Something about MXR Distortion 2

NickC

NickC

Well-known member
i was reading this article about MXR Distortion 2

https://catalinbread.com/blogs/kulas-cabinet/mxr-distortion-ii ,

i have a "Made by Mike" clone that doesn't sound bad but honestly I've never listened to an original one, and from what I see in the pictures the circuits don't look the same.
I read that Mike has modified the circuit according to his tastes, i don't know if anyone owns an original one and could tell me if they actually sound the same.

a 100% clone would be nice.
 

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I built a clone a few years ago and tried both the stock and Made by Mike mods.

There's definitely an audible difference.
 
by chance I found this schematic online, so I just need to change those 6 components to get closer to the stock sound? @PedalPCB
 

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I used that layout some years back, and tried both stock, and Mike's components. It's been a while since I played through it, but I seem to remember Mike thought it was far too bassy. I'm fine with that, so I stayed with the stock setting. I also think the real ones ran at higher than 9v.

Mike also sold them in a dual enclosure with an op amp Muff for the Pumpkins sound.
 
Revisiting my old build, I see Res#1 on row B (ground) , where all schematics I've seen say it should go to Vref , which is row C. The layout I used looks just like the one posted by NickC, except the filter lugs are reversed.

The only clone PCB's I know of are BYOC and Lectric FX
 
The original could be pretty bottomy but I think that contributed to the massive Smashing Pumpkins sound. The lack of volume was a common complaint on the originals. Even the clones I've built had a very limited range. LectricFX did a really nice board that helped but still hard to get past unity volume. I've never played a Mike version.
 
Gordo said:
The original could be pretty bottomy but I think that contributed to the massive Smashing Pumpkins sound. The lack of volume was a common complaint on the originals. Even the clones I've built had a very limited range. LectricFX did a really nice board that helped but still hard to get past unity volume. I've never played a Mike version.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I had an original and it’s a unique sound to be sure. Verrrrry speaker dependent.

Capable of some nice lower gain tones on its own, but stacks with a muff like nobody’s business.
 
i had the made by mike, i sold it because it only had one decent setting, otherwise it was weak. As for the pumpkins i think their gear information is full of half truths, i don't think the mxr dist 2 was used on all solos but only on a couple at most, like the use of mutron biphase.
 
NickC said:
i had the made by mike, i sold it because it only had one decent setting, otherwise it was weak. As for the pumpkins i think their gear information is full of half truths, i don't think the mxr dist 2 was used on all solos but only on a couple at most, like the use of mutron biphase.
Click to expand...
Yeah I was quite content to sell mine to a collector and turn the proceeds into like 4 home built pedal projects.
 
I found these layouts of the actual boards in the Made by Mike Dist II's with his changes. In my notes I have it written that C9 may be a typo.

MXRdistortion2_ERROR in C9 maybe~original.gif
I then wanted to have the original stock values and used these updated values on the same layout uploaded earlier by NickC. I was only a couple of years into this hobby and Robert was very helpful answering my questions.

MXRDistortionIISTOCKCOMPONENTVALUES.gif~original.gif
Quoting Robert from the email exchange:
"I never fooled with running it above 9V but as long as all of your electrolytic caps are rated at 25V or above you should be able to with no problem.

You could add a little charge pump board to boost 9V up to 18V internally if you really wanted to. The extra opamp stage was basically just a current buffer for the Vref bias lines,
you really don't need that but you might consider lowering the two 470K resistors to 100K just to be sure the Vref supply doesn't get loaded down.

As far as the tone stack values, I do remember the stock values being way too bassy, and the MadeByMike values cutting too much bass.... I don't know if I ever came up with a value
that I was completely happy with. Somewhere in between might be best, maybe in the range of 15nF.

To be honest this thing didn't sound like I had expected/hoped, so I kept it for a while then ended up selling it. "
 
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