Pauper diodes? Really???

[Laundryroom David]

if the combined vf for the pair is 1.6v that’s about the drop on infrared leds. can’t speak from personal experience but i’m building one soon and that’s what i’m gonna try socketing first

Someone else was using infrareds not long ago, though I can’t remember the project … maybe it was @Betty Wont ?

 

[finebyfine]

Someone else was using infrareds not long ago, though I can’t remember the project … maybe it was @Betty Wont ?

That’s who I stole the idea from personally. I like them in rat style clipping but have yet to try them in feedback clipping

 

[Feral Feline]

That sucks dude. Can you not get it refunded via PayPal or your credit card company? I know he's sick but it's not a reason to just take peoples money and ghost them.

Well...
A) I really wanted the stuff
B) I went in knowing he's sick and may not be able to fulfill orders for a while...
C) I wanted to help (by buying stuff, not necessarily outright donating $)

Result: It's probably too late to get refunded, but I should check as it was not an insubstantial amount and I'm not independently wealthy.

 

[The Gator]

I have some infrared diodes that measure at 1.05 Vf I will probably try on mine.
I like how leds sound for clipping.

 

[EZS]

After listening to KOT demos with assortments of diodes, 4148's sound great if not best imho.

 

[rhaas]

After listening to KOT demos with assortments of diodes, 4148's sound great if not best imho.

It really comes down to personal preference — nothing wrong with 1N4148/1N914s here, especially if you want more compression. I personally tend to prefer slightly higher clipping thresholds (to a point) and the readily available BAS33s sound great to me. If you have an appetite for socketing and experimenting, I think it's a worthwhile exercise.

FWIW, before I landed on the BAS33s, I also tried and liked 6x1N4148 (three in each direction) and even LEDs in the Pauper and other BB-derived circuits.

 

[EZS]

It really comes down to personal preference — nothing wrong with 1N4148/1N914s here, especially if you want more compression. I personally tend to prefer slightly higher clipping thresholds (to a point) and the readily available BAS33s sound great to me. If you have an appetite for socketing and experimenting, I think it's a worthwhile exercise.

FWIW, before I landed on the BAS33s, I also tried and liked 6x1N4148 (three in each direction) and even LEDs in the Pauper and other BB-derived circuits.

I have bas33's coming from https://stompboxparts.com/, and thats whats getting hard wired in. I have enough 4148 dirt boxs, lol.

 

[derevaun]

What do the BAS33 measure at for Vf?

 

[manfesto]

What do the BAS33 measure at for Vf?

About 0.8V, same neighborhood as MA856/8/9 and BA282/3

 

[owlexifry]

It really comes down to personal preference — nothing wrong with 1N4148/1N914s here, especially if you want more compression. I personally tend to prefer slightly higher clipping thresholds (to a point) and the readily available BAS33s sound great to me. If you have an appetite for socketing and experimenting, I think it's a worthwhile exercise.

FWIW, before I landed on the BAS33s, I also tried and liked 6x1N4148 (three in each direction) and even LEDs in the Pauper and other BB-derived circuits.

when i first built the POT/KOT circuit, i thought it'd be fun to put a D9E in series with each 4148 in a pair to bump up the Vf.
it was ok.

 

[oldtone]

Stompboxparts is your friend! Built most of my stuff with their parts. They've got a lot more than diodes there. Other than being a customer I have no affiliation with them. And, they're in Michigan and I'm in Idaho. However, Go Wolverines! Gotta say that after all the years the Gophers let me down. Me and everybody else. While I'm at it, thanks again to Robert for this great site and PedalPCB!!!!

 

[EZS]

My diode order came yesterday! However Im sidetracked currently building acoustic panels. I will get at this soon enough and report if I can hear anything mythical or see fairys darting around my jam room.

 

[EZS]

BAS33 fyi. ready to populate board now.

 

[Thomasyoung]

Hi guys,

Reopen this conversation since I bought some 4x 1N4148-VISHAY (100V, 300mA, 2A, DO35.) for Pauper project.
Do you guys know if will work better than the standard 1N4148 (75V 150mA DO35)?

BAS33 from Retroamplis are 40V 200mA Diode DO-35.

My question is more related to the 4x 1N4148-VISHAY if they will serve for this project well?

Thank you for your support
Cheers
Nuno

​

 

[Feral Feline]

Indirectly relevant to the Pauper-diode dilemma of this thread, since Pedalhacker came up here, I thought it worth following up;
there is a new independent Pedalhacker thread here.

 

[PedalBuilder]

And perhaps more directly relevant, you can use the base-emitter diode in an MPSA18 transistor as a sonically indistinguishable substitute for an MA856/MA858:

The tiny differences that you see in the graphs are about the same magnitude you'd expect to see due to part tolerance. There are certainly aesthetic reasons to go for a nice, glass packaged diode, but if you're on a budget and just want to get something that sounds exactly the same, then you can't go wrong with a 12¢ MPSA18, even if it means that the inside of your KOT clone will look like the misbegotten offspring of a WEM Project V and a Bluesbreaker.