Re: The Official "Look at this pedal I made" Thread
The more/less switch removes a resistor from the circuit, giving it a gain boost. But, with the resistor out, it also means that minimum gain on the gain pot is more gain than it normally is, which already, is not very clean. So i added it as a switch so that i could decide which way i liked better. Actually, i am probably going to get rid of the switch now that i have been using it for a few days. I usually just leave it on the "more" setting.
The footswitch is kind of a slicktrickery. It is not actually a real boost. Rather, it changes up how the gain pot is wired, switching it from wherever it is set, to a spot where it is as if the gain pot is at zero. This is because i realized that after some of the other changes that i made, i now like the lowest gain setting on the thing. Before it was quite dull and lousy, now it is actually useful. BUT, the main thing this will be set at is max gain, as that is the thing that is best about this pedal. So i figgered out a way to just switch the pot wiring with the footswitch, to go from minimum to maximum(or whatever the pot is pointing at) rightquick. The bodge is an interesting mixture of clever, and ghetto, so i am quite a fan of it. There is a volume bump from low to high gain, but it actually works for what i need with the bump, so i haven't done anything to counteract it.
The High/Low switch controls a filter that is on the end of the circuit. The Low position is the stock Shredmaster one, which is really pretty dark, but has a nice character to it. The High setting is much brighter and gives the gain structure an angry edge to it that is also nice. It also makes the low gain settings a bit more sparkly.
I actually have a whole pile of other things that i am going to do to the Shredmaster circuit, but i will probably build them from scratch as a new pedal rather than mod this one any more. What i have drawn up should allow the one circuit to do the whole classic Marshall pedal triumvirate: The Shredmaster, The Guv'nor, and the Bluesbreaker, and then also some of the boutiquey takes on those, like elements of the Analogman KOT, and the Suhr Riot.
The schematic i have drawn up looks ridiculous though, and i am going to have to decide how much of each circuit i really want in there. At the very least, i am going to try to do all of the stock original Marshall pedals in one.
Because this is the kind of thing that i do when i get bored.