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Has anyone compared the two? I’m looking for that You Fail Me tone, I have a Brutalist but I love the idea of a transformer built into the SDT-1 and a boost.

I have a 2. Never played a 1 because rarity/cost.

I don’t really use it though. It sounds awesome. I suspect you can really dial in the Converge tones. I just use amp gain.



If you want it lemme know. I’ll ship it to you for a Benji.

I own both. The SDT-1 houses a small transformer and has its own switchable boost section, and an eq bypass. The SDT-2 from my understanding and ears is just the drive section of the first model. They both offer the same voltage converter to up the headroom. I know the SDT-2 is TL072 based, and its been awhile since opening up the SDT-1, but I seem to remember seeing those 1S5188 diodes that builders seem to love.

#1 has all the magic, and the added boost turns it into a firebreather.

Month late to the party, haven't been around ILF in awhile.

braaandooon wrote:I own both. The SDT-1 houses a small transformer and has its own switchable boost section, and an eq bypass. The SDT-2 from my understanding and ears is just the drive section of the first model. They both offer the same voltage converter to up the headroom. I know the SDT-2 is TL072 based, and its been awhile since opening up the SDT-1, but I seem to remember seeing those 1S5188 diodes that builders seem to love.

#1 has all the magic, and the added boost turns it into a firebreather.

Month late to the party, haven't been around ILF in awhile.

Does it seem cloneable? I can’t find one for anything resembling affordable, but I’m reasonably handy. I’ve been thinking about building a transformer based distortion anyways.

Not really sure, outside of modding metalzones, I've only built a few circuits, w/ the gristleizer probably being the most advanced of the bunch, so not the most knowledgeable on these manners.

I prefer the SDT-1, but its not pedalboard friendly, it's a pretty big box and needs a wall wart. I run a MXR Micro Amp into the SDT-2 for a "very" similar tone and would think a GCI Brutalist being pushed by a boost would yield similar results.

Didn't realise how out of hand prices were getting on SDT-1's, I paid $225 for mine a few years back.

braaandooon wrote:but I seem to remember seeing those 1S1588 diodes that builders seem to love.

Didn't realize people were worked up about those since, AFAIK, they're virtually identical to 1N914's/1N4148's.

BoatRich wrote:Does it seem cloneable? I can’t find one for anything resembling affordable, but I’m reasonably handy. I’ve been thinking about building a transformer based distortion anyways.

I have a few gut shots of the SDT-1 that I've been meaning to trace, but I've never been motivated enough to do so.
The biggest issue you'd have in cloning would likely be sourcing the transformer, though. Even then, I don't think the transformer is really doing anything special beyond allowing for high voltages than a typical guitar pedal would use (I think John from EAE said the SDT-1's 4558's are running around 15V).

Just know the tubescreamer buffs really covet the 1S5188 diode, and the Analogman KOT seems to be priced way up there for those diodes specifically. Was my understanding that they spec out close to a red led in the forward voltage department, and clip accordingly compared to other silicone diodes.

People go bananas over diode callout numbers, but really it's just about forward voltage loss. Match that and it doesn't matter if it's a piece of banana peel provided you can shoehorn it in there.

I agree! I try not to get tied down on mojo part hysteria, although my Orange OR80M will never run anything but GE 6CA7's which are near impossible to find. Mainly just letting the OP know whats going on under the hood of both units as I own both and have investigated some.

jrfox92 wrote:

braaandooon wrote:but I seem to remember seeing those 1S1588 diodes that builders seem to love.

Didn't realize people were worked up about those since, AFAIK, they're virtually identical to 1N914's/1N4148's.

BoatRich wrote:Does it seem cloneable? I can’t find one for anything resembling affordable, but I’m reasonably handy. I’ve been thinking about building a transformer based distortion anyways.

I have a few gut shots of the SDT-1 that I've been meaning to trace, but I've never been motivated enough to do so.
The biggest issue you'd have in cloning would likely be sourcing the transformer, though. Even then, I don't think the transformer is really doing anything special beyond allowing for high voltages than a typical guitar pedal would use (I think John from EAE said the SDT-1's 4558's are running around 15V).

So it’s not like the broadcast where the transformer is saturating? (Or at least from what I understand it is)

Slamming the Brutalist with a boost definitely does the tones I’ve seen in videos of it though so I’ll probably just stick with that.

Wish I had a Brutalist to compare. Seems I always miss out on Mr. Ballou's business cards when they're available, would love to build one. Anyone have any spare PCB's?

The S&K Reptilian has been treating me well at least recently, that one sounds massive.

braaandooon wrote:Wish I had a Brutalist to compare. Seems I always miss out on Mr. Ballou's business cards when they're available, would love to build one. Anyone have any spare PCB's?

The S&K Reptilian has been treating me well at least recently, that one sounds massive.

There's a stripboard layout from the schematic in the manual around if you know where to look

BetterOffShred wrote:

braaandooon wrote:Wish I had a Brutalist to compare. Seems I always miss out on Mr. Ballou's business cards when they're available, would love to build one. Anyone have any spare PCB's?

The S&K Reptilian has been treating me well at least recently, that one sounds massive.

There's a stripboard layout from the schematic in the manual around if you know where to look

Never seen that one before. Thanks Jr I don't really like these type of layouts, but it's not too bad .