Soemtimes I try to design something for myself.
So to end the CMOS OD appreciation for now, I give you this. A CMOS OD box for cleanish boosts, EQ'ed boosts, low gain or a hint of fuzz!
As you can spot, I placed it in the transformer of an old model train enclosure. They just look amazing!
Just because we forgot to mention one big player in the CMOS OD field. The Tube Sound Fuzz (as mentioned in the first CMOD OD post) that later became the Red Llama by Way Huge pedals.
Often copied and cloned, but also a pedal with a very own sound. A very simple setup that mimics the beginning of the CMOS OD ideas: the bare Tube Sound Fuzz as designed by Craig Anderton. Simple as it only uses two stages of a 4049UBE CMOS chip.
The original always sounded too bright, brittle and difficult for me. I always wanted something 'else'. So I added a simple EQ to make up for that. And voila, a beautyfull pedal that works on guitar as bas.
The circuit
The circuit is a close copy of the original Tube Sound Fuzz with some minor tweaks. For once, I added a very simple tonecontrol (the Stupidly Wonderful tone control (SWTC) by Mark Hammer) that did wonders to the sound. Second, I tweaked the values a bit to make it suitable for bass as for guitar!
I really like this OD.
The Sound
So what to expect from this overdrive? For me, it is a versatile overdrive that has most of the things I like:
- On low gain settings it gives a quite uncolored boost to the instrument
- With the EQ you can filter the boost
- On higer gain settings you have a nice coloring overdrive that is dynamic and has enough volume to get your amp going
- On even higher gain settings it gets into the fuzz territory with a nice touch to the volume settings of the instrument.
With the added EQ I cured the piercing overdrive I didn't like from the Red Llama. So I'm quite satisfied. Build it! Maybe you also like it!
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