I know, I know, it's been a long time since a new layout has been posted. We have not gone away, just time has a habit of getting away from you, especially with the current state of the pandemic. I've got a running list for more layouts to come, but I don't want to post them all too quickly. I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.
I want to start the year out with a new layout. This is one I've had waiting in the wings for awhile and finally had time to site and make a layout for it, so without further adieu.
The Monster Effects Mastortion was originally a limited edition pedal designed with Brent Hinds of Mastodon as a heavy OD/Distortion that's on the verge of fuzz. Not much info on it, as it was originally made in very low numbers. It's basically YATS with a set tonestack. The only changes I made was to the power section as the original has an interesting setup with bridge rectifiers and I don't feel it's necessary or adds anything to the pedal. Schematic can be found here.
thank you and welcome back! looking forward to building this one. big mastodon fan.
ReplyDeleteGreat to see a new post! Zach, have you built this and it works? I tried Anders's layout from a year ago and it didn't work. He seemed to think there maybe an error in the schematic and never went any further to correct the layout. Also, since you change the power section the 220uf (D/E 17) and the 2.2uf (D/E 14) together is redundant, right? The 2.2uf wouldn't be needed with the 220uf cap?
ReplyDeleteI found a mistake in Anders's layout. I think it will correct soon.
DeleteNice pedal.
ReplyDeleteI traced the layout, it seems ok. Don't forget the cut under D3, if it's there it's barely visible.
Thanks man. When I did the final counting of cuts I kept thinking I was missing one. I’ll fix it and reupload. It should be 13 cuts, but 12.
DeleteNice. Welcome back!
ReplyDeleteI like this sound,its verified?
ReplyDeleteJust built. Seems to be working, but I'm not getting much gain out of it tho. It's closer to a heavy-ish OD than a real distortion pedal. Definitely not approaching fuzz. I used a JRC4558 for the IC. any meaningful difference from MC4558 or is it just a brand naming convention? thanks for the layout!!
ReplyDeleteIndeed, I can't understand how it can distort like the demos. First stage is a soft clipping like Tube Screamer. The second stage is peculiar. I guess more gain here, and clipping opamp. But... I don't know.
DeleteMaybe in the demo the pedal pushes drive channel of the amps.
my guess is that brent uses it with the gain channel of his amp. any IC with 4558 designation should work without an issue. the pre-fix is to denote the manufacturer.
Deletethat's what i figured, but thanks for confirming, zach!
DeleteI saw all demos on youtube, and is a high gain pedal, a guess this is not based in the real thing.
ReplyDeleteIt is based on a schematic traced by the guy who owns it. If you checked the link you will see that. If the pedal is based on a TS I doubt it is high gain on its own.
DeleteAbout the sound of this pedal read this:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.premierguitar.com/gear/monster-effects-swamp-thang-tremolo-mastortion-overdrive-pedal-reviews
«Even with the Drive knob maxed, the Mastortion has a surprisingly little amount of gain, about half of what is available from a Big Muff».
thanks for sharing that link! i do like it (love me some Mastodon), just disappointed that it wasn't what i was hoping for.
DeleteI had one (nr 39, I think). A bit to harsh tubescreamer tone, fuzzy clipping at higher gain settings.
ReplyDeleteIt improves when cranking your amp (less harsh, rounder, sweeter).
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ReplyDeleteSounds great, a big OD/Dist !
ReplyDeleteHey man, just wanted to say: welcome back!
ReplyDeletehello, one question, is this pedal already verified? Is it proven that it works?
ReplyDelete