DanElectro FAB Metal - broke it, discovered mod

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TheShadowKnows
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Completed builds: Modified Builds: Dan Electro FAB TONE, Fender Starcaster, Dan Electro FAB METAL, Washburn Lyon Distortion, DOD Grunge.
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Post by TheShadowKnows »

So I'm pretty good with a soldering iron, but not so good in removing components, especially when it comes to diodes.
I was reading up here on the DanElectro FAB TONE mods and removed the diodes and a cap and boy did the chain saw go away.
It was nearly a useable pedal now.

So I bought a FAB Metal pedal off eBay for $6. Yes. $6. I figured if I really botched up a mod I'm only out a hamburger and a coke. Even stock I did like the chain saw distortion it gave.

After pulling it all apart, I found the diodes and proceeded to desolder one of them. I was using a micro screw driver to pry up the long leg of the diode when 'SNAP' goes the diode. Great. Where am I gonna get another one? RADIO SHACK. But I thought, I don't 'really' care for that chain saw sound when I have the DOD Grunge pedal to help me out.

So having no idea what I was doing, I found several LED's and just started experimenting. My first attempt was to install a pair of Radio Shack 276-0026 3mm red LED'S. I knew enough to know there's a polarity to them so I best guessed which way to put them. I did a test solder on the back of the PB and plugged it in. Thinking it'd blow up I braced myself.

Surprisingly enough, it didn't blow up. It actually sounded about 10 times better with no chain saw effect. Plus the LED's were faintly glowing when I pounded on my guitar. A very cool effect. So I snipped the legs off the LED and got them on the board as best as I could. Assembled it all back together and plugged it in, again. All worked. Great. And the sound was pertty good through a SS amp.

The pedal still has a lot of high end and you will get some sort of chain saw out of it if you push the treble up. Lots of gain available from heavy tube like OD to over saturated distortion. I like to roll off my treble so for $6 + the LED'S it's now a GREAT PEDAL. And for volume, there's a ton of it there for you.

I tried it with the gain all the way down and used it as a boost in front of the SS amp and it did fatten up the leads. NICE. When I put the pedal in front of a tube head, it sounded 10x better but a bit more shrill. Guess that one amp reacts that way to it.

So there you have it. I broke my pedal and found an easy mod that made it sound 10x better... in my opinion, that is.

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CHEEZOR
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Post by CHEEZOR »

I love the stock sound of these pedals. I dont think its very usable too often, but I love the no-holds-barred sound!

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skylark44
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Post by skylark44 »

Cool...I've got a Danelectro Pastrami (overdrive), and I wonder if I can do the same mod to it (to give it more of a "distortion" type tone, instead of a weak overdrive)...I'll probably take it apart tonight, and have a look :wink: . Any pics would be helpfull, thanx. :mrgreen:

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TheShadowKnows
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Completed builds: Modified Builds: Dan Electro FAB TONE, Fender Starcaster, Dan Electro FAB METAL, Washburn Lyon Distortion, DOD Grunge.
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Post by TheShadowKnows »

The diode mod is easy. Just look for the diode pairs and desolder one leg of each diode. Then I flip the board over and solder my test diodes in the right places. I hold the board up to the light and mark the 'right' area with a pen so I'm soldering in the right place. The rest is just experimenting to find what sounds good to you. You could add leads and clips but I'm not sure if that would add any static or noice to the circuit. Soldering diodes takes just a couple minuted and you can test from there. Just be sure you've got the polarity right or it might sound funny or not work. That happened to me a few times. Such is the life of a newb.

Here's a pic of my final mod. I'm not deep into the electronics part of modding, not yet, so I'm just trying out different diodes to hear how they sound. I've found that one type will sound great in one pedal and really crappy / fizzy in another. Experimentation is the key.
Here's a 'general' outline of how diodes have been sounding over the 5 pedals I've modded. All diodes I got from Radio Shack. Part #'s are included.

276-0022 / Green LED 5mm 3VDC.
This one has a transparent tone to it. Think tubescreamer with clarity, not muddy. I've used this one in a Washburn Lyons Distortion and loved it. Made that pedal into a very sweet botique sounding overdrive. And I only paid $6 for it off eBay.

276-0026 / Red LED 3mm 3VDC.
I've used this one in 2 projects (FAB METAL, Starcaster Distortion). It has a nice 'middle of the road' sound. Not too organic not too digital. I like the small size. Makes for easy installation in a crowded board.

276-0330 / Red LED 5mm 1.8VDC.
seems this one is similar to the 2.6VDC red LED. I bought it just to try out. Didn't seem to make much of a difference tone wise.

276-0041 / Red LED 5mm 2.6VDC.
this one and the one above are nearly identical. It's nearly the same tone as the 3mm Red LED. I got it because R.S. was out of the 3mm red ones.

276-0304 / Green / White LED 2.1VDC.
This one was the star performer in my DOD Grunge mod. I tried 3 different sets and this one reduced the gain to a reasonable starting place. If I knew which resister to change off the schematic, I'd do that but I don't know that much about circuits so swapping diodes will have to do for now. That pedal has 20 for gain and unmodded starts out at 10. This diode brings the starting point to about a 6 or 7. The other 2 diode pairs I tried were the 3mm red ones which did sound good, and the Green 5mm LED which sounded great and transparent. Both the red and green gave it good distortion but the gain at full off (left) it was starting at a 9. The Green / White brought it down to about a 6. You can always crank it up the gain but you can crank it down if it starts at 10.

276-1101 IN4001 Micromini Silicon 1.6VDC.
I tried this on a recommendation from a guy here on a mod for some other pedal. It sounds very organic, dark, brown and thick. You get lots of distortion and sustain but loose your highs. This one hasn't found a home yet in my mods.

So there you go. Those are the results of hours of 'fun with diodes'. Hope it gets you closer to where you want to go in your hunt for your tone.
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FAB METAL final mod
FAB METAL final mod

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skylark44
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Post by skylark44 »

Do you think those same, clipping mods would work with my Pastrami Overdrive? (or were talking about the FAB TONE? :scratch: ). Thanx, either way...it's still very useful information, for future mods :wink: . :mrgreen:

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Post by CHEEZOR »

skylark44 wrote:Do you think those same, clipping mods would work with my Pastrami Overdrive? (or were talking about the FAB TONE? :scratch: ). Thanx, either way...it's still very useful information, for future mods :wink: . :mrgreen:
This mod will work for any distortion/overdrive pedal that uses a pair(s) of diodes to create distortion. If you haven't seen this page, then you should check it out. These are simple mods that can be used in most, if not all, overdrive/distortion circuits. Very cool reference for beginners.

EDIT: I just searched this site and found the page (viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8141&p=134234&hilit ... mi#p134234) for the Pastrami Overdrive and yes, this mod can be done. From looking at the schematic it has a pair of LEDs so you would want to try something different or different colored LEDs.

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