States "Dig In" !...push on it to get out the great stuff !
This put a new angle on picking and style after a while. At first I wasn't quite sure and didn't know what I have...
Being the 'sick gain pig' that I am, I'm thinking you might as well use a dual op amp and add a Tube Reamer or Blue Clipper type circuit to the front end, the way you would a real amp.
Yeap, it's tasty treat , gain ... and it's hard to tell it': "I've had enough"..'No More for Me'...'Very Good but if I add Anymore I may appear a bit shaggy from the side'...shaggy is cool, but I'm trying to cut back !
That OA could be a single, but why, dual is more space effecient..if I were to build this with the 'other OA used for something Distortey, I'd put it on a Bypass.
Getting used to the dynamics / response of the circuit...I began to re-develop a dig in style of picking..very fun sound to 'lean on hard/tread lightly/play medium, let the sustain work for me.
Reminded me of my 'amps of type' I had..at first plug in, quandried by the tone/unsatisfied preconcieved notions [I bought a Plex/4x12 thinking Bad Co. AC/DC..greeted by something very different [great, but 'dull' compared to expectations] upon first amp test. Thor is quite similar, took a minute or three of playing before I actually dialed in the dynamics/response thing, besides dialing in the gain/vol/amp vol.
It wasn't/isn't 'till I began digging in, acclimating myself to the response, altering picking style etc. before I understood what could be released by whomping on JB Good rythms, letting single/double note leads sustain etc. a 'workingmans' sound, it doesn't play itself like a Fuzztone...you have to lean on it!
Then I added somethings and had my longtime P.C.Expectations satisfied.
Very pleasing, usable high gain tones, dynamics, sustain.
After hours of adulated playing on this one, it's a great 'base tone' circuit. Stick a Fuzz or Dirtbox before it or my Starved MuBoost after it...WOW is that fun.
Preliminary summation:
Great sounding circuit !
Does the 6' amp in a 5'' box thing really well.
Responds to dynamics, very fun to play.
Responds to being Fuzzed or driving Dirt/boost boxes really really nicely.
A1 Jfet amp sound!...does the 'ampinbox' thing convincingly, in some ways better than the real thing! [doesn't require shaking the rafters in the house next door]...easier to work with than: a way too big tube amp trying to sound big when dialed to miniscule settings, requiring a dirtbox to come close to sounding anything like itself cranked. Surely this would make a plexi turned down sound more like a plexi turned up.
I can solidly recommend this distortion circuit to anyone trying to get a 'plexi sound' out of a plexi at low volume, actually any volume...unless you have a plexi and are already getting 'that'..I rarely to never did...I always had to put a dirtbox on it anyway.
Nicely voiced balance of great stuff: Sustain 'pitch finding', dynamics/compression/distortion...but it isn't, and doesn't do 'fuzzbox', without a fuzzbox.
Turn the gain knob down a bit for thick 'dirtboost' tones.
A highs adjust knob would be a useful addition, I have this two knobber in a 3knob Box!...maybe a few switchable mods, lifting a bit of the LP filtering near input...lotsa places you could mess with it.
Superb sounding circuit gets finishing touches and pedalboard status [right after the RM/Dist+ box, before everything else in chain.
