First off, howdy! I know Headshot's into building, but there has to be more of you(?)

So I am trying to clone a pedal that I really like and is no longer made. Thing is, I want to make the clone sound as good as possible, so I would incorporate a mod or two (makes sense right?).

This pedal has ton of gain but sounds muddy/mushy pretty fast. However, if you stick a booster after it, it comes alive!

Does anyone have any idea why this happens?

Is it loading? Impedance?

Thanks for your input

Could be the type of transistor or chip you're pushing into distortion... could be a lot of things as stupid as the type of pot a linear vs a logarhytmic pot... I didn't build a whole lot of circuits but did build a few few years back mostly learn from fuzz variations how those things relates.

I'm sure you check the DIY community forums also... if not you should I use to check a lot into ampage, and a few others I would think they're still around... been a while since I logged in there.

What pedal is it?

Yeah there's a few of us pedal guys around here. George (obviously), and Dosmun. Teese was here more before he moved, and Barber pops in from time to time.

What is the circuit? That would help us understand what's going on.

H

Well, I didn't want to reveal the circuti, but what the heck? It's my Hermida Grinder. I think I brought this up with you a while ago. Seems to have seperate stages for bass and (regular) gain. It isn't so mushy on the input, just on the output side where a booster brings out the clarity and livliness like nothing I have seen in another pedal before. I'd love to know why that is.