Project Effects: first blood, Electra Distortion

I looked around at dozens of schematics while I was reading up on parts and voltage forwarding and capacitance and all that jazz. Since the Octavia might be a mire of not being able to find out what’s wrong, if something goes wrong, a simpler effect was in order to prove I can read a schematic and solder a 1/4" jack properly. I kept thinking, there simply has to be a way to get a decent, basic distortion without 15 parts and 35 wires.

I finally found the “Electra Distortion” at Justin Philpott’s very nice schematic archive. This is his new site. His custom schematics are copyrighted so I can’t print anything but you can find it on his site(s). This is what it looks like built on my Radio Shack project kit. I used the same silicon diode instead of the recommended parts (I think one is supposed to be germanium) and it sounded good anyway. It was simple to put together. Got it right the first try so at least I can read a schematic now. (In the picture the negative ground wires are not connected and you can ignore the little momentary switch stuck in the board.)

While putting it together I found what I’d actually wanted—the most basic distortion possible—at the very excellent GM Arts. Which I’m going to try next b/c I have several versions of the IC operational amplifier (op amp) and I can easily play with it, adding things and changing out values.

What I learned so far that you probably need to know too:

• Only a super-genius or a complete moron would try to experiment with electronics without a breadboard (like the one on my Radio Shack kit).
• Alex Borstein has freckles and looks great without make-up even under the crappy lights of the Lake City Way Starbucks.

…Um, how did that slip in?

Conclusion

It’s a nice effect with good internal harmonics but too ’60s fuzz for me and quite weak on sustain; you won’t get any good false harmonics with it. I never liked the Big Muff or any of the similar pedals. It does, however, play nicely with others. It’s a bit muddy in the mid range but manages to stand out against drums and bass. Here is a sound sample of the effect. It’s played with a Gothic Les Paul and an American Jackson Soloist. Sorry, it’s not in a real arrangement.

I might play around with the parts before disassembling it but this isn’t one worth, to me, putting onto a board with a switch, battery clip, LED, enclosure, et cetera.

Update: Played around and read some more. Pulling either diode raises the volume and makes the distortion more harsh and noisy. The Radio Shack NPN seems to get a slightly smoother sound (and less clipping on the board when everything was set right below, so probably less gain) than the 2N3904 from NightFire (the “smother sound” is subjective). Lowering the capacitors (maybe just the one on the input) should improve the treble and make it less muddy overall. Plus, the 47k resistor can probably go a little lower to melow the distortion and make it more overdrivey. The 1N4001 diodes (paired) do indeed sound a little better than the 1N4148 diodes I tried at first; might try to dig up my germanium as the schematic shows to see if that makes a difference. Don’t even know if it’s a 1N34A or if that will matter.

I might actually build a box with this after all. I need to make sure I can do it before I wreck a bunch of complex soldering on a fancier effect.