So lately i've been jamming with my Distortion + through a silverface twin, and i notice that when i kick it into overdrive land it gets quieter. I've tried new batteries and 9v adapters. Does anybody know how to mod it for more volume? I'm guessing a smaller output cap or a bigger volume pot... let me know if you have tips.
i just got my soldering gun in the mail today. I'm going to town on some shit.
MXR Distortion + Output Mod...
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The DIY forum is for personal projects (things that are not for sale, not in production), info sharing, peer to peer assistance. No backdoor spamming (DIY posts that are actually advertisements for your business). No clones of in-production pedals. If you have concerns or questions, feel free to PM admin. Thanks so much!
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Wizard
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MXR Distortion + Output Mod...
I've got a fuzzbox and i'm not afraid to use it
jrmy wrote:And unlike the rest of the country, we recognize Sarcasm as a crucial building block of spoken language. Kind of like umami in cooking.
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Scruffie
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Re: MXR Distortion + Output Mod...
Having just modded my Daphon E20DL I can tell you... Solder guns aren't great for PCB's desolder braid is the better option and a good soldering iron of course, but the guns are awesome and you might have luck, depends on how the board is done, probably fine.
Looking at the schematic now, try changing the diodes for some different clipping and a volume increase for a nice mod, red leds would work probably quite well and will offer a volume increase too but depending whats in there (I think 1N270) 1N34A Germanium diodes would cause less volume loss and sound better (personal preference) where as changing out to 1N914/ 1N4148 silcions would probably be best for volume but may not sound best, probably more fuzzy but a mix of the 2 would be good(the diodes set the maximum volume level) but change the clipping tone.
Changing the volume pot to 100k linear (yes I know log is usually for volume but it should be fine) might help prevent it loosing volume aswell (dunno what the stock part is as they change this) and also you could try putting a socket in place of the 741 and trying out different op amps for different tones and gains (although there is speculation as to if people can actually tell the differnce between Op Amps and it's not just people being picky ala tube screamer, try it for yourself)
If you get a bass loss with the gain up high try upping the value of the cap in series with the gain pot for another mod, quite a simple circuit otherwise and can't think of many other mods.
Looking at the schematic now, try changing the diodes for some different clipping and a volume increase for a nice mod, red leds would work probably quite well and will offer a volume increase too but depending whats in there (I think 1N270) 1N34A Germanium diodes would cause less volume loss and sound better (personal preference) where as changing out to 1N914/ 1N4148 silcions would probably be best for volume but may not sound best, probably more fuzzy but a mix of the 2 would be good(the diodes set the maximum volume level) but change the clipping tone.
Changing the volume pot to 100k linear (yes I know log is usually for volume but it should be fine) might help prevent it loosing volume aswell (dunno what the stock part is as they change this) and also you could try putting a socket in place of the 741 and trying out different op amps for different tones and gains (although there is speculation as to if people can actually tell the differnce between Op Amps and it's not just people being picky ala tube screamer, try it for yourself)
If you get a bass loss with the gain up high try upping the value of the cap in series with the gain pot for another mod, quite a simple circuit otherwise and can't think of many other mods.
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tigerdriver
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Re: MXR Distortion + Output Mod...
i am pretty sure that a red LED will always work in a pinch... but i haven't heard this was a problem with the D+, at least the 2 i own don't do that 
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Scruffie
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Re: MXR Distortion + Output Mod...
The red LED's wont work in a pinch as clipping diodes (my marshall MG15CD practice amp uses them) they will be fine and offer a different characteristic and also more volume than stock, you can always switch between clipping diodes on a DPDT anyway so have Red LED's one way and so on according to what I wrote.
You may have issues in some circuits, but that's something you have to try out, changing the clipping is up to you, I wouldn't do it in a compressor, but in distortion/ overdrive, it can be drastic in tone differences and for this pedal I advise...
The MXR's I've heard of suffer volume loss, so you may have got lucky or own a specific model different to wizard, but the mods should hopefully remedy this, especially upping the pot value (which will raise the maximum level) and changing the diodes which will set the minimum volume level higher.
You may have issues in some circuits, but that's something you have to try out, changing the clipping is up to you, I wouldn't do it in a compressor, but in distortion/ overdrive, it can be drastic in tone differences and for this pedal I advise...
The MXR's I've heard of suffer volume loss, so you may have got lucky or own a specific model different to wizard, but the mods should hopefully remedy this, especially upping the pot value (which will raise the maximum level) and changing the diodes which will set the minimum volume level higher.