Developing The Big One

I've always loved JFET drive pedals, and it started when I learned the similarities that they share with tube circuits. I found the RunoffGroove site and read their article on the Fetzer Valve circuit. Part of it was the rarity of the parts - throughhole JFET's that are commonly used in guitar circuits haven't been produced for awhile (I had an interest in Germanium diodes circuits for the same reason...)

I started out building every JFET circuit I could find on Vero (Stripboard), and realized that they all share a lot of similarities. Pedals like the Keeley Boost, Supreaux,  Fairifeld Barbershop, the Benson Drive, SSBS Mini, a lot of the Marhshall Amp-In-A-Boxes all share the same basic DNA. Some would have a single gain stage - 1 JFET, but the really cool ones had multiple gain stages. Each one amplifying the signal further, and these were the ones I really liked. I've always gravitated towards high gain sounds, and by stacking multiple gain stages, I could get crazy distorted fuzzed out tones.

I came up with a layout that's changed over time, but the structure of the gain circuit has been the same. Every time that I'd let someone borrow or demo it, they wanted to buy it - so I'd sell the one I had and build another one, which I'd have for a couple of weeks until someone bought that one. I designed a PCB, and after a few iterations settled on a design that sounds good. Soli Audio designed the artwork and Haggtronix did the screen printing.

The Sag control adjusts the bias on one of the JFET's - causing it to distort in different ways. There are a few other pedals that make use of this characteristic of JFET's - the Barbershop and the Mini. I've built both and couldn't get them to work well, so just did trial and error to find a JFET and components that keep the control useful through it's range of control.

I didn't really see the point of releasing an overdrive pedal - the whole pedal market is oversaturated, but even more so with drive pedals - But I knew that if people were to play the Big One, they'd like it - so I went ahead and pulled the trigger. Most of my pedals are fairly complex (Rippletron, Lonesome Dove) so it's nice to have a lower part count pedal that's easier to manufacture.

There's nothing groundbreakingly original in the Big One, but that's true with a lot of pedals.

Big One YouTube Playlist