# Universal mods?



## bifurcation

Are there mods that work on most circuits (of the same type)?

For example, whenever I see a feedback/oscillate switch on a distortion pedal, I assume it's just bridging something to something?


----------



## Nostradoomus

Interchangeable input caps on a rotary switch will work for most dirt/fuzz pedals.


----------



## bifurcation

Has anyone made a sort of grid of capacitor/resistor sets to alter a pedal's voicing?

*Like*: 
Guitar tight bottom end
Guitar whoofy bottom end
Baritone guitar tight bottom end
etc....

Well, I guess there's filtering in and out, so it'd be a double grid?


----------



## bowanderror

Look up a “Decade Resistor Box”, combined with a few different caps on a breadboard and you can test out any RC filter you could imagine.  Diode clipping mods are really popular, there are a few solutions out there where you can switch between different diodes in different orders, directions, symmetrical versus asymmetrical, etc. Both filters and clipping mods can be put in a variety of locations. Try it before your buffer or drive or delay, or try it after. You can also put these in feedback loops or blend them with your dry signal. 

There are definitely preferred mods for each circuit, but if you want to try something new you’re probably have to break out the breadboard and just give it a shot all over the circuit. I’ve got a few bodged together daughter boards that I use to try out different Kinds of clipping and filtering. It might be worth looking up some of our R.G Keen’s stuff on Geofex and trying that in whatever pedal you’re interested in.


----------



## phi1

Best thing to do would probably be to study how the circuits work, then you will see the patterns pretty quick and be able to come up with mods yourself. Also, whenever you see a mod described, try to understand how it works. 

This is a good read on how the Tubescreamer works, and a lot of it transfers to other dirt pedals. 






						ElectroSmash - Tube Screamer Circuit Analysis
					

Schematic, JFET Bypass Switching, JFET Switch Operation, Toggle Circuit Operation, True Bypass Alternative,Power Supply, Input Stage, Input Impedance Calculation,Input Buffer Gain Calculation, Clipping Amp




					www.electrosmash.com
				




After reading that, check out the stockade (eqd palisades) schematic on here, which is basically a Tubescreamer with a bunch of mod options for the bass response and clipping diodes. Similar mods could be applied to pretty much all op amp based dirt pedals.


----------



## bifurcation

Awesome, thanks!


----------



## the_grumpy_gnome

bifurcation, the short answer is "no."  reason being, even with the same 'type' of circuit there are still many ways the same effect is being introduced.  For example, a distortion circuit many introduce distortion via clipping to ground, clipping in a feedback path or IC clipping by running the power too lower to properly handle the  signal.  A very simple low pass filter (basically a 'tight' control) will have drastically different effects on each of these circuits, especially depending on where it's placed.

Sorry there's no simple way of doing this BUT once you have a better understanding of the way circuits work it'll be clear that there's a standard set of ways to tweak any given configuration.

The article phil1 posted is one of the best articles on a pedal circuit that I've ever read.  I came from tube amps, but this was the article that I developed an underlying understanding of pedals circuits with.  I've read it many many times, as well as his other circuit analyses on the same site.


----------



## the_grumpy_gnome

@bifurcation Do you like high gain/metal?


----------



## bifurcation

the_grumpy_gnome said:


> @bifurcation Do you like high gain/metal?



Heh, yeah. 

I'm doing this industrial doom metal project, so I've been playing with and building a bunch of options to try to form something unique-sounding.

I also do drone metal, so I'm really interested in texture.


----------



## bifurcation

Also... ?


----------



## the_grumpy_gnome

Awesome.

After you read and somewhat disgest that ElectroSmash TS analysis, go over and read this:


			Boss MT-2 Metal Zone pedal analysis – Electric Druid
		

You'll learn about soft clipping in the first article, then hard clipping and op-amp clipping in the second, too.  These are _excellent _articles for learning about distortion circuits and tone shaping.  A distortion pedal is simply a device that sucks the electrons of your signal through it while clipping manipulating the frequencies and clipping portions.

Try this drone metal combo:
preferably heavily compressed clean
MT-2 (on Swedish settings)
With a 'Hypernova' reverb;  lower two knobs at 12 and three upper three at 5, 5, and 7-11, respectively.


----------



## the_grumpy_gnome

?, indeed.


----------



## the_grumpy_gnome

Oh, and I'm _sure_ that the Parentheses Fuzz will also be EXCELLENT for this, I just haven't built and tried one yet.


----------



## bifurcation

Thanks!



the_grumpy_gnome said:


> Oh, and I'm _sure_ that the Parentheses Fuzz will also be EXCELLENT for this, I just haven't built and tried one yet.



OMG, I'm drooling over that already...


----------



## the_grumpy_gnome

This said...

You may also want to try doing this.  I use a TC Mimiq to do the same thing, but the Unison Stereo mod should do the same.  Two cabs in general will do wonders for your sound here, but you'll be very pleased with the addition of the differentiated 2nd channel.

This exact build is within my next stack of 15 and I'm excited to try a 3rd cab.


----------



## the_grumpy_gnome

the_grumpy_gnome said:


> This said...
> 
> You may also want to try doing this.  I use a TC Mimiq to do the same thing, but the Unison Stereo mod should do the same.  Two cabs in general will do wonders for your sound here, but you'll be very pleased with the addition of the differentiated 2nd channel.
> 
> This exact build is within my next stack of 15 and I'm excited to try a 3rd cab.


Actually, one could physically stack these and run low, mid and high to them individually.  Further, if the frequencies were similarly distributed horizontally around the room, then a wah could sweep a higher gain signal back and forth.


----------



## bifurcation

the_grumpy_gnome said:


> I use a TC Mimiq to do the same thing, but the Unison Stereo mod should do the same.



Wow, back in the day I thought unison pedals sounded like shit, but that TC Mimiq sounds amazing.


----------



## the_grumpy_gnome

And a mono Mimic isn't anything noteworthy, either.  The magic happens when you use them in true stereo (and mine is the stereo version).


----------

