Distortion Prototype

[6th Stringer]

I wired up this proto-board for what I am calling the Dirtbag Distortion. It's simple, but it actually sounds really good. I have been playing through it for a while and it's hard to stop! It is a single darlington-style transistor with silicon, germanium, and LED clipping diodes. It just has a gain control and volume control.

I need someone to demo it for me so I know if I should start churning them out for sale. It sucks cuz no one I work with really plays guitar. I wish I could make some videos for you guys to hear it, but I need to get a new phone because mine does not pick up sound right now.

 

[Believer7713]

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I wired up this proto-board for what I am calling the Dirtbag Distortion. It's simple, but it actually sounds really good. I have been playing through it for a while and it's hard to stop! It is a single darlington-style transistor with silicon, germanium, and LED clipping diodes. It just has a gain control and volume control.

I need someone to demo it for me so I know if I should start churning them out for sale. It sucks cuz no one I work with really plays guitar. I wish I could make some videos for you guys to hear it, but I need to get a new phone because mine does not pick up sound right now.

View attachment 640222

PM me. Maybe we can work something out. I am not the best player but I don't mind giving it a run for you.

 

[3bolt79]

I’m game to test one too. Send me a PM.

 

[6th Stringer]

I made these boxes on Sunday. I applied oak veneer that has glue on the back and you use a clothes iron to heat it and stick it down. Then, I drew out the logo with pencil and traced that with a wood burning iron. I am going to spray them with a clear coat to seal it and it should bring out the color and grain a bit more.

 

[Butcher of Strats]

The IDEA sounds good!
All three are actually all clipping at the same time?
Interesting.

 

[6th Stringer]

The IDEA sounds good!
All three are actually all clipping at the same time?
Interesting.

Yeah - all the diodes are lined up and they add different characteristics to the sound. Germanium have lots of compression and a smoother clip. The Silicon are edgier. The LEDs make the least amount of distortion out of the 3, but they add openness and more touch sensitivity. If you have it on a breadboard you can actually hear the difference as you swap them out or use different combinations.

 

[Butcher of Strats]

Yeah - all the diodes are lined up and they add different characteristics to the sound. Germanium have lots of compression and a smoother clip. The Silicon are edgier. The LEDs make the least amount of distortion out of the 3, but they add openness and more touch sensitivity. If you have it on a breadboard you can actually hear the difference as you swap them out or use different combinations.

Are there also transistors?
Or a chip making the gain?

 

[6th Stringer]

Are there also transistors?
Or a chip making the gain?

The Dirt Bag and the Fuzz both use a "darlington" style transistor , which is like 2 stacked in one package and makes more gain than a normal one. I have been working on an OpAmp distortion that sounds great on the breadboard, but I have not been able to get it to work on a perfboard yet. I am also doing one using an LM386 chip.

 

[Robins]

Play around with the Dave Friedman SAT switch mod (modified Jose mod) which uses the double transistor MPSA06 - but take care, that one is bipolar
Easy to add to the output of your pedal but it lowers the output (as all of the clippings do as you know).
To my ears that is the best sounding clipping but it sounds more modern and at the same time smooth and "natural".

All the best,

Robin

 

[6th Stringer]

This distortion sounds super RAD!!! I am gonna start kicking them out. I have 3 more working. I ordered some birdseye maple veneer for the tops on the next few. Rather than the fuzz, I am producing an LM386 distortion I call the Blue Rajah. The fuzz is ok, but I think I am going to re-work it. I just got another camera and I need to make some sound samples.

 

[Quikstyl]

I wired up this proto-board for what I am calling the Dirtbag Distortion. It's simple, but it actually sounds really good. I have been playing through it for a while and it's hard to stop! It is a single darlington-style transistor with silicon, germanium, and LED clipping diodes. It just has a gain control and volume control.

I need someone to demo it for me so I know if I should start churning them out for sale. It sucks cuz no one I work with really plays guitar. I wish I could make some videos for you guys to hear it, but I need to get a new phone because mine does not pick up sound right now.

View attachment 640222

Been playing metal for 34+ years. I want one.

 

[6th Stringer]

They Live!!!

 

[Murdog]

Awesome!

 

[Believer7713]

They Live!!!

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How much for a D-Bag?

 

[6th Stringer]

How much for a D-Bag?

I'm thinking $100 would be fair considering all the parts and labor. I have only made a couple of each so far. I want to keep one ,of course, and I may take one of each down to a local music store for people to demo so I can get some feedback before I start mass production. I will try to make some video demos soon.