Which DIY Pedal Nearest To Sparkle Drive?

Which of the diy pedals would you say was nearest to the Sparkle Drive? I know the blend control makes that pedal more versatile.......
Vikki:wink:

Well, it's my understanding that the Sparkle Drive is pretty much a tubescreamer circuit with a blend knob. I think that could be rigged up pretty easily, though an input buffer might help out a little with the parallel signal paths.

You could probably find Sparkledrive schematics out there pretty easily.

Well, it's my understanding that the Sparkle Drive is pretty much a tubescreamer circuit with a blend knob.

Yes sir.

So pick the TS flavor of your liking (tweaked version, or original recipe), and add an active clean circuit in parallel, with a summing pot at the end of the circuit (a linear pot similar to the tone circuit in a big muff). I think that a Timmy might be a really neat-o choice, but that's just me.

...If you're going to DIY it, why not pick the "clean" circuit of your choice? No need to stick to an op amp circuit - you could use a mu amp type circuit, a single mosfet (a la SHO), or just a regular bjt (a la LPB-1). You obviously wouldn't need to blend in 25+dB of clean, so you should rebias this circuit appropriately.

...And it would be double cool if you got a dual ganged pot, so that you could control the blend at the beginning and end of the circuit, which would probably sound/work even better.

A DIY SD is a really cool idea. I may just have to build one myself.:lol:

Heck, you could just build a clean boost with the blend circuit and a loop to insert whatever dirt pedal you wanted.

I guess you'd essentially be building a parallel FX mixer with a nice active "dry" side.

O.K. Thanks....
Found this......

http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main.php/v/MarkMs-Gallery/album15/album76/SparkleDrive_LAYOUT.gif.html

To keep things together, Sparkle Drive schematic.......not sure if the circuit matches this pcb?

http://home.hetnet.nl/~chrisdus/download/VLSD.jpg

Not much info but i think i'll have a try at building it, perhaps on strip board.
Vikki:wink:

Looks like a usable layout - too bad it doesn't show the exact schematic it intends to implement. They really belong together.

That circuit description sounds like a variation of the PAIA Axe Grinder, also a very tweekable circuit.

Is it o.k. to post this? I'll remove it if not:oops:

http://home.hetnet.nl/~chrisdus/download/VLSD.jpg

Haven't checked if it matches the pcb.....

Vikki:wink:

I guess you'd essentially be building a parallel FX mixer with a nice active "dry" side.

I believe that is more or less what one of the new Way Huge is - a mixing board circuit coupled with a tweaked dirt box circuit.

It's amazing that there aren't more designs out there contesting the Sparkle Drive. Why just mix clean with a stock TS circuit?

Not sure it will appeal to everyone but the Boss LS-2 can be used to "blend" different loops or pedals together. It may not be as elegant as an all in one pedal but I don't think you can beat it for flexibility as you can mix and blend anything you want.