Diodes / Distortion / DOD-250 Question

[jimbob]

I finished my dod-250 and reallly like the sound but i wanted to do a little experimting..I found on theis site a mod but not sure how to actually physically  perform it. This is what it says:
"DOD overdrive 250 and others that have a diode pair creating the distortion at the end of a circuit, you can increase the output level of the circuit with the expense of a little distortion by putting two diodes where there were one. So instead of 2 diodes, you now have four."

Is it saying i  should  solder 2 diodes going one direction and 2 going the other way? On my board there are 2 holes for each diode. How would i add more diodes and where would i place them?

Hopefully this isnt a stupid question- Im still learning-

jim

[Joe Hart]

Two diodes going in the same direction one after the other (end to end, so you still only have one of them going to ground -- the second one), then two the other way.

Try different diodes, too. I kind of like red LED's. Also, try upping the gain on the IC. I always do that. And different IC's, too.

Good luck!
-Joe Hart

[jimbob]

Thanks Joe.another question--you sd led's? you can replace the regular diodes w the leds that emit light? if so..it make a difference to the sound?

[Joe Hart]

LED's are crunchier and less fuzzy and quite a bit louder (higher clipping threshold). I just use 3mm red LED's. Yup, the ones that emit light. You could even mount them in the box so you can see it (only one will actually light up) flicker everytime you hit a big chord! Fun! But feel free to try different colors and sizes. They will all sound different.
-Joe Hart

[ben moore]

if i replace a diode with an led which way shoudl i orientate it?

[aron]

if i replace a diode with an led which way shoudl i orientate it?

Why that's in the faq:

[aron]

Thanks Joe.another question--you sd led's? you can replace the regular diodes w the leds that emit light? if so..it make a difference to the sound?

That's the beauty of the Dist+, you can experiment with the diodes. Yes they do make a difference in the feel and sound. Put a socket there and swap different diodes in and out.

[RDV]

LED's are crunchier and less fuzzy and quite a bit louder (higher clipping threshold). I just use 3mm red LED's. Yup, the ones that emit light. You could even mount them in the box so you can see it (only one will actually light up) flicker everytime you hit a big chord! Fun! But feel free to try different colors and sizes. They will all sound different.
-Joe Hart

I just heard the samples of your distortion pedal from your site. Incredible Player!!

Does he have a lot of gain going on the amp, or is it mostly the pedal, or both?

Regards

RDV

[Joe Hart]

Who? Joe Stump? The sound clips are just my pedal through a Rhino 100W half stack (on one clip he also uses a UniVibe). He uses a lot of amp gain, with the pedal just to kind of kick it up a little.
-Joe Hart

[jimbob]

I used  led's , found the sweet spot!!  I actually like this  effect better than my boss d2-2 turbo distortion (before and after i modded it). Anyway, thanks all for the ideas / info.

[Ansil]

put in a socket in there so you can expirament.  
i use a 3mm red led first then a 5mm green second.  works great gives me a most desirable tone.

[RDV]

I didn't really like mine much till I scored some germanium diodes from smallbear. They're the smoothest. I really like the low-end boost it gives to the highgain channel in the Marshall if I run the output level of the 250 all the way up with the gain @ about 3/4.

Regards

RDV

[jimbob]

Has anyone had a problm w a high pitch sound when the gain is maxed out? Anyway to solve that issue? I just turn it as far as i can before the sound occurs.

[Ansil]

put a 47pf cap in the feedback loop, you may have to take it up to even a 100pf  so it will cut out oscialtion

[petemoore]

Like someone told me about a fet pedal ercently: "just turn it down".
 At the time I'd posted about how that would defeat the purpose, but then after having tried it, I wanted to retract the statement...it's really nice that way, and provides a flavor I really enjoy.
 sometimes [esp. in high gain ckts] shielding any long input/output wires may help.
 For a while there I was shielding these wires but have forgone this task on recent builds with no probs. I'm pretty sure they helped the Blackfire for instance, but that was way back when I was doing semi-hanging garden style construction...lol.