Jan1966 wrote:
FWIW I like to do some chip swapping. I don't do that stupid chip stacking, I just swap known good sounding dual op amps. With some circuits, like heavily modded/gained out TS808's, I hear a lot of difference with different chips. I play palm muted chunky Metal/Punk, and with that style the differences are apparent. Single note lead stuff or clean picking often sounds the same, I like to hit some gainy big chords so that there's some harmonic information to help make a judgement. When playing with a heavy palm mute and a lot of gain when A/B-ing chips, I hear differences in the tightness, amount of high/mid/low, etc. Try it sometime guys![/quote]
Just sounds like spending more money on something that won't make a difference for most people. Depends on how you play. I play chunk palm muted etc and never had any problems.[/quote]
Hey, if all IC's sound the same to you its all good. I guess you'll save some time/money, but IC's are very cheap from Mouser or Small Bear. The most expensive one I can think of is a Burr-Brown 2134 at a whopping $4 or so. 4558's and TL072's from various manufacturers are under a buck. In some positions/circuits the IC type makes little difference, in others they make a lot IMO.
The same concept and A/B test works with tubes as well. I like to dick around with V1 in high gain amps and a few different sets of whatever power tube is used. The differences in tubes can be subtle in something like a Blackface Twin Reverb, but are there nevertheless. The thing with an old BF Twin is that they sound great with any old tubes.
Anyway, off on a tangent there. Experiment if it suits you. This BEOD project presents some interesting opportunities for parts selection and swapping. The original pedal appears to use whatever is cheap and easily available. No disrespect toward Mr. F, just calling it how I see it. It seems the sound is in the CIRCUIT, not MAGIC NOS IC's, germanium, etc. In some pedals, guys obsess over carbon comp vs. metal film resistors, cap type, etc. In the BEOD, the resistors are SMD metal film (?), most of the caps are cheap polyester box film, diodes are generic SMD. Not much opportunity for parts snobbery there, lol. I used one of Bugg's boards and what I would say are superior quality parts. Maybe mine will sound better than the original!
I will report back if IC changes make an audible difference in this pedal.
Random observation for FSB: It seems odd that that one 120pf cap is a good quality CDE (mica?) while many of the rest are SMD. Were there no SMD 120pf caps? Is that such a critical position in circuit that SMD would not do? Doesn't seem like it.