Saturation analysis of MXR Distortion +

Started by ShamaKx, February 06, 2015, 09:26:10 AM

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ShamaKx

Hello everyone,
My final project preparatory class study is the saturation of a guitar signal and more precisely the distortion from the MXR Distortion +.
In my study, I have already begun to reproduce this wiring diagram on LTSpice software to simulate the circuit and have references measures.
Also, I bought all the necessary electronic components and started reproducing the circuit.

The schematic is the following :



What I would like to do, is separating the circuit into parts and calculate the transfer function of each part to finally get a global transfer function of le circuit.
I think that I could use the Millman's theorem in several points of the circuit  to get the relations and equations.

But I'm not on my results and I have difficulties to find the equations. That's why I need your advice.
Thank you in advance for your answers.
Best Regards.

PBE6

I suggest taking a look at the MXR Micro Amp and Pro Co Rat analyses at the Electrosmash website:

http://www.electrosmash.com/mxr-microamp

http://www.electrosmash.com/proco-rat

It's a brilliant resource for understanding the building blocks of analog guitar pedals.

PBE6

If you're looking to model the clipping behavior of the diodes, I've found that the Shockley diode equation gives pretty good results:

I = Is*(exp(vD/n*vT))-1)

where:

Is = 1x10^(-12) A
n = 1.25
vT = 0.026 V

for silicon diodes seems to work well. Just get your expression for vin in terms of vD, then solve for vD iteratively.