This is a library of perfboard and single-sided PCB effect layouts for guitar and bass. I'm not an electrical engineer by any stretch of the imagination, just a DIY'er who likes drawing layouts. It is meant for the hobbyist (so commercial use of any of these layout is not allowed without permission) and as a way to give back to the online DIY community.

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Maxon OD880 Soft Distortion Overdrive

The Maxon Company is probably most famous for manufacturing the legendary Ibanez Tube Screamer pedals (among many other Ibanez offerings). Because of this (and especially in non-Asian markets) Maxon pedals were often overshadowed by their Ibanez-branded brothers. But throughout the company's history, they have produced a great offering of effects.

The Maxon OD880 Soft Distortion Overdrive was first produced in the mid 70s, and originals are very rare, especially in the West. It used 3 ICs (741 types) to produce a great transparent overdrive effect. The pedal was reissued in the 90s exclusively in Japan with an updated circuit that used 2 opamps. The layout below is for the original 3 IC version. I've added power filtering and polarity protection. It should fit just fine in a 1590B.



3 comments:

  1. Verified.

    It is a softer, smooth OD, with lows and highs de-emphasized. I don't mind the low cut, but I would prefer more high end in an OD without a tone control.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for verifying! You can try reducing the value of some of the caps, especially the 2, 100nF caps near the clipping diodes.

      Delete
  2. Love your website! I don't know how to put in a request separately so just leaving it as a comment here - Maxon OD 820 please!

    ReplyDelete