Build Your Own Clone Message Board

Hello all,

For those not familiar the Clay Jones Overdrive, or CJOD, was a small production limited to roughly 50 pedals and sold on a first come, first serve basis to folks over at The Gear Page several years ago. Much hype followed and drove the resale value on these pedals to at least $1,200 for a while (they've been selling for less these days but still bringing over $900 recently). Recently a builder has introduced a CJOD clone, the BlackmarketFX BMOD. Several CJOD owners have A/B'd the two side by side and have all concurred that it is at the very least a sonic clone of the CJOD. Just within the last several days someone has degooped a BMOD and found it to be a part for part clone of a Landgraff DO with 5mm red LED's for clippers and a Burr Brown OPA 2134PA dual op-amp instead of a JRC4558D. I used to own a CJOD and used it regularly for several years before selling it (it's growing resale value trumped its usefulness as an OD pedal). Since I have a L'DO clone and a BB OPA2134PA IC both on hand I decided to give this a go. I swapped the 3mm red LED's I'd used for my L'DO clone for a pair of 5mm red LED's and replaced the JRC4558 with the OPA2134. No question - it sounds and responds just like the CJOD that I used to own.

So for those interested in building a CJOD clone here's what's needed:

Start with a TS808 clone kit.
Apply the Landgraff DO mods as detailed for the BYOC kit here: http://www.buildyourownclone.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=8650
(these instructions were adapted from details provided on page 5 of this TGP thread): http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=324190&page=5&highlight=fudd

Use 5mm red LED's for the LED clipping mode.

Swap the JRC4558D dual op-amp for a Burr Brown OPA2134PA dual op-amp IC (available for purchase here: http://www.smallbearelec.com/Categories.bok?category=ICs+-+Op-Amps+and+Linear&searchpath=2629&start=41&total=64 ).

That's it! Enjoy

sweet business, dude!

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safe? who said anything about safe? of course He isn't safe! but He's good. He's the king i tell you!

Awesome - thanks for posting!!

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This is interesting...this means that I've built and sold a handful of CJODs and didn't even know it.

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Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important - C.S. Lewis

Sweet. I've been extremely surprised at the selling value of some of my builds too. Sounds like I've built a few CJODs and didn't know it either.

As far as the Burr Brown, I love it! Recently, GC had BOSS Super ODs on sale for $40. I bought one and did the Monte Allums SD808 mod, and I must say, it's now one of the sweetest ODs I currently own. Especially with the Burr Brown chip in it. The clippers I got for it sound pretty damn good too, but I think I going to go my usual route and swap in some red 5mm LEDs for the clippers. The thing I like about the 5mm's is the fact that they don't compress the signal nearly as much as N914s, 4001s, 1N34As...etc... The volume drop that occurs between the diode lift switch position and the LEDs is very minimal. They just add a sweet amount of grit and midrange to the dirt

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Keep 'yer tips tinned, 'yer sponges wet, and TELL THEM KIDS TO SHUT THE HELL UP!!!

I also like the decay of the clipping with the 5mm red LED's as the signal level drops.

i just don't like the flubby bass with LED's...

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safe? who said anything about safe? of course He isn't safe! but He's good. He's the king i tell you!

I thought some might find a clip of this pedal in use interesting so I threw one together just now. Here's a clip of that pedal over a blues backing track:

http://home.centurytel.net/flanneldrawers/Pedal-demos/CJOD-clone/CJOD-clone.mp3

I started with the guitar volume backed off a bit and turned it up to full somewhere around 45 seconds.

Pedal settings: Volume at 8:30, Tone at 2:00 o'clock, Gain at full.

Amp volume was set relatively low so as not to bother my favorite people who were watching TV downstairs while I was recording.

Guitar used: USACG homebrew strat, trem bridge, Lindy Fralin Unbucker PAF bridge pickup.

Amp used: Fuchs ODS-50 SLX 1x12 combo loaded w/ an EVM-12L speaker.

