HI! This is my blog dedicated to my electronic/musical endeavors. I build pedals, do basic repairs, fix amps/synths/pedals/mixers/drum machines etc. Ultimately, I put all my inspirations and descriptions of the work I am up to here.
Tommy V.
Sunday, June 26, 2016
Some of my favorite Boutique/Modded Guitar Pedals
Above is the Analogman Peppermint Fuzz. Next, there is a mod I did of the Super Overdrive and also a dualy modded Ts 9 tubescreamer to make a pair of great overdrives!
Its funny how I ended up with my first authorized Analogman Pedal. I found it at a local music shop and couldn't let it go. However, upon testing it we found it sounded like shit. In the store I made the dude open it up so I could set the trimpot. It worked ok but sounded shitty and spotty. Later, I realized just how temperature sensitive these Germanium transistors are after fussing with them in this desert summer. I noticed whenever it was late into the night and the temperatures went down the thing worked great, but in the day and at the same setting it was toast! Crazy but interesting! Still the best quality made fuzz I have! Just glad I have some silicon fuzzes to get me through without having to run to the fridge for my pedal!
AS for the next two pedals... The SD 1 Super Overdrive Mod by Monte Allums with regular gain is one of the only distortion pedals that works great with my Fender Amp which is very bright. It is a lifesaver to have as the mid hump and the large variety of gain really helps in a live situation and sounds great with single coils at the neck position! Sounds better than boutique od's I feel. Which bring me to the Ibanez Tubescreamer TS9 which was my first mod on a pedal. It has the basic brown mod to turn it into TS 808 specs (very simple) and it came with the good jrc 4558 op amp which really is nice. I made the guy open up the used pedal at Guitar Center for this one as well! I said, well thats the chip! Also, changing all the tone components to the right panasonic metal film type capacitors and box capacitors really made this thing shine as well. It has such a subtle compression that is great for singing on tube amps. Your really got to play loud though to get to working with this bad boy though!
Its funny how I ended up with my first authorized Analogman Pedal. I found it at a local music shop and couldn't let it go. However, upon testing it we found it sounded like shit. In the store I made the dude open it up so I could set the trimpot. It worked ok but sounded shitty and spotty. Later, I realized just how temperature sensitive these Germanium transistors are after fussing with them in this desert summer. I noticed whenever it was late into the night and the temperatures went down the thing worked great, but in the day and at the same setting it was toast! Crazy but interesting! Still the best quality made fuzz I have! Just glad I have some silicon fuzzes to get me through without having to run to the fridge for my pedal!
ReplyDeleteAS for the next two pedals... The SD 1 Super Overdrive Mod by Monte Allums with regular gain is one of the only distortion pedals that works great with my Fender Amp which is very bright. It is a lifesaver to have as the mid hump and the large variety of gain really helps in a live situation and sounds great with single coils at the neck position! Sounds better than boutique od's I feel.
ReplyDeleteWhich bring me to the Ibanez Tubescreamer TS9 which was my first mod on a pedal. It has the basic brown mod to turn it into TS 808 specs (very simple) and it came with the good jrc 4558 op amp which really is nice. I made the guy open up the used pedal at Guitar Center for this one as well! I said, well thats the chip! Also, changing all the tone components to the right panasonic metal film type capacitors and box capacitors really made this thing shine as well. It has such a subtle compression that is great for singing on tube amps. Your really got to play loud though to get to working with this bad boy though!