Question: BYOC Should I?

nuke_diver

nuke_diver

Riding Solo
I probably won't do anything for a few months but I have been considering replacing my Cool Cat Distortion with something else. I bought the CC a long time ago when the amp I had didn't do distortion without getting really loud. But since I got the TA-15 the red channel gives me much better distortion. Neither the amp nor the CC was crazy high gain distortion and there are times when I would like something with a bit more gain. I spent some time last week looking at distortion pedals and found one that sounded great (Wampler Symphony I think it was) but the price was a bit much for what I would need. Then I found the BYOC site and was interested. Building one would be a fun project I think. But which one? I know they have something called a Overdrive 2 and one called Shredder. I'm guessing the OD2 is not going to be much different that what I currently have.

I guess some of you guys have done this so asking here seems like a good starting point
 
Take a look at the Chancellor, which is a clone of the Marshall Guv'nor pedal...sits in the middle of the OD and the Shredder...
 
I have built 2 from General Guitar Gadgets. A Rat clone and a Red Llama clone. The RL was easier to build (2 knobs instead of 3) but I like the sound of the Rat better. Both were pretty easy to put together and they sound good.
 
When I get back to a computer tonight I will answer more fully but the rat clone from BYOC is excellent and can be built out wit a ton of adjustable options.
 
Based on the videos I've seen so far the Mouse (BYOC rat clone one would guess :idea:) seems only slightly more gainy than what I can currently generate with my amp. Not sure if that is just the videos that I found so far. The shredder seems pretty good but seems to be out of stock so not sure if it is still made or that is just temporary.

FYI I do have a Fuzz (Pharaoh) so I don't think I need a need any OD/distortion that is somewhat fuzzy. BTW the wampler that I first listened to that I liked was not a Symphony but a Sovereign ..oops
 
Just a thought: If you want the same basic sound but with more hair, consider buying or building a boost pedal. Then you can just slam the amp or distortion pedal harder.

I have both the Marshall Shredmaster and the later version Marshall Jackhammer. I think these were the circuits for the BYOC shredder.

They were my first experiences with a distortion pedal that actually sounded "transparent" and I still really like them. I don't consider them super high-gain, though.
 
Bottom line @nuke_diver is what sound is that you want to emulate. That will help you decide what pedal to get. A common habit that most do with their pedals is to put the drive up to 10 and adjust the volume and tone to compliment against the bypass. With your existing pedal try backing off of the gain some and give that a whirl. Outside of that, what sound are you looking for?
 
Modern Saint said:
Bottom line @nuke_diver is what sound is that you want to emulate. That will help you decide what pedal to get. A common habit that most do with their pedals is to put the drive up to 10 and adjust the volume and tone to compliment against the bypass. With your existing pedal try backing off of the gain some and give that a whirl. Outside of that, what sound are you looking for?
Click to expand...

But putting the drive up to 10 is so fun :grin:
 
Chad said:
But putting the drive up to 10 is so fun :grin:
Click to expand...

When I first started it was because is the way that I thought they all should be used.

Then I found the 12-1 o'clock setting and oh the clarity of the drives really came out. To get the effect of the drive on 10 I started to cascade the drives and found that my overdrive/distortion tones had more character, control and best of all tone. This gave me real control on the colors of the drive I use for my rhythm crunch/drives where it is just enough and not over bearing - hence my use of multiple drives.

To get the effect of 10 you desire, click them all on during a solo, just make sure that you know how to control it :baimun:
 
Modern Saint said:
When I first started it was because is the way that I thought they all should be used.

Then I found the 12-1 o'clock setting and oh the clarity of the drives really came out. To get the effect of the drive on 10 I started to cascade the drives and found that my overdrive/distortion tones had more character, control and best of all tone. This gave me real control on the colors of the drive I use for my rhythm crunch/drives where it is just enough and not over bearing - hence my use of multiple drives.

To get the effect of 10 you desire, click them all on during a solo, just make sure that you know how to control it :baimun:
Click to expand...

If you remember my board from Pragestock 2 years ago, you know I do the same thing. That board had 3 drives and I cascade them.
 
Chad said:
If you remember my board from Pragestock 2 years ago, you know I do the same thing. That board had 3 drives and I cascade them.
Click to expand...

Yes I remember. I loved playing through your rig because it is closer to the sounds the I use. Also, your pedals weren't on 10 when I used them :grin:

I am really shocked that you let your clon klone go but you did sell the amp as well. Those two were such a great combo but then again may not have been the sound you were looking for.
 
Modern Saint said:
Yes I remember. I loved playing through your rig because it is closer to the sounds the I use. Also, your pedals weren't on 10 when I used them :grin:

I am really shocked that you let your clon klone go but you did sell the amp as well. Those two were such a great combo but then again may not have been the sound you were looking for.
Click to expand...

