Build Your Own Clone Message Board

Hi all,
I recently built my first BYOC kit, a flanger. It went together like Lego - and it sounds great to boot.

Anyway, i'm wanting to replace my main drive pedal because it's literally falling apart and getting very noisy.. A 90's DOD FX-69 Grunge. Yup, one of the most hated distortions ever built. But, they actually do sound great - if you know what to do. My guitars are 25.5" scale with high or semi-high output humbuckers(a super distortion for example), through a pedalboard (grunge), then to a yamaha G-50 4x10(solid state. very bright, very clean). With this setup, and the grunge's bass at 3 o'clock, treble at 9 o'clock, gain as low as it will go, I can get a good drive that is really smooth and reacts very well to pinch and open harmonics. I would describe the tone curve as a little thick on the bass, scooped mids, but still enough on the treble side to be heard through the rest of the band. A problem is that I have to have the gain all the way down, otherwise it gets horribly noisy and a bad treble bite.

I've tried modding a late 80's DS-1 by swapping the clipping diodes with LED's (maybe a diode in series with one, can't remember) and some resistors in the tone area, but ended up turning it into something that fills the gap between a TS-9 and the grunge. The DS-1 actually sounds great, but in a different way..it's more of an overdrive now... more of a 'crunch' sound actually. I really like it how it is so it's not going to change any time soon.

So.. the question.. anything out there in the BYOC family that can be built/modded to have a 'smooth' harmonic drive with a mid scoop? Mouse? Beaver? I've listened to youtube demos, but a lot are through their own unique amps and guitars.. it's hard to find a benchmark to compare to.

nothing like a muff for those scooped mids. And the BYOC Beaver has lots of options, so just about any Muff sound is available.

Thanks,
I'm not sure what you mean though with the Beaver. I know it has a half dozen clipping choices, but is it skooped like the muff? also which version of the muff would be more closer to what I want? Thanks for narrowing to down to two pedals though, it saves a lot of my time.

The LB has no clipping options. It has a 4-way tone control that includes Mid Scoop (stock setting), Flat, Mid Hump and Tone Bypass which removes the tone stack from the circuit completely.

Check out the Orange Distortion - it has a ton of mod options and it does have more grunge tone...

Thanks folks.

+1 for the DS-1

The Shredder is a very flexible distortion pedal with a very wide range of available gain. You might want to look into that one, too.

Whelp, the shredder puts the list up to 4 now. I'm hesitant on the DS-1 as i've tried a few real ones, bought mine for $25 at a pawn shop, cracked it open and learned it's not the latest design, then promptly turned it into an 'overdrive.' I like it as it is, but using that as a baseline, I don't think I can get the sound I want without a lot of tinkering.

I wish I could find or record an audio sample of what the FX-69 sounds like at moderate settings. Anything i've seen on youtube is with the settings mostly turned up and I seem to lack any ability to get a good quality recording.

A friend has an 80's rat that i can borrow to compare and possibly get a baseline.

Does anyone have a clip of the shredder? I haven't looked on youtube yet, so my question may be moot.

You said the magic word. Check out Gearmanndude's excellent BYOC pedal demos on YouTube. He's got one that includes the Shredder.

Thanks. from the demos, the shredder is now at the top of my list. I really like the range of control that contour feature has.