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I recently purchased a Ceriatone 2204 because I am into 80s hard rock and hair metal and everyone says the SD-1 is the pedal for this amp and that style. It definitely is the right pedal for this amp. Sounds great.

But, I recently purchased and built the Green Pony because it looked like a good all around pedal for what I do with my amp. I wasn't wrong . Last night for the first time I compared the SD-1 to the Green Pony and I love them both but the GP just has some extra magic to it. Is that because of the design or the custom picked parts? Or maybe it is just a different tone for the front of the amp.. or it could be the charge pump that is increasing the voltage?

Just curious because I am ready to pick another pedal to build and want it to have the same magic with a different tone. Do all BYOC pedals just sound better than manufactured ones?

The SD-1 and the Green Pony (based upon the Maxon OD-820) are both modifications of the venerable Tube Screamer overdrive circuit. What makes the GP different--and I suspect is the reason why it sounds so good to you--is that it has a "dry blend" built into the circuit via that dual gang Drive pot. At full CCW, it's basically just passing on your unprocessed guitar signal, albeit buffered and amplified. As you turn the Drive pot CW, it blends in an increasing amount of overdriven signal until at full CW, it's all overdriven signal.

As far as what to build next, my first suggestion would be the Crown Jewel because of it's exceptional versatility. Rather than trying to describe all of the details here, just refer to the write-up on the product page: https://buildyourownclone.com/collectio ... rown-jewel

It is, however, quite a bit more challenging of a build, so you need to decide if you're ready for that step up. I'd read through the CJ instructions to get an idea of that.

Another way to go would be to go up another step or two in gain, to a distortion or fuzz pedal. BYOC offers several of each, so read through the product page descriptions, check out YouTube for demo videos, and feel free to post questions here in the forum.


Keith would probably love it if I answered, "Yes, absolutely!", but that's really not so. But the BYOC kits are unsurpassed as far as their PCB design and component & hardware quality go, and you really can't beat a well constructed handmade pedal for reliability.

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“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

The OD-820 is, for all intents and purposes, the same as the SD-1 or TubeScreamer, with 3 exceptions. You may see some different component values such as R8, C4/5 (in parallel for "norm" mode) and VR1b. But 2k2, .1uF, and B250k, produce the exact same gain and roll off frequency as the more typical 4k7, .047uF, and A500k you'd find in most TS-based circuits.

The first real difference, as duhvoodooman has already pointed out, is the dry blend. The second difference is that the OD-820 uses an JFET input buffer more akin to the BOSS FA-1 FET Amp. The 3rd difference is that instead of using an emitter follower transistor-based output buffer like you would find in the typical TubeScreamer-based circuit, the OD-820 uses IC1b as an inverting op amp-based "clean" boost, to not just recover volume loss from the blend circuit, but also give it a boost, which is more akin to the Klon Centaur. If it wasn't for this bit of circuit, neither the Centaur or OD-820 would require a charge pump.

Oh....and that reminds me that there is a 4th difference as well. The OD-820 is a +/-9V bipolar circuit. The differential would be the same as plugging a +18V power supply into your SD-1, which would have an effect on the clipping and headroom. Hmmm....I've always said the OD-820 is pretty much just a TubeScreamer with a dry blend, but I guess if you really think about it, that would be a little overly reductive.

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*patience is a virtue*

Please do not PM me. email is prefered. keith@buildyourownclone.com

To me the difference is huge compared to my SD-1. It really makes the 2204 sound great and I'm looking forward to getting more kits and building them to see how they make my amp sound.

I put a Crown Jewel in my Shopping cart and the price is $114.90 but the description says $124.99? Is it because I need to add the boost module? I was thinking the description said it automatically comes with the LPB. What module would be best for a 2204 80's hair metal player?

$124.99 is for the complete kit (with LPB module) with painted enclosure. We are out of those. We only have bare enclosures.

_________________
*patience is a virtue*

Please do not PM me. email is prefered. keith@buildyourownclone.com

I see.. thank you