Overdriver
I figured we could use a thread dedicated to the overdriver rather than me muddying up the arbiter thread. I've got an overdriver almost done and I'm wondering what tranny's and gains to use. Anybody got info?

are you/we talking about the colorsound overdriver? if we are then thats good cause it's a really cool pedal or at least the clone i made is. i can take a look at what i used if you'd like?

that would be great! Yes Colorsound Overdriver.

here is the layout i did and used. i used bc549's for Q2 and Q3. i used an unidentified older tranny for Q1. i don't think it's a GE. if you have sockets i'd use them. i don't really check hfe's. i basically just grabbed whatever i had closest and it sounded good enough to not need messing with.

hey, i found a handful of old BC109's in our "to be scrapped" bins at work and was wondering if it'd be worth trying them out in a 90's reissue overdriver? plus, Dave, any thoughts on gain selection? not that I have a lot of choices, I have seven of them.

If it's any help I have a really nice original grey overdriver - I'm away from home right now but could put some decent pics of the guts up on Friday once I get back It is a great pedal with a tremendous boost - it genuinely does make many amps sound just like an overdriven plexi but as such it's not terribly considerate to old and frail speakers! G

BC109's have a lot of character in this circuit 500+ hfe's start to get a little spitty - not a bad thing imho.

Some shots of the guts of an original would be great, I'm still kicking myself for not picking up one that Dave sold a while back. It had some "modernization" scars and went for a low price. I had just picked up my reissue so I thought (famous last words) I'd be satisfied. It sounds decent, has tons of boost, but it's treble is scary shrill so I thought it might benefit from some alternate trannys.

I got mine last summer off Carl - it was expensive but near mint and works beautifully - I have always enjoyed it if also being a little apprehensive of its very real ability to shred speakers - considering most of my speakers are over forty years old that can be painful! :)

...painful indeed, shredding a 40 year old speaker. Have you seen the newly released Scumnico speakers? They look promising and are modeled after the early Vox Silvers.

Hi BR - I have read about them but apart from a few tone tubbies and the odd recent(ish) 10 incher I have little experience of modern speakers- I have never yet lost a 12 - if I did then I would be pretty fortunate in having a decent stash of early examples - I went through a terribly addictive/acquisitive period chasing tone and experimenting with the response of different early Celestions but that's another story..... As an afficionado of smaller "recording" combos and fuzz-wahs of every description I have wrecked my share of 6 - 10 inch Jensens and Elacs but have generally managed to get my hands on the proper replacements albeit at a price and with difficulty - at least I never yet had to get a recone!! Funnily enough the absolute hardest to find were little ellipticals - both 4"x7" elacs from small Selmer amps and those 6" elliptical field coil Rolas from the first small tweed Gibson Les Paul models and small jensens for early champs. In fact if anyone looking at this can steer me towards one of the Rolas (or a white handle or backplate) for a slanted panel GA5 I would be really really happy to hear from them!! They (GA5 family) are amongst my favourites and I have a few of them some in need of the above bits! Anyway - here are the pictures I promised of my Overdriver - as I was taking the pics I spotted that one of the components has apparently been re-soldered although the pedal does work really well. I am no whizz with a soldering iron but it looks to me like someone has clumsily dealt with a dry joint with too powerful an iron rather than actually replaced anything - there are a couple of pics which seem to be duplicates but I wanted to try to get the component details as clearly as possible - the trannies are difficult to see but they are BC109 and the codes on the other components should be legible. I dont remember the year but those in the know should be able to work that out - it is my understanding that these were identical to the orange coloured version but I could be wrong! They seem fairly scarce. Cheers All - G

Is the Prescription Electronics Overdriver a clone from this one?

Hey G. the oval speakers get passed over most of the time and I have been buying up the Rola 6x9 for some time now. Back when I first started picking them up you could get them for a song, since then, people have been catching on. I agree with the GA 5 circuit, I have one those and a couple of Gibson circuit clones. Saying that, I have found Gibson's amp work and circuitry to be very unreliable though. I have sent two amps to to get rewired and brought up to current safety standards, making them more reliable in the process. Junior Watson is also a big fan of the oval speakers and I think this is what tipped people off to them in a some way.

re oval Rolas from fifties - bit off topic - sorry!
yes BR its drifting off topic but I agree that those 6x9's (6x10?) are the business - highly underrated - I have a really beautiful old tweed Gretsch that I got some fifteen years ago now - a very early twin 6V6 Electromatic ser no x55772 from before they went to the wraparound grille - it has a pair of the ovals dated to the 8th week of 1955 - date codes on both are 285508 with ser nos 10119 & 10120 - 550-19 & 550-20 - a particularly auspicious and impressive vintage as I too came into existence in the very same week! - between them they add that real percussive quality that is so distinctive of Gretsch - those early amps are not really loud - that one is on a par with an early Deluxe - but the tone!!!!!! it is definitely amongst my favourites - the twin oval Rolas impart a really tight drum like bass without losing the "soupiness" of the distortion - a very nice and agreeable combination. I used to have some later twin oval Gretsches which also had an additional small round "tweeter" type speaker but those had a more defined almost hifi overtone - taking the "percussiveness" thing even further, they were nice for R&R but a bit lacking for blues or lead work I also still have a couple of smaller Valco made amps running on single oval rolas (Supro & Oahu) and a small MOT lap steel model (magnatone I think) - those are very sweet and distort beautifully when cranked. These are beginning to get more expensive on ebay but still offer great value - I guess folks have grasped the fact that they perform as well as early tweed small Fenders at a fraction of the price (well a year or two back!) - I expect that they will only get more expensive over the coming years. Regarding the Rolas - I have noticed they have gone up in price a hell of a lot the last couple of years - now I know who is to blame!! Re those smaller Gibsons - I decided years ago that they were so good that I would stash one of each of the models up to around the mid sixties (where apart from the DAM stuff I lose interest in everything gear wise) and probably still have six or seven at the moment - apart from a general tendency to be a little "warmer" than a Fender, I have never had a lot of trouble with them apart from the usual catalytic / humming hassles (and the overworking of the smaller field coil ellipticals) - I never mentioned above that the gretsches (and a few of the other earliest Valco amps) had a habit of giving you a gentle belt every now and then :shock: but never got shocked yet on a gibbo (unless I made a mistake with the microphone/pa running on a different mains circuit!!!!) I have had some of them earthed as that tends to be the legal requirement now with the techs but apart from the usual cap jobs and minor resistor alterations - I have not needed any more work done on any of my small gibsons but on other makes I have noticed that there is a risk involved in any major restoration work - so often the charm or magic of the older stuff is down to the gradual changes or creeping off-spec of the original components (just exactly the same with pedals) and a few times I had amps totally redone (always insisting on using the best NOS parts available) they came home looking great but somehow changed and lacking that "je ne sais quoi" which I so valued - I lost a great V Dominator and an ac15 from that (well diidnt lose them just decided that they were no longer for me!) I realise that this is all a long way off the overdriver topic (although using twin oval rolas might be the only safe and humane way of introducing that particular pedal to an old Valco made amp) - Perhaps we should get the amp porn thread cooking some more or start something on just speakers themselves - to me they are every bit as much a part of my soundscape as anything else - perhaps even more important in some respects than the instruments themselves! I dont know how to link this to another page though. Cheers - G oh btw - dont know anything about who has tried copying the OD pedal although I know that Ant and his brother reissued them a while back albeit in a tame fashion with a "master volume" added on the side of the pedal. Also - Carl has an orange one coming up on ebay later today - expensive but doubtless rare as hell and probably the only chance at a decent one for years to come!