Hey. I'm new here, so I'm sorry if the image doesn't work, or if it's otherwise posted badly.
Looking at the Vulcan circuits, I wondered, can this small part of the circuit be used on its own to asymetrically distort a signal, adding in a touch of even harmonics?
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e399/bsharpminor/Diodeasvariableresistor.jpg)
I was thinking of putting an amplifier in front of it and a buffer after it. Maybe using more than one diode in series.
I guess what I'm asking is, would it work? Would the amount of distortion I'd get even be audible, if I chose my diodes and resistor values right?
It really works in conjunction with a transistor to prevent saturation (which causes the nasty "transistor sound".) Alone, it's basically a diode limiter.
Actually: build the vulcan itself, because it does what you want this three components to do, really. ;)
If I patch this into the front end of an LPB, what values would I need for the resistors, and which diode?