HNPD! — JHS Charlie Brown v4

dmn23

dmn23

Duller than cardboard
It just arrived so I've had maybe five minutes to plug in and mess with it. I'll spend some more time with it this evening.

A few quick observations:

1. I don't know squat about pedals or circuit design but this sounds eerily similar to the Barber LTD that's already on my board. It's just ever-so-slightly more Marshally.

2. There's not a crap-ton of gain. I mean it's there and it gets all hairy with a nice grind to it but it's not crazy. That's a good thing. I suspect the Angry Charlie exists for JCM 800 fans.

3. There's not a ton of volume in the way that, say, a BB preamp has 20db on tap just by turning the knob. It's not a criticism, just an observation.

4. Same story with the EQ — you're not getting huge volume swings or even super wide tonal adjustments. Again, this isn't a bad thing. The Charlie Brown sounds great to begin with.

5. I don't care what scandalous whispers have followed Josh. Or at least I don't think I care. I mean the guy's not setting puppies on fire, is he? I only just started watching his videos within the last year and he seems like a decent guy and he's quick to recommend products from other manufacturers. It's been educational.

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I'm thankful that I've never really gotten sucked into the vortex of buying OD pedals. I've had that LTD on my board since 2006 and it just sounds really, really good. The Charlie seems like a well-matched compliment to the LTD and between the two of them I could probably never buy another overdrive and I'd be just fine.
 
Interesting. I'm not exactly rocking a fine-tuned pair of golden ears over here but they're definitely similar in character.

@Help!I'maRock! , do you know if the LTD a clone of any particular circuit, or in the same ballpark, zip code, etc. as some other well established design?
 
dmn23 said:
Interesting. I'm not exactly rocking a fine-tuned pair of golden ears over here but they're definitely similar in character.

@Help!I'maRock! , do you know if the LTD a clone of any particular circuit, or in the same ballpark, zip code, etc. as some other well established design?
Click to expand...

David Barber is one of those builders who just makes things sound good. The LTD is an op-amp overdrive. Some other op-amp overdrives are the BOSS SD-1, Ibanez Tube Screamer, and the Paul Cochrane Timmy.

The Marshall Bluesbreaker is a JTM 45 circuit. Then there's the Marshall Bluesbreaker pedal, which what the Analogman King of Tone is based on. They're supposed to be the same, but they're not (and I changed the schematic above when I found the right circuit).

You should get a more "direct" feel out of the JHS compared to the Barber. But that doesn't mean they won't sound similar. Personally, I don't like either. I think they sound mushy. I like hard clipping distortions with variable gain ranges. That's what nearly all of my dirt pedals are based on.
 
Alright, say my budget is $150 and I'm totally fine with buying used. How would you spend that money?
 
Point me in a direction. Here's what I own:

Barber Small Fry
Boss SD-1
Barber LTD Silver
Catalinbread WIIO
Barber Direct Drive
Fulltone LCD
A homemade Klon thing of some sort
JHS Charlie Brown
 
I don't think I'm after a particular sound as much as I'd just like to educate myself about what certain common go-to tones (Bluesbreaker, TS, Klon, etc.) tones actually sound like. I mean, I've never owned or played through a Tube Screamer or a DS-1, you know? You like hard clipping distortions with variable gain ranges. Great. Recommend one of those so I can get a sense of what you're talking about.
 
dmn23 said:
I don't think I'm after a particular sound as much as I'd just like to educate myself about what certain common go-to tones (Bluesbreaker, TS, Klon, etc.) tones actually sound like. I mean, I've never owned or played through a Tube Screamer or a DS-1, you know? You like hard clipping distortions with variable gain ranges. Great. Recommend one of those so I can get a sense of what you're talking about.
Click to expand...

The Boss SD-1 is an asymmetrical clipping overdrive. The distortion is created in the feedback loop of the op-amp, with diodes. It is derived from the BOSS OD-1 which only had gain and volume knobs. After seeing it's success, Ibanez released the Tube Screamer. It's the same circuit, but with symmetrical clipping and a tone knob. So BOSS discontinued the OD-1, added a tone knob, and called it the SD-1.

The DS-1 is an op-amp distortion with silicon diodes after the op-amp instead of the feedback loop, and a tone knob (though it originally came with a "preamplifier" instead of an op-amp). The first op-amp distortion was the MXR Distortion +. It had no tone knob, and used an LM741 op-amp with germanium diodes. The second op-amp distortion was the DOD 250. It used the same LM741 op-amp, but with silicon diodes. The RAT and DS-1 came out around the same time. They both have tone knobs but have different op-amps, which have changed over the years. And the RAT's tone knob is a low pass filter (I forget about the DS-1)

The Klon is kind of a DOD 250 with a clean mix that runs at 18 volts for higher headroom. So it sounds like an overdrive but clips like an op-amp distortion.

The Fulltone OCD is the newest iteration of the op-amp distortion. It's a great sounding pedal. I'm just not a fan of Mike Fuller.

So you should just play what you have. If it sounds good, it is good.
 
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