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ok... I've thoroughly searched the past threads and other people have had this problem, and it seems to be a common problem. My OD2 works swimmingly in all different modes, except for the fact that the volume is way too loud; even with the gain half-way I can only have my OD level at around 25%.

my question to all of those who are pretty sure they built it right is this: did this happen to you? or did I screw it up? everything else seems to work fine, it sounds great...

if this is just the way that the pedal is, is there a (relatively easy) mod that I could apply to squash the output just a little?

thanks!

I built my OD2 to standard TS808 specs with the MOSFET boost section.

_________________
William S. Marsh
guitarist - composer - educator
http://www.wmarshmusic.com

oops, sorry. here are more details:

louder trimmer: set just low enough so that there is no hiss when the tone knob is cranked (sorry I need to get a multimeter...). it's essentially almost all the way down.
min trimmer: halfway
max trimmer: halfway

_________________
William S. Marsh
guitarist - composer - educator
http://www.wmarshmusic.com

the same thing happened to me and one other person. I have mine built completely MOSFET, but that is the only difference.

I've got the same problem too. I've built mine to standard specs, except for some tweaks in the clipping section. Using Burr Brown opamp too.

My problem seem be the same as yours, as in I can barely crack the drive and level knobs past minimum before the pedal is way louder than my clean signal, which means I've got not chance of level matching my clean and driven tone.

I've gone through the circuit again and can't find anything that seems to be wrong. The pedal works fine apart from that and does sound really good. I'll go through it again when I've got time off from uni, as I'm a bit busy at the moment and haven't had a time to probe through the circuit.

The only thing is that I've always thought you used log (or audio) pots for level controls, like the boost side does, but the OD side seems to have a linear pot for the level.

Please do post back if you find a solution, this has been doing my head in as I can't find anything wrong!!!

Looks like similar settings to what I'm running too. I'm tempted to remove the trimmer pot and just solder in a resistor of the correct valve, as per the TS808 stock specs, which I think is around 1k. I really don't need the pedal to be any louder than a stock TS808, so might as well fix it to stock specs.

Don't think it will fix my problem though, but at least it's eliminating one possibility.

Since this has now come up several times, I'm checking with "the big guy" on what he would recommend. I suspect this behavior can be cured with a single resistor change, but I'm no circuit expert by a long shot and would like to hear it from Keith. Don't want to cure one problem and create a new one!

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

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

I think you could be right, but that would beg the question, "why are some pedals showing this problem while others (the majority) are fine??"

Thanks a lot for checking with Keith, really appreciate it.

I'll try and troubleshoot my pedal again, just in case it's something I've done wrong.

I'm not sure that this is true at all. I've built 4 of them now, and unity volume at 50% gain has been at or just below 9 o'clock on the Level knob on all of them, with the Louder trimpot set as close to 1K as I can get it. I think it's just a matter of most people not really considering this behavior a problem. It's really more of a convenience/operability issue than a "problem", per se. I certainly haven't had any problem using the pedal--the Level control is just touchier than I'd like, that far down in it's dynamic range.

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

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

that's exactly where I'm at as well. I remember with my old TS9 I could have both level and OD at 50% and have a comparable dynamic between my clean and my overdrive tone. thanks for checking with Keith, your help is much appreciated!

_________________
William S. Marsh
guitarist - composer - educator
http://www.wmarshmusic.com

Same with my build, all MOSFET plus Ge diodes in the second clipping section. 9 o'clock = unity, +/-

I don't see it as a problem.

Mike

Heard back from Keith--his suggestion: use an audio taper pot for the OD level, rather than the stock linear 100K. Great idea that I'm embarrassed to say never even occurred to me! Gives you the better control on the low side without sacrificing the overall range. Now we know why he's the boss and we're buying the pedals from him....