Well, I didn't "sell" the amp, it went up to PA as part of a trade for a certain guitar. :grin:

The clone was nothing special, it sounds great and if I ever want another, I can grab one. The guy is just over the bridge from me in MD so they aren't hard to get. I don't get too attached to gear or a certain sound, I like mixing it up and seeing what I can come up with.
 
Chad said:
Well, I didn't "sell" the amp, it went up to PA as part of a trade for a certain guitar. :grin:
Click to expand...

Ahhh got it!!!

Chad said:
The clone was nothing special, it sounds great and if I ever want another, I can grab one. The guy is just over the bridge from me in MD so they aren't hard to get. I don't get too attached to gear or a certain sound, I like mixing it up and seeing what I can come up with.
Click to expand...

You are a Mark Wein disciple :mmad:
 
Hmm need to probably clarify that this is a bedroom condition so the suggestion about putting the drive to 10 might not work because it's a relatively low volume condition. I rarely (and only if there isn't anyone else home) even run the amp in the 15W mode, it's usually in the 5W and the volume for the OD (red) channel is at 9 or slightly less. And even then I get complaints :mad: I'll try the drive thing but I might already be doing that since I have the gain on the CC dimed I think. I could try using the TOD that I have and dime that as well

As far as what sound specifically...that also a bit hard to define. I like to play a lot of different stuff and while I'm not looking to get to really high gain stuff (I don't know this music well maybe Avenged Sevenfold :shrug:) I do find it hard to play something with as much gain as say... Knights of Cydonia with my current rig. I can manage but I have to use all the gain I can muster and that seems to be barely enough. I'm not sure if that is considered that much gain but I can't think of any other song specifically right now. Basically it sounds to my ears that the amp gives me about the same gain as the pedal so other than a bit noisier and harsher the pedal doesn't add that much that the amp doesn't already do. If I running a clean channel and want a higher gain part like a lead, I would either use the OD channel or the fuzz pedal typically. Not sure if that makes sense ...no coffee yet this morning :grin:
 
sunvalleylaw said:
When I get back to a computer tonight I will answer more fully but the rat clone from BYOC is excellent and can be built out wit a ton of adjustable options.
Click to expand...
Curious as to why it costs considerably more than an actual RAT...

ETA: I see that it has different clipping options, so that's cool. Still a little weird to me though.
 
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Guitar Heel said:
Curious as to why it costs considerably more than an actual RAT...
Click to expand...
My guess is the flexibility.

"The BYOC mouse kit has a 6-way clipping rotary switch that makes it one of the most versatile overdrive/distortion pedals around. Position 1: "Vintage" Symmetrical Distortion Position 2: "Turbo" Distortion Position 3: Asymmetrical Distortion Position 4: Symmetrical O.D. Position 5: Asymmetrical O.D. Position 6: MOSFET O.D. And the BYOC Mouse kit comes with a real LM308 chip just like the original big box RATs, not some "work-a-like" chip, so it has the vintage tone you'd expect."

Mine (which I bought pre-built) has a couple of the positions replaced with LED's rather than pretty much silicon.

"First, with four of the available stock clipping modes based upon silicon diode combinations, I opted for a little more variety. So I substituted a pair of red LED's for the asymmetic silicons on the distortion circuit, and replaced the symmetric silicon diodes with a pair of J01 JFETs on the overdrive portion of the circuit. This widens the variety of tones available and gives a choice of silicon diode, LED and FET signal clipping on both sides of the 6-way switch."

I end up using the red LED position a lot. It is a fatter, maybe louder tone. But I like the regular RAT one a lot too. So I am thinking it is because of the 6 position clipping options.
 
sunvalleylaw said:
My guess is the flexibility.

"The BYOC mouse kit has a 6-way clipping rotary switch that makes it one of the most versatile overdrive/distortion pedals around. Position 1: "Vintage" Symmetrical Distortion Position 2: "Turbo" Distortion Position 3: Asymmetrical Distortion Position 4: Symmetrical O.D. Position 5: Asymmetrical O.D. Position 6: MOSFET O.D. And the BYOC Mouse kit comes with a real LM308 chip just like the original big box RATs, not some "work-a-like" chip, so it has the vintage tone you'd expect."

Mine (which I bought pre-built) has a couple of the positions replaced with LED's rather than pretty much silicon.

"First, with four of the available stock clipping modes based upon silicon diode combinations, I opted for a little more variety. So I substituted a pair of red LED's for the asymmetic silicons on the distortion circuit, and replaced the symmetric silicon diodes with a pair of J01 JFETs on the overdrive portion of the circuit. This widens the variety of tones available and gives a choice of silicon diode, LED and FET signal clipping on both sides of the 6-way switch."

I end up using the red LED position a lot. It is a fatter, maybe louder tone. But I like the regular RAT one a lot too. So I am thinking it is because of the 6 position clipping options.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I had edited my post. That's pretty neat, actually. I wonder if I could actually put it together.
 
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