27.8.10

MONA LISA OVERDRIVE

alright, here is my latest offering to the faceless electronic gods of the global interweb.  it's called the Mona Lisa Overdrive after everyone's favorite cyberpunk masterpiece, and dystopian premonition written by William Gibson.  if you haven't heard of  it, check it out!  anyway, on to the the goods- 

i thought i would build something that would turn on the guys that were into the lighter side of things- something different than my usual wall of fuzz tones.  with the MLOD, you can get a heavy boost, or a light overdrive reminiscent of vintage microphone preamps.  the fancy thing about this circuit is the lack of coupling caps in the audio path- something usually reserved for mic pres and hifi circuits.  this lends itself to the "transparent",  uncolored sound happening here.  if you encounter any oscillation at the highest gain settings, simply raise the value of the 100 ohm resistor near the gain control to lower the amount of maximum gain. 

as always, if anyone happens to put this on the breadboard, or if it sounds like something you might want to build, let me know, and i'll whip up a layout for it.

take it easy!
at

12 comments:

  1. Mel x29.8.10

    sounds like fun, a vero layout would be appreciated.. if you don't have time I'll send the schem over to IvIark to do one for me!

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  2. RNFR19.9.10

    hey yeah, sorry i don't really have time to do a vero for this thing right now. if IvIark does one, let me know and i'll post up a link.

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  3. Anonymous21.9.10

    Hey, what are the Qs and diode?

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  4. RnFR29.9.10

    I believe I used j309s for the fêts, 2n5210 for the npn, and pn2907 for the pnp. feel free to try others though. if you have oscillation, increase the 47p cap, or the max gain resistor. use any diode, it is there fo polarity protection.

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  5. Anonymous28.1.11

    Good day! I apologize for my English. I'm from Russia. Build your overdrive. Used j201, 2n2222, 2n2907 and 2n5458. I want to thank you for the scheme. Great sound! Previously collected your panzerfuzz. In Russia, the guitar forums, are often discussed your scheme. I wish you further success! People need to like you.
    All the best!
    Dmitry. Rassia.

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    Replies
    1. Francisco4.12.15

      somebody have a demo? :D

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    2. RnFR22.12.20

      Awesome. Thanks Dmitry! That means a lot. Hope all is well in Mother Russia!

      Delete
    3. RnFR22.12.20

      Thanks Dmitry! That means a lot. Hope all is well in Mother Russia!

      Delete
    4. Anonymous21.4.24

      Thanks again Dmitry. Hope you and Russia are well. Stay safe in this crazy world!

      Delete
  6. bap29.12.21

    Howdy RnFR! Do you have any advice for using germanium transistors instead of the silicon ones? I have some Russian UFOs that'd be perfect. Thanks in advance!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous21.4.24

      Yeah just throw some trimmers between power and the transistor and tweak to taste!

      Delete
  7. Anonymous18.1.23

    Bap - you'd have to change all the bias resistor values, and you'd find that it hisses and doesn't sound significantly different from the version presented here.

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