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

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

My unity gain is around 11-12:00. When I started to build mine, I was testing some of the resistors and wasn't finding there values totally accurate. Although my meter is not digital and some were impossible to read, at the highest resistance levels. Is it possible that there is a particular resistor that could of been produced wrong, mislabled?

Almost assuredly not. Resistors all have a tolerance; the blue ones vary by 1%, the tan ones by 5% and some carbon comps by lots more than that. If my maths are right, 1% of 1M is 10K - that's a lot of variance!

This component tolerance is sometimes thought to be why one pedal sounds GOLDEN and another from the same year, same batch sounds like CRAP...most circuits, though, take this tolreance into consideration and have adjustable components where needed, for e.g.

so will that solve the volume problem or just change the tone?

I made the change to an A100K audio taper pot for the OD Level control in my own OD2 last night, and it really improves the volume control. With the Drive control at 50%, this moved the unity volume point up around 11 - 11:30 on the Level knob, and it's much less sensitive to small changes in that range. So if you don't like the stock volume control on your OD2, try this change. Highly recommended.

I'll pass this along to Keith and see if he wants to consider changing the kit part to the audio taper version.

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

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

Usually people never complain about having too much volume from their dirt pedals. Usually it's the other way round. And it's not that the pedal is too loud, it's just that the taper of the knob doesn't feel right. Same thing with the tone knob on the RAT circuit. Changin the taper of the pot doesn't affect anything other than the feel when you turn the knob.

Linear taper was used in the original 808, but if the people want audio taper, then that's what we'll give them.

_________________
*patience is a virtue*

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

awesome, thanks for the help guys!

one more thing, is there a good place to order an A100k audio taper pot with those little nipples sticking off the end of the lugs (like the ones in the kit)? or should I just use short wires to connect the pcb to the pot?

_________________
William S. Marsh
guitarist - composer - educator
http://www.wmarshmusic.com

Smallbear sells the PCB style pots. Or you can get the solder lug style from a lot of different places and just use wire. Or solder some lead clippings or bare buss wire to it and make your own PC mount pots.

_________________
*patience is a virtue*

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

Small Bear is backordered on the A100K PC-mount pots at the moment. But as Keith says, it's very easy to fabricate your own using regular solder-lug pots. Just solder a clipped lead or piece of buss wire about 3/4" long through each lug eyelet, then bend them up 90 degrees, parallel to the axis of the pot shaft. Works like a charm....

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

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

Hello all, just to say I have the same "problem" and this post and forum have been very reassuring. I'd consider getting the audio taper pot at some point but mainly I'm just glad this shows I didn't make a mistake with my first build as I had feared!

I have one other quick question; does the stock tube screamer use silicon clipping, and would this imply that to get stock settings on a normal OD2 you would want the EQ switch in the middle position and the clipping switch set to the left position? As well as the JRC chip and internal max/min trimmers set to half-way.

Thanks!

Correct. And keep the Louder trimpot way down; if you have a multimeter handy, set it as close to the 1 Kohm stock TS value as possible, though you won't be able to get fine control on a 50K trimpot.

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

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

I just swapped out the OD level pot for an audio (log) pot and what a difference it made!!!

I think another thing that could be causing grief is the louder trim pot. I noticed when I had my meter on it, that at the lowest range it would be in the several hundred ohm range, then suddenly with the tinniest of increments it would jump to 3-4kOhm, which is 3-4 times the value of the stock TS808 of 1kOhm. Following the instructions of setting it "just shy of counter-clockwise" seemed to always land me at a setting well over 3kOhm, which is probably one of the reasons lots of people are ending up with pedals that seem excessively loud compared to what they are used to. Even with the meter on it, it's very hard to get it to a value of 1kOhm.

The audio taper pot is definitely a must in my books though, as it gives the pedal a lot more control over the overdrive level.

i just replaced the OD level pot with an audio 100K, plugged it in...and it seems to have done little to nothing. i'm now back where i started...

How are your trimpots set?

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

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

louder: just above as low as it can go
min: ~half
max: ~3/4