Build Your Own Clone Message Board

There are lots of overdrives I like and enjoy, but I keep coming back to the Boss OD-3. BYOC already offers the "parent" of the OD-3, the Blue Overdrive (BD-2 clone). My understanding is the OD-3 is essentially an evolution of some of the design ideas in the BD-2. To my knowledge, the topology of the BD-2 and OD-3 are fairly unique in the crowded overdrive stompbox world (specifically, the use of differentials or essentially discrete op-amps).

I actually thought to do this myself, as the OD-3 schematic is readily available on the web. The problem I ran into is that all the transistors used in the OD-3 are not readily available, current production parts. I started to search for equivalent parts, but wasn't able to find obvious drop-in replacements. So I think the challenge is for someone with actual circuit building experience to figure out what characteristics are most important for the transistors used in the OD-3 circuit, and find acceptable substitutes. Depending on what's available, I suspect other parts of the circuit may need to be tweaked to accommodate the replacement components.

I personally think the OD-3 is nearly perfect, though there I times I think a bass trim pot would be nice (like the Timmy, or Aion's Nobels ODR-1 clone).

Anyway, just throwing it out there!

I can't make a kit for something that sells new for $99 and doesn't have any sort of vintage mojo mystique around it or isn't something that people want to modify. People just aren't going to want to build an OD-3. Maybe if someone records a song with it that makes it famous, or people start sending them out to have $100 worth of mods done to it, then I'll consider it.

The OD-3 really isn't anything at all like the BD-2 other than the one clipping stage. You don't need to use the exact same part #'s. You can use 2N5457 for the JFETs, 2N5088 for the NPN BJTs, and 2N5087 for the PNP BJTs. Just about any dual op amp will work in there as well.

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*patience is a virtue*

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

Understood, just thought I'd throw it out there!




Thank you! I'll work on hacking up a PCB with these part substitutions, see how it goes.

Thanks again!