Smallsound/Bigsound Fuck Overdrive

fuck overdrive. that’s how i used to feel and exactly the reason why i built this pedal. tired of the countless similar-sounding pedals on the market, i wanted something new; something unique.

inspired by William Basinski’s The Disintegration Loops (a tremendously unique and beautiful record), the fuck overdrive is my humble attempt to recreate in pedal form some of the crackling, disintegrating sounds found on the recordings. an extremely unique effect unlike any other, some of the tones are reminiscent of overdriven tape, blown-out compression, torn up speakers and overloaded tubes or amp “sag”.

multiple jfet gain stages are at the core of this warm-voiced overdrive, with a huge range spanning clean boost to gritty drive to beefy fuzz. the fuck overdrive sounds great on it’s own, but also pairs incredibly well with other pedals to transform your signal in subtle, yet complex and unexpected ways.

the crackle function is dynamically modulated (envelope controlled) and can also be momentarily engaged or disengaged for dramatic moments. turn up the threshold and the harder you play, the more the overdrive crackles, tries to keep up… and fails miserably.

at smallsound/bigsound, i have changed my mind about overdrive.
fuck yes.

the fuck overdrive is a low to high gain JFET overdrive voiced to be warm, yet transparent with a wide range of drive spanning gritty overdrive to ballsy fuzz. the highlight of this pedal is a unique blown amp feature which provides crackles, compression, gating and EQ changes similar to that of torn speakers and a tube amp pushed past it's limits.

power
please use a standard 9V DC power supply (designed for musical instruments) with a negative center 2.1mm barrel and do NOT run at higher voltages. peak current draw is around 7mA.

controls
threshold: this sets the threshold at which the input signal modulates the JFET voltage. lower settings are subtle and more dynamic playing is required, while higher settings cause more crackling, compression and gating. note *lower gain settings will result in more extreme, bass-heavy artifacts, while higher gain settings will result in softer, more compression-y note bloom.

gain: simultaneously controls 2 gain stages for an extremely wide range from clean boost to overdrive to fuzz. this control hugely impacts the volume, so be careful…

highcut: a passive 6db/octave LPF which attenuates frequencies higher than the cutoff, from 1.5kHz to around 16kHz.

volume: simple enough. it can be LOUD, depending on the settings of the gain control, so start with it low.

on/off toggle: this sets the operating mode of the pedal. when ON, the pedal will always be in blown amp mode and burst will engage "normal" overdrive. when OFF, the pedal will work as a "normal" overdrive with burst engaging the blown amp function.

light/heavy toggle: changes the character of the crackle from a lighter, more compression-y feel with a longer decay to a more intense, low-end buzz and rattle with a shorter decay. threshold may need to be adjusted when this setting is changed.

burst (momentary footswitch): works in conjunction with the on/off toggle. hold down for either "normal" overdrive or blown amp mode.