Nobelium Gain-Control

[Oneiros]

I'm very happy with the Nobelium preamp and its sound. What I'm missing, however, is a gain control to give the amp a bit more tube growl. Has anyone tried this yet?

 

[vigilante398]

I've considered adding a gain control and swapping V1 for a 12AT7 to get some dirt, but it would very much change the character of the preamp. Would be relatively straightforward to do though, assuming you have a spot on the enclosure to mount the additional pot.

 

[Tassieviking]

I am also interested in this question, the Nobelium was designed to be a DI pedal first and foremost so the idea is that it should convert the unbalanced 1/4" signal to a balanced XLR signal as cleanly as possible.
I think that a separate pedal is best for some drive or distortion.

Which output would you want the "growl" to come from ? both or just the 1/4"

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

I find that the ppcb capsize or my vero phat phuc b (moonn recently released a pcb for this) to be very nice for filthing up the nobelium just a little.

 

[GAStan]

From looking at the schematic: a typical gain control would be placed in the signal path after V1b to set the signal level to V1a. Other than the EQ this signal has no attenuation, deleting it might give you a bit more gain. You can see how much of a gain increase this would be by adjusting Treble, Bass and Rolloff for maximum volume-I doubt it will be much if any.

Alternatively you can try a different tube type, 12AX7 will give most gain, 5751 and 12AT7 somewhat less. Note that this will be at max gain and gain level will not be adjustable with simple tube swap. If max gain level is sufficient a gain pot  could be installed...

My personal opinion and recommendation: follow advice given in previous posts and use a different pedal.