Mic used: Shure SM-57

Mic pre is a DBX silver series, recorded at 24bit/48KHz in Sonar7, no processing (reverb from amp, delay from Boss SE-70 in amps effects loop), resampled down to CD quality MP3 in Sound Forge 9.

Guitar playing is my fault.

SWEET clip Deaj!!!

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Dude, excellent clip. If I build a CJOD clone will I sound that good?

No? Oh...I'll still sound crappy?...oh...ok...

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Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important - C.S. Lewis

Thanks guys!

Great post and great clip! You got the blues man!
BTW, I think that smallbear has those opamps for half the price at http://www.smallbearelec.com/Categories.bok?category=ICs+-+Op-Amps+and+Linear&searchpath=2629&start=41&total=64

Does it matter what type of 5mm red led? Standard, low current etc?

Tried the FAt switch with the CJOD? Should be killer as it's kind of bright

The fat switch works really well with the CJOD setup. The LED's I use are diffused red 5mm LED's with a forward voltage of 1.5v.

TI bought Burr Brown. So the TI's are the Burr Browns now. Used to be that you could buy the "TI" version from mouser and they still said "BB" on them. Cheap too. Looks to still be that way too, since if you pull up the OPA2134PA data sheet on mouser, it brings up the original Burr Brown data sheet. I don't know if they are from a new foundry, the old foundry, or if it's just old stock though.

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*patience is a virtue*

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

Great clip Deaj!

I just finished this project .....and I'm sorry to say mine sounds nothing like your clip....

Don't get me wrong...it sounds good .....it just sounds NOTHING like that.....

Just goes to show tone is in the fingers......

I just finished this pedal today with a fat boost switch and a Ts808-clean-Red LED switch like the instructions for the landgraff mods.

I like it a heck of a lot but the only problem is the LED setting just seems to lack a lot of gain. the Ts808 spec is nice and creamy with lots of dynamics but then switching to the LED settings its like the clean boost but with a bit of dirt. I was hoping it would be a bit more saturated. It doesn't sound much like the clip that was posted, the ts808 setting sounds closer.

As far as I can tell I did everything correctly so I don't know if this is normal for LED's or not. Maybe the type of red led I got is wrong? I know mine is diffused according to mouser so could this be why?

Like I said the ts808 setting is awesome, sounds quite similar to my box of rock in a way. with better string definition.

It also seems to clean up with the guitar volume a lot. Maybe almost too good.

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Gear Demos
http://youtube.com/martys13

hi, the thing with the leds is this, they do give a great amount of gain (well above standard diodes) but you need to turn the volume down and gain around 2 o clock this is because leds provide a massive volume boost and so you tend to reach the limits of your hearing before getting into gain territory.

Another great post deserves a sticky or at least a link from the full list of mods thread.

I had the drive on full. I did play around with the volume but didn't notice more gain than the standard diodes. It was definitely cleaner.

Maybe I'll look over my board and see if I put a wrong value somewhere.

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Gear Demos
http://youtube.com/martys13

I have been thinking maybe its the way I put the LED's on the switch? Looking at the diagram in the instructions it looked like both LED's were reverse of each other. i.e. the anode leg was attached to the other LED's cathode leg and visa versa with one end connected to a lug on the switch and the other going to the board along with the leads from the other diodes. Is this correct or should the LED's have been orientated the same direction?

Also would diffused vs. non diffused have a significant impact on sound along with forward voltage?

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Gear Demos
http://youtube.com/martys13

So I was looking over my build and I realised I put a 470ohm in the 4.7m spot. Fixed that up and HOLY SHIT.

Before I said there wasn't much gain...now its a gain machine!! With the LED's and drive on full its almost like a hot rodded JCM800. Almost shreddy. I can get some great bluesy tones out of it though. Very awesome pedal.

This one was going to a friend but I think I will build one for myself too.

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Gear Demos
http://youtube.com/martys13