# Danae Overdrive ( Ibanez-Vemuran TSV808)



## MichaelW (Aug 28, 2022)

So as to not disappoint @Feral Feline and @spi with my production output, I have one last build report for the weekend

I put this board on my "waitlist" as soon as it was announced. I'm not really sure why it interested me so much, I didn't even watch any demo videos of it.
I just knew I wanted to build it

Very straightforward build and as usual for @PedalPCB, it's beautifully laid out. My only disappointment was not being able to squeeze this into a 1590B hahaha.

All the hype and controversy surrounding the Jan Ray aside, it's a pretty sweet sounding variant of a Timmy. So what could be so exciting about a Tubescreamer and a Timmy as a single circuit? I would definitely say that this falls into the camp of being more than simply the sum of its parts. Really neat sounding pedal.

The mid hump of the TS is definitely there but also, as oxymoronic as it may sound, is the transparency and clarity of the Timmy circuit. 
Since there's no schematic of this published yet, I'm not exactly sure what's going on, but it sounds like more than simply running a TS into a Timmy or vice versa.
It actually sounds like a well integrated pedal with elements of both circuits.

The Danae has the small trim pots for "Bass" and "Saturation" exposed as full pots which I think is very useful. The Bass control sounds like it's a Timmy style bass control. I'm not exactly sure what the "Saturation" knob is doing but I'm guessing that it's blending in (or more accurately blending out as you tune CW) the clipping circuit.

The original pedal has the clipping options as internal dips. The Danae exposes these are external toggles which makes me all giggly, I would have probably modded it this way if it hadn't come already modded. Very useful, as far as I can tell from the PCB traces it controls the 2 pairs of clipping diodes. I'd have to confirm once the schematic gets released.

I've been comparing it to my Tommy III build as well as my Powder Blue build. Both are great sounding pedals but the Danae adds that TS "oomph" into the mix which makes for some very nice overdrive sounds. 

The gain sounds are useful throughout the entire range of the sweep and this is one of the few overdrive pedals I've built that actually sounds good to me even the gain dimed. When the gain is all the way up and the "saturation" knob turned fully CW the TS nature of the pedal really comes through.
With the Saturation at full CCW it's more like a Timmy.

I'm liking it somewhere in between but towards the Timmy side with the Saturation around 9-10 o'clock and the gain around 1 o'clock and both clippers toggled on.
Sounds really good on my Strat. It doesn't seem to sound much different running it at 9v vs 18v. 

The limited run of TSV808s are no longer available and I've seen them going for really stupid money on Reverb. Glad to be able to access those sounds for pennies on the dollar building my own! (Although there are no "mojo parts" like the original in my build)

I built it with all the stock components, no subs. OPA2134PA for the OpAmp. Tayda Glimmer Brown Sugar enclosure.

Cool new pot covers made by @swelchy!


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## steviejr92 (Aug 28, 2022)

Awesome build! demo please?


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## Feral Feline (Aug 28, 2022)

Michael, you NEVER disappoint... 😻


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## Cvoxdog (Aug 28, 2022)

Yikes, those go for a lot of money!


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## MichaelW (Aug 28, 2022)

steviejr92 said:


> Awesome build! demo please?


Thinking about a good tune to showcase this. I also have a backlog, I want to do a Mojito Demo as well as demo's for the Cattle Driver and Grover.


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## MichaelW (Aug 28, 2022)

Cvoxdog said:


> Yikes, those go for a lot of money!


Yah, totally nuts....I saw one for $2400 on Reverb. But I think most are going for around $400-500. Collectible I guess?


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## steviejr92 (Aug 28, 2022)

MichaelW said:


> Thinking about a good tune to showcase this. I also have a backlog, I want to do a Mojito Demo as well as demo's for the Cattle Driver and Grover.


i am looking forward to this!


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## spi (Aug 28, 2022)

I've been enjoying building vicariously through your reports because haven't been able to get one done since we got a dog.  Our puppy absorbs all my free time.

I'm curious about the schematic for this.  Given the part count, looks like a Timmy with mid hump (but then a Timmy isn't that far off from a TS anyway).


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## Feral Feline (Aug 29, 2022)

Yeah I'm curious, too, what the schematic will reveal.

Bring on dem demos, SVP!


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## harmaes (Aug 29, 2022)

Great build Michael! Why is there a resistor on the 500k pot? Did you use a 1M or something?

I’m looking forward to receiving the PCB soon here in the Netherlands. Jan Ray and Soloist are 2 of my favorite pedals so a hybrid could be cool to add or replace them.


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## MichaelW (Aug 29, 2022)

harmaes said:


> Great build Michael! Why is there a resistor on the 500k pot? Did you use a 1M or something?
> 
> I’m looking forward to receiving the PCB soon here in the Netherlands. Jan Ray and Soloist are 2 of my favorite pedals so a hybrid could be cool to add or replace them.


Yup, I did not have an A500k so I hacked an A1M. It's amazing how much I've amassed in components over the last 6 months yet I'm always missing that one component for my build hahah.


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## szukalski (Aug 29, 2022)

harmaes said:


> I’m looking forward to receiving the PCB soon here in the Netherlands.


Hijacking the thread to say hi from Julianadorp!


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## MichaelW (Aug 29, 2022)

szukalski said:


> Hijacking the thread to say hi from Julianadorp!


Watch out for the snakes while you're there........


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## harmaes (Aug 29, 2022)

szukalski said:


> Hijacking the thread to say hi from Julianadorp!


Hi back from Maarssen!


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## GizzWizzKing (Aug 30, 2022)

You sold me on adding one to queue. Also I I dig the enclosure. Couldn't tell what it looked like from the tayda picture at all.


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## Barry (Aug 30, 2022)

MichaelW said:


> Yup, I did not have an A500k so I hacked an A1M. It's amazing how much I've amassed in components over the last 6 months yet I'm always missing that one component for my build hahah.


It never ends


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