}
This is a different compressor.
It’s designed to be directly connected to a guitar, that really becomes part of the circuit.
We built the whole circuit without any OpAmp or other Integrated Circuit. All is done with just 2 Fet/Mosfet Gain stages on the signal path, for maximum connection with the instrument.
The three position switch is used to let you experiment with your Guitar, “Inside” the circuit.
The pickup coil becomes part of the Voltage Divider that does the compression.
Of course that’s nothing close to a “HiFi studio-quality” compression.
You get plenty of these effects on the market, and we wanted to do something different.
The Squeeze has a Gain control for compression rate, and an Attack control to get the right amount of “snap” out of your picking.
Placed in Front of any of the Other Organic Pedals: the Spice Boost, The Cream Overdrive, or the Meat Preamp, It will give you a perfect Combo for your amp.
SQUEEZE Tech Details & Design Secrets
SQUEEZE Sound Demo by hp42
The Spice is a versatile boost pedal, based on two gain stages.
We combined a Mosfet, a Fet and a BJT output stage, to get a crisp and colorful tone,
extremely sensitive to your touch.
The Gain control and the 3-position switch let you span from Clean boost to a crunchy mild overdrive. There’s also a Tone control, so you can go from flat to Treble boost or Bass boost.
Used as a clean Boost, it adds a nice sparkle to the sound, with a rich harmonic texture.
Add a tad of gain, and you’ll get a gradual increase of harmonics, keeping the sound dynamic and touch sensitive.
Even without buffers, its output stage can drive long cables without any high frequency loss.
It’s the typical “always on” pedal.
Use it directly into a low gain amp,
maybe in combination with the Squeeze compressor when an extra punch is needed, and you’ll never get back!
SPICE Tech Details & Design Secrets
SPICE Sound Demo by hp42
SPICE used in "How to Sound Like QOTSA: Let's Do it Again!" by Living Room Gear Demos
Why Cream ? Is that referring to Clapton’s early days, or to the creaminess of tone? Well, kind of both.
The idea here, is to nail the typical output stage overdrive of a cranked Bluesbreaker, plus the possibility to get beyond that, such as a higher gain modded Plexi.
The circuit is based on MosFets, with 3 gain stages. The mids are full, but without cutting any bass, like in the typical “screamers”. Highs are crispy and present, but never piercing.
The three-way switch lets you span from the typical Bluesbreaker “Normal” and “Bright” inputs, to a higher gain bridged Plexi sound, in the “boost” position.
Thanks to its high output, this is also a great Boost pedal. With a low gain setting, you can use it to drive the input of a high gain amp, as it’s normally done with a screamer, but with a much more flexible tone control.
Another great combination is after the Organic Meat: Using the Meat as a hi-gain preamp and the Cream to do the power amp overdrive. Put the CabSim at the end, and you’ll get the best “Amp-In-a-Box” tone for recording.
CREAM Tech Details & Design Secrets
CREAM Sound Demo by hp42
CREAM Sound Demo by Living Room Gear Demos
It’s not a secret that almost all “good” high gain tones come from a high power valve
head, with most of the overdrive coming from the preamp, and plenty of headroom
from the power stage.
So, why not recreating this sound in a compact pedal, using FETs instead of tubes?
This is not a new idea: there are countless great sounding overdrives based on this. The limit of this approach is the need to fine-tune the operating point of each gain stage, to get a good result. That’s the reason why these designs have been quite popular as DYI projects, but not so much as commercial products.
Individual tuning is not much compatible with mass production.
But we decided to do it anyway. This circuit has four inter-dependent tuning points and needs to go through a long individual set up to deliver its full potential. This brings up the cost a bit, but the result is worth the effort.
What you get is a great sounding preamp, with selectable gain through the 3-way
switch, spanning from mild crunch to singing lead.
Alone, it’s a great overdrive.
Together with the CabSim, an ideal combination for recording.
MEAT Tech Details & Design Secrets
MEAT Sound Demo by hp42
Yes, we told you already: we wanted to do something different.
That’s particularly
hard with a Fuzz, since it’s always the preferred territory for crazy circuit designs.
The results are often in the “love it or hate it” category. And the original tone of the
instrument is very often lost.
So, we decided to start from zero: What makes a guitar sound “fuzzy”? How could
we get this fuzziness in a controlled way, and still let the tone and touch of the player
get through?
We studied the clipping pattern, transient response, harmonic spectrum
of many classic pedals, and we ended up with a design which works differently. Yep,
again.
The Crumble gets its clipping and harmonics generation from the combination of
Mosfet overdrive and Germanium diode clipping.
You control the symmetry of the
distorted waveform through the 3 way switch. You can go from Little Wing to
Satisfaction, down to crushing Doom mayhem. No other Fuzz does that.
As most fuzz effects, it gives its best if directly connected to the instrument. Still, it’s far less sensitive to cable length and pickup’s impedance than vintage fuzz designs.
CRUMBLE Tech Details & Design Secrets
CRUMBLE Sound Demo by hp42
CRUMBLE Sound Demo by Living Room Gear Demos
Cabinet simulation is more and more used for home recording.
Several amplifiers
and effects offer a “frequency compensated” output, that normally delivers
acceptable results, but with little or no flexibility.
On the other hand, you can find plenty of digital modelling simulators, with all the flexibility you’ll ever need. But that’s modelling, and you might have understood that we like to do things the analog way, to keep your instrument “connected”.
The Organic CabSim is totally analogue, but it is also totally flexible:
The three-way switch lets you choose the Speaker Magnet. The centre position is for Vintage Alnico, the 70’s position is for Standard Ferrite magnets (Greenbacks, and the like), and the 80’s gives you the Oversized Magnet of those ElectroVoice hi-power speakers so popular in that time.
Icing on the cake: there’s also a Fet gain stage providing just a bit of Even order Harmonics, to simulate the typical early compression of Guitar Speakers.
The CabSim works well with pedals directly into your DAW, or together with the Muffle Dummy Load, connected to your Amp.
CABSIM Tech Details & Design Secrets
CABSIM Sound Demo by hp42