Distortion quest: Sunn Beta Lead

[therecordingart]

I'm looking for a growly and aggressive distortion/fuzz similar to the Sunn Beta Lead. In all of the pedals I've built (Muffs, FFs, Box of Rock, BSIABII, etc) there isn't one that pulls it off. There is a fella on eBay selling preamps that are supposed to be clones, but they are out of my pay scale.

Any suggestions for a distortion or fuzz to try? It's that growl that I can't find...everything I've built is too smooth.

[Pojo]

Maybe something like a Wampler plexi-drive? I'm not sure what the Beta Lead sounds like...but when I hear 'growl' I think of marshally crunch tones. I've built a derivative of it which gets into that territory nicely. Of course when seeking out particular tones like that, it typically requires cooperation from the entire rig to pull it off rather than just depending on what a pedal on it's own can contribute. The speaker and cabinet you use is a major determining factor.

[kingswayguitar]

superfuzz??

[screechingowl]

The beta lead uses cmos inverters for distortion. Maybe one of the cmos designs at runoff groove could be adapted to sound more like a beta lead. I tried for a while but couldn't really come up with anything useable.

[wavley]

I'm looking for a growly and aggressive distortion/fuzz similar to the Sunn Beta Lead. In all of the pedals I've built (Muffs, FFs, Box of Rock, BSIABII, etc) there isn't one that pulls it off. There is a fella on eBay selling preamps that are supposed to be clones, but they are out of my pay scale.

Any suggestions for a distortion or fuzz to try? It's that growl that I can't find...everything I've built is too smooth.

I do believe that the Beta is a CMOS drive, didn't I see some posts about a Hex overdrive lately?  I'd look there or the Anderton Tube Sound Fuzz.

edit: sreechingowl beat me to it while I was looking at schematics, it's a MC14506bcp

[Derringer]

it would be pretty damn cool to build the beta lead preamp into a pedal

[aron]

Yeah build it into a pedal. See this thread (zip files on the end)
http://sunnforum.ampage.org/index.php?topic=7090.0

[R.G.]

Yep. Opamp driving a three-section cascade of CMOS inverters with some tinkering and adjustment of frequency response. Dual pot used to adjust input signal level and output signal level simultaneously.

Not too bad to repro.

[therecordingart]

Thanks, guys!