270, so I used a BAT41 instead. As with the Pro-10 build I also finished up this weekend, the Mystery Meat was another case of instant gratification: worked perfectly on first power-up, and sounds great.
I know this term gets overused, but I think the Mystery Meat might be worthy of the "transparent" label. At least, with the tone controls around noon, and gain down low, it feels like it doesn't perturb the core amp/guitar tone too much. But the tone controls seem to have a nice, practical range, so you can tweak the flavor a bit.
I was going back and forth between the Mystery Meat and the Pro-10, trying to decide which I liked better. I call it a draw - I like both for different reasons, though I might give the Mystery Meat the edge in gigging usefulness, given the additional tone-shaping ability.
The external appearance is probably the worst part. I've had that yellow enclosure for a while now, and I'm trying to declutter and use up old parts. The yellow itself isn't so bad, but I didn't think through the printing of the no-film waterslide decal. Specifically, the 8.5x11 sheets of those Sunnyscopa waterslide decals are too big for a single pedal. So I usually print one, cut the label off, then re-use the remnant later. The problem is, that first printing puts a light "haze" of toner over the entire waterslide sheet - I'm assuming my printer needs some kind of cleaning. As I typically use darker enclosures, the messiness of the decal isn't noticeable. But it's definitely noticeable against the bright yellow! I guess I could just say that was deliberate, and I was going for a "reliced" effect! I also wished I'd put the status LED between the level and gain knobs. Oh well, it's what's inside that counts!
As with my last several builds, the bypass circuit is my own microcontroller-based relay bypass.
