Any fans of any Mosfet-based OD/Distortions?

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Any fans of any Mosfet-based OD/Distortions?

Post by stevejamsecono » Sun Jan 03, 2021 2:30 pm

Hey All,

Was listening to demos of the DOD Gunslinger and it sounded petty cool and chunky so I'm thinking of picking one up to try out. Figure it'd be a nice changeup from my usual boosts/Op-amp pedals.

Anyone else on here like/use any mosfet-based od/distortion pedals? Curious to hear people's take on them.
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Re: Any fans of any Mosfet-based OD/Distortions?

Post by Kent » Sun Jan 03, 2021 7:43 pm

The Blacksone is a triumph.

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Re: Any fans of any Mosfet-based OD/Distortions?

Post by fuzzjunkie » Mon Jan 04, 2021 7:45 am

Kent wrote:
Sun Jan 03, 2021 7:43 pm
The Blackstone dual overdrive is a triumph.
Yes, any of the CD4049 pedals that used Craig Anderton’s Tube Sound Fuzz as inspiration are great. Way Huge Red Llama, Wren and Cuff Red Camel.

Fulltone made a MOSFET version of his overdrive.

JFets are popular for amp emulation when gain staged. All the various ZVex pedals that do Marshall tones are JFet based.

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Re: Any fans of any Mosfet-based OD/Distortions?

Post by HNB » Mon Jan 04, 2021 8:05 am

Not a pedal, but my Mosfet Mashall head has a great overdrive sound.
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Re: Any fans of any Mosfet-based OD/Distortions?

Post by stevejamsecono » Mon Jan 04, 2021 8:28 am

My interest in this was also sparked by looking into the H|H VS Musician range which apparently had a mosfet module responsible for how those amps sounded. Granted if I was in the UK I could probably get one of those amps for the cost of a pedal :D
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Re: Any fans of any Mosfet-based OD/Distortions?

Post by fuzzjunkie » Mon Jan 04, 2021 9:45 am

stevejamsecono wrote:
Mon Jan 04, 2021 8:28 am
My interest in this was also sparked by looking into the H|H VS Musician range which apparently had a mosfet module responsible for how those amps sounded. Granted if I was in the UK I could probably get one of those amps for the cost of a pedal :D
In my experience MOSFET are a more ragged and aggressive overdrive with a slightly tubby low end when turned up. I have no experience with either amp above, but I do love Daniel Ash’s H|H distortion tone.

There are 2 ways MOSFET are used in distortion circuits, either as an Op Amp, like a group of transistors in a gain stage, or as a clipping diode.

In the Red Llama, it’s the gain stage. In the Fulltone they are clipping diodes. I have no idea what was used in the amplifier.

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Re: Any fans of any Mosfet-based OD/Distortions?

Post by ElephantDNA » Mon Jan 04, 2021 3:30 pm

fuzzjunkie wrote:
Mon Jan 04, 2021 9:45 am
In the Red Llama, it’s the gain stage. In the Fulltone they are clipping diodes. I have no idea what was used in the amplifier.
Yeah, that's where it's going to matter the most anyways, right? I personally love the red llama. It's like what I've been looking for with all kinds of big muffs and other things for a long time. I want like thick and chunky and kind of out of control while still being in control, if that makes any sense, and the llama kills it for that type of sound. I kind of picked it up with the intention of using it on a few particular parts of our set and I've ended up throwing it on a ton of stuff for choruses and "intense" sections. Singer was kind of making fun of me the other day for all of the shoegazing I'm doing but it's probably like 90% turning the llama on and off!

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Re: Any fans of any Mosfet-based OD/Distortions?

Post by Firecat » Tue Jan 05, 2021 12:16 am

The DOD Gunslinger is my go to high gain distortion. It's pretty awesome.

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Re: Any fans of any Mosfet-based OD/Distortions?

Post by HH1978 » Thu Jan 14, 2021 2:16 pm

Spaceman Aphelion and Saturn V both use LND150-N3 mosfets, though the Aphelion gets most of its gain from a CA3080 operational transconductance amplifier. Both sound fantastic.

I also used to have a MI Super Blues Pro on which my favourite clipping option was the mosfet. It sounded very good but was not nearly as much touch sensitive as the Spaceman's, so I eventually sold it.

Catalinbread RAH is also a very nice mosfet OD.

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Re: Any fans of any Mosfet-based OD/Distortions?

Post by stevejamsecono » Thu Jan 14, 2021 8:21 pm

Filipe wrote:
Tue Jan 05, 2021 12:16 am
The DOD Gunslinger is my go to high gain distortion. It's pretty awesome.
I really like it so far. Pushed by my compressor it is quite tasty.
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Re: Any fans of any Mosfet-based OD/Distortions?

Post by Firecat » Fri Jan 15, 2021 1:36 am

stevejamsecono wrote:
Thu Jan 14, 2021 8:21 pm
Filipe wrote:
Tue Jan 05, 2021 12:16 am
The DOD Gunslinger is my go to high gain distortion. It's pretty awesome.
I really like it so far. Pushed by my compressor it is quite tasty.
Cool, glad you like it, it's an underrated pedal imo!

I used it a lot on my band's last album. You can clearly hear it on the heavy chords starting at 0:48 in this song: https://youtu.be/NaiABA1PhP4

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Re: Any fans of any Mosfet-based OD/Distortions?

Post by Nick and the Noise » Sat Jan 16, 2021 4:39 am

I still rate the FET-based Sansamps highly, although their downside is they sort of fall in between effect pedal and amp sim.

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Re: Any fans of any Mosfet-based OD/Distortions?

Post by Strango » Tue Jul 20, 2021 12:49 pm

The Gunslinger is great, although prices seem to be creeping up a bit now (not as much as other DODs from that era, but I remember when people were giving these away for like $20). Very underrated pedal.

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Re: Any fans of any Mosfet-based OD/Distortions?

Post by Maggieo » Tue Jul 20, 2021 1:12 pm

Another fan of the Gunslinger here.
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Re: Any fans of any Mosfet-based OD/Distortions?

Post by jorri » Wed Jul 21, 2021 3:40 am

stevejamsecono wrote:
Mon Jan 04, 2021 8:28 am
My interest in this was also sparked by looking into the H|H VS Musician range which apparently had a mosfet module responsible for how those amps sounded. Granted if I was in the UK I could probably get one of those amps for the cost of a pedal :D
Yes they have nice distortion. I have the bassamp VS and a local studio has Musician. Now if some pedal company can replicate these in pedals and say they are boutique stuff theyd be doing well. They are so prevalent in UK i used one at school music department thinking it was trash (that sounded subjectively good) in early 0000s they even had a broken Jazz Chorus though.

Mosfets are pretty nice. I had this option in some Rat clones clipping diodes. Id favour it over silicon, but perhaps say there is less of a difference between that and germanium or LED diodes. I note it has some of the richness like the assymetrical silicon setting.

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