I recently built a Red Herring (Menatone Red Snapper), which I really like. A few weeks before completing the Red Herring, I built a Guardian (ThorpyFX Peacekeeper). I had previously tried to use the Guardian for more of a mid-gain type of sound. It wasn't bad in that role by any means, but didn't really float my boat. But I wanted to use it, for the silly reason that I really liked the color of the enclosure I put it in (SBP Weston Grey)! So I got to thinking, I really like this Red Herring as a low gain/edge-of-breakup sound, maybe I should revisit the Guardian in that role.
So I did just that, and liked them both in this role. I knew from memory they were both straighforward variations on the tried-and-true dual opamp, soft-clipping topology (the Guardian adds a Bandaxall stage to the end), but I wanted to have another look at the schematics: Red Herring, Guardian. And I noticed that the first gain stage, i.e. soft-clipping stage, is almost exactly the same between the two. They call for different opamps (RC4558 vs OPA2134) and the high frequency filter cap is slightly different (150pF vs 100pF), but otherwise, same.
This isn't terribly surprising, as this topology shows up in countless overdrives. But I just thought it was interesting that they are nearly identical.
What comes after that first stage is of course different between the two.
Interestingly, despite them having essentially the same clipping circuit, to my ears, the breakup sounds a little different between the two. The difference isn't dramatic, and probably wouldn't be noticeable at all in a live mix/band setting. Certainly a matter of preference which is "better".
So I did just that, and liked them both in this role. I knew from memory they were both straighforward variations on the tried-and-true dual opamp, soft-clipping topology (the Guardian adds a Bandaxall stage to the end), but I wanted to have another look at the schematics: Red Herring, Guardian. And I noticed that the first gain stage, i.e. soft-clipping stage, is almost exactly the same between the two. They call for different opamps (RC4558 vs OPA2134) and the high frequency filter cap is slightly different (150pF vs 100pF), but otherwise, same.
This isn't terribly surprising, as this topology shows up in countless overdrives. But I just thought it was interesting that they are nearly identical.
What comes after that first stage is of course different between the two.
Interestingly, despite them having essentially the same clipping circuit, to my ears, the breakup sounds a little different between the two. The difference isn't dramatic, and probably wouldn't be noticeable at all in a live mix/band setting. Certainly a matter of preference which is "better".
