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Cheap and Easy Onboard Distortion.

Discussion in 'Pickups & Electronics [BG]' started by patlozrox, Jul 19, 2013.

  1. Jul 19, 2013 #1
    patlozrox

    patlozrox

    Apr 10, 2012
    Munster, Indiana
    Losiniecki LED Customs (My own company)
    I recently made a distortion out of one of the tone pots on my Stingray HH. It was only about $2 for the parts and about 15 minutes of soldering and reassembly. It was just two low voltage diodes in a "69" position in the place of the capacitor. It sounds awesome! Does anyone else have something like this that they have done?
     
  2. Jul 19, 2013 #2
    jamersonburton

    jamersonburton

    Jul 22, 2011
    Sounds cool. Might be good on a pbass.. if it can work.
     
  3. Jul 19, 2013 #3
    patlozrox

    patlozrox

    Apr 10, 2012
    Munster, Indiana
    Losiniecki LED Customs (My own company)
    I actually got the idea from a guy that used a p bass. Go for it!
     
  4. Jul 19, 2013 #4
    ctmullins

    ctmullins Dominated Gold Supporting Member

    Apr 18, 2008
    MS Gulf Coast
    I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
    Do a search for "black ice" and you'll find lots of threads on this. I did it myself once, just to see what all the fuss was about. It makes a cool fuzz tone, but not what I would call overdrive. A novelty, really. I didn't keep it.
     
  5. Jul 19, 2013 #5
    Jensby design

    Jensby design

    May 22, 2008
    Hastings, NE
    Funny thing I was just breadboarding passive distortion.
    Two 1N5817 diodes (or any schottky diode) parallel in opponent directions going to ground works alright you can just use one if you like.You could use germanium like a 1N34,maybe add a capacitor(.1u to .01u or so) in series(order doesn't seem to matter) to change the dynamics.I would suggest some prototyping.
    Unfortunately no matter what you do you are going to lose volume:meh:
     
  6. Jul 20, 2013 #6
    JimmyM

    JimmyM Supporting Member

    Apr 11, 2005
    Apopka, FL
    Endorsing: Yamaha, Ampeg, Line 6, EMG
    Jack Bruce is rumored to have done something similar to his EB-0.
     
  7. Jul 28, 2013 #7
    patlozrox

    patlozrox

    Apr 10, 2012
    Munster, Indiana
    Losiniecki LED Customs (My own company)
    Yeah. I used the two diodes and I love the tone my Music Man Stingray HH gives me. I have monkeyed around with other stuff too. I tried an active distortion, but the mod took up too much space inside the body, not to mention the stupid battery. (I already had one in there for my pickups.) But with the two diodes in there in opposite directions, it gets a sweet growling tone to it. I like to use it with my band to kill the need for more pedals/boxes. But I can see how some people going for more of an actual overdrive would get bored and move on. It's more of a small tone flavorer for the bassist looking to experiment and maybe get some more growl out of the mix.
     
  8. Jul 28, 2013 #8
    Bass4LifeRS

    Bass4LifeRS

    Oct 18, 2005
    Norway
    Soundclip?
     
  9. Aug 1, 2013 #9
    patlozrox

    patlozrox

    Apr 10, 2012
    Munster, Indiana
    Losiniecki LED Customs (My own company)
    Sure. I'll try to get one recorded. I'm pretty busy right now, but I'll do what I can between studio stops.
     
  10. Aug 1, 2013 #10
    Bass4LifeRS

    Bass4LifeRS

    Oct 18, 2005
    Norway
    That'd be great :)