"Middle Child Distortion" COMING SOON!!!

[vigilante397]

page 1 and no soundclip..

Did you miss the bit where I said it sounded like garbage?

But seriously, I'll plug it in this afternoon and do a quick soundclip as is, then I'll do the mods suggested by Derringer and post another (probably much better) soundclip.

So maybe page 2 on this one, I'm not quite up to your level

[deadastronaut]

 

[Derringer]

cool

and I just realized that you said the voltage supply was 17.5 volts and not 9volts!

The 10K for R3 I suggested might work O.K. ... but now I'm thinking 22K would be even better.

and I'm assuming the NPN is some run of the mill silicon with gain somewhere between 300 and 800?

[vigilante397]

and I'm assuming the NPN is some run of the mill silicon with gain somewhere between 300 and 800?

Right now it's just a 2N3904, though I'm debating trying other NPN's to see if I find any I like better. Any suggestions?

[bloxstompboxes]

2N4401, 2N5088, and 2N5550 if you're looking for the 2N variety. You could really try anything. That's the beauty of creating something of your own. You are only limited by what you have or can get.

[vigilante397]

2N4401, 2N5088, and 2N5550 if you're looking for the 2N variety. You could really try anything. That's the beauty of creating something of your own. You are only limited by what you have or can get.

I have made a few simple distortions with 2N5088s that I rather liked, and I know I have TONS of other random transistors that I bought for a project that only called for one, I may as well try them all out! That's the glory of the breadboard, it's easy to switch things around until it sounds exactly the way you want it to

[Derringer]

2N3904 fits the bill nicely

R.G. is quoted somewhere saying something like "when in doubt use a 5088/89"

sorry R.G. ... I know that's not nearly as eloquent as the actual quote 

[bloxstompboxes]

I think that was pretty spot on actually, derringer, except that I don't think he mentioned the 89.

[vigilante397]

Okay, I officially have time to work on this now, and where the only other important things I have to do today is work on other pedals (it's going to be a great day  ) this is taking priority.

So I finally got a quick sound sample. This is running straight from the guitar (Les Paul clone on bridge position) into the middle child and into the amp (Bedrock 621, clean channel, flat EQ, no reverb).

https://soundcloud.com/vigilante397/middle-child-v11

I recorded three different clips and smashed them together: 1) Clean tone for reference 2) Decent sounding distortion, gain is at about 9/10 (in retrospect a little high for recording purposes) and 3) "Fart mode" with the gain turned up all the way. This one bothers me.

Disclaimer: I'm not that great of a guitarist. Please reference one of my several drum-related threads for how not great of a guitarist I am.

And now if you'll excuse me I'm going to make the aforementioned modifications and hopefully make another sound clip.

[kingswayguitar]

petty good i'd say!
nice quiet pedal (in terms of hiss)

[deadastronaut]

cool....sounds like a cross between dist and fuzz..

i quite like fart mode too...

[vigilante397]

petty good i'd say!
nice quiet pedal (in terms of hiss)

I was actually shocked at how quiet it was, especially compared to some of the other pedals I had breadboarded. And it does sound decent, but not amazing, which is what I'm shooting for

cool....sounds like a cross between dist and fuzz..

That's what I'm going to start telling people when they ask why it's called the middle child, I'll say it's the middle child between distortion and fuzz

So I performed the mods suggested by Derringer, and frankly it sounds a million times better!!! Honestly, night and day difference. It's a lot more manageable with a lot more"sweet spots" in the tone. It still farts a little bit with the gain cranked all the way Rob, but I think I actually know how to fix that now, sorry

I also swapped out the 2N3904 for the 2N5088, and I definitely like the 5088 better. If I have some time today (I'm off school and work for the day so the wife has me rearranging furniture and running errands ) I'm going to see if I can find some diodes or some combination that I like better than the 1N34As.

One more thing that I think still needs fixing, the pedal itself is still rather quiet. I think it's largely due to the passive tone control, and I'm thinking of adding an LPB1 type boost at the end to make up for it. I apologize for not getting another soundclip up, but the recording gear is still set set up, so hopefully you won't be waiting until page 26

[Derringer]

sweeeeet  

and I thought the clip you posted did sound pretty cool as well. Fart mode definitely has it's charm and uses!

a gain recovery stage sounds like a good idea too