Ward 8 Overdrive

Chuck D. Bones

Circuit Wizard
What to do to break the pandemic boredom? Design pedals!

This pedal was inspired by a Delegate plugged into a Hybrid Fuzz Drive plugged into a Merman (Klon). The front end is a Delegate with five of the six controls hard-wired. That feeds a modified Hybrid Fuzz Drive. That goes into a mixer that blends clean & dirty (like a Klon) and has variable clean bass bleed and clean treble bleed (like a Sea Monk). I was going for an amp-like overdrive that had plenty of sustain, could get dirty and still maintain clarity when playing chords. I got all that and more. Depending on the dial settings, it's a clean boost, a treble boost, a bass boost, a compressor, a fuzz or any combination thereof. I named it after one of my favorite beverages (look it up). The name also works because it has eight knobs and a Warden inside.
SUSTAIN is the usual compressor sustain control. BOTTOM is a clean bass bleed. SPARKLE is a clean treble bleed. With BOTTOM & SPARKLE at 10:00, the clean freq response if fairly flat. LEVEL is the master volume control. FUZZ is what you would expect. TIGHTNESS is the bass cut going into the distortion stage, same as HFD. PRESENCE is the treble cut coming out of the distortion stage. DIRT is the Clean / Dirty blend. The toggle switch in the middle selects between a germanium transistor or a MOSFET in the distortion stage. The germanium is a little more aggressive, the MOSFET is a little smoother and at high FUZZ settings does an octave-up thing. I liken it to using bourbon or rye when mixing the Ward 8. The yellow LED indicates that the pedal is engaged. The other LED, a red one, glows when the compressor is limiting the gain.

Ward 8 Overdrive - painted front panel 02.jpg

Ward 8 Overdrive - innards 02.jpg

Ward 8 Overdrive - opto 02.jpg
 
Wo_OW!!!
It looks awesome.
And thanks for the description, it's a super interesting insight on your design.
Looks tons of fun!

Edit: I also got to make that drink, a good excuse to procure some Rye for the minibar!
 
Holy wow, Batchuck!
The board doesn't even look crowded. Impressive engineering on top of what a great idea! You've earned that cocktail.
 
That is some wild stuff there...! Wicked concepts in there, trying to get my head around it. And for all that functionality the board looks really not crowded at all. Very interesting!
 
Sounds tasty, looks tasty

Another one that actually looks edible

Great work and interesting read

I love discovering new stuff......

Especially beverages thanks for sharing

I'll knock a few back this weekend ???
 
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