DIY distortion/fuzz/OD that you use live

lethargytartare

lethargytartare

Sep 7, 2004
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#1
I've done my share of pedal-building, but at the moment I'm curious if anyone has any DIY distortion (or fuzz or od) pedals that you actually use live. Desn't have to be "always," but more than just novelty use. I've had a lot more luck with DIY effects in my guiltar setup, but I'm not ready to stop soldering just yet.

If you can add your amp and pickup config, that'd be a plus.

I'm currently playing a Sterling with an older Stingray pickup through a Markbass LM3 through two NY121s.

Cheers all!
 
#3
There are so many cool circuits out there. I have around 20 that I’ve built for myself and a few more for a guitarist friend.
My latest is Shoe Pedal Pixel. I made it on strip board, still not boxed yet as I just finished yesterday. Next is a Brown Dog from Chunk systems. Lol, I guess you see I’m going to the gated side of things…
Good luck!
 
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#5
I use the MXR Bass Dist, a Wooly Mammoth clone, a modified Boss ODB3, and a Barbershop clone live. I mostly play passive P and J basses with roundwound strings. I have the Sansamp BDDI at the end for the FOH. The bypass out goes to the amp.
 
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#6
i often use this:

XOII-01-800-L.jpg



here's the control layout:
upload_2023-9-12_1-27-16.jpeg
 
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#9
I have 5 DIY pedals on my pedalboard, based on Aion FX circuit boards.

- clone of Xotic Bass RC Booster
- clone of Nobels ODR-1, with modified clipping diodes
- another clone of Nobels ODR-1, this time tweaked for lower gain
- clone of BJFE Honey Bee with adaptations from BJFE Blueberry clipping circuit
- clone of Deep Blue delay

All have been in regular use for several years.
 

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#11
One of my favorites is the Moody Sounds Hjart Muller Lo|Fat overdrive, that I have an original as well as this updated version that I use constantly. It is a unique sound to begin with and the unusual Klang (tone) control rather unique character enhancement. This updated version has more gain as well as a wet/dry mix.
The saturation profile has punch & grunt that offers plenty of drive without being strident.

It is available as a kit as above or built version as my build skills are abyssmal
 
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#13
I made a barbershop on a PedalPCB board and end up leaving it on most the time.

i get the impression with diy stuff it’s a lot easier for guitarists to find stuff that is cool and they can build - for bass I think it’s the boundaries of what will work well are a lot closer defined and there’s a research it working out what works well - and then building that. @johnk_10 ’s website is worth a perurasal
 
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#17
lethargytartare said:
That barbershop is on my todo list now -- I hadn't heard of it before, but two mentions here, and the clips I've heard are quite nice. Thanks!
Click to expand...
keep in mind that the J201 Jfets have to be the correct ones for it to sound right. i would recommend the SMD ones on an adapter board since they are spec'd better for the circuit than 90% of the TO-92 versions these days.
 
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#18
lethargytartare said:
That barbershop is on my todo list now -- I hadn't heard of it before, but two mentions here, and the clips I've heard are quite nice. Thanks!
Click to expand...

In addition to what @johnk_10 said above this is a quote from a fella called music6000 on pedalPCB forum quoting someone at Fairfield Circuitry
Let's start by sorting the JFETS. As we saw on the datasheet, J201's can have an Idss value from 200uA to 2mA. That is a huge range. For Q1, you want a J201 that has an Idss from 600-800 uA. For Q2, you want one with Idss about 400-600uA.
So you'll have to see what you have to work with. You might be unlucky and have all J201's with crazy values like 1500uA. In that case, the drain resistors will need to be changed.
Click to expand...
The PedalPCB PCB is pretty good - but trying to measure the Idss of these tiny little SMD JFETs was an interesting kind of purgatory...
 
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