Greenmachine, thanks for the heads up. I already had the chance to check out the search function and looked at the tube overdrives.
I'm not interested in a starved plate tube overdrive. I own a Chandler and its OK, but I'm interested in full plate voltage tube pedals. (The other build on here is a real McTube or Twin Tube, or something, right?) I saw the blackstar project, but it has a lot of solid state components, only two gain stages, and I'm not in love with the tone.
I've heard many tube overdrives, and I love the Effectrode and Kingsley Jouster. The Matchless is decent, I think, but if I remember, it may have been a bit brittle sounding. Many of the other ones I've heard just plain blow. I'm interested in the architecture of the Effectrode and Kingsley, particularly the Effectrode. I would love to learn how he integrates the Baxandall tone stack across the gain stages, the way he develops gain across six gain stages, why he uses a 12AT7 for the last 2 stages on the Drive (yet, uses an AT7 for the last 4 stages on the vibe).
I just found out about the Kingsley Jester/Jouster a day or two ago, and it sounds fantastic to my taste (doesn't look as cool as the Effectrode, but ain't no thang). I would love to learn to build that one as well and find out how that one produces such a great tone across four 12AX7 stages.
Now, I'd like to steer this back to the Vibe. I've searching for the Great Vibe for years. This effectrode has a lot of potential, and just may be the "one". The Effectrode Tube Vibe and the Foxrox Aquavibe are the two vibes that really just tickle 'em for me.