TriceraRocks

This pedal is based on the extremely rare Ampeg Scrambler distortion pedal from the late 60's. In the factory schematics, they show that there are 5 diodes for the distortion circuit, however, most people who have studied these pedals have commented that only two of them were actually put into the pedal. Because I didn't know how it would sound with the other diodes, I decided to make them switcheable - thus the three switches (tri... thus the name) at the top of the pedal. Check out the rest of the photos here.
The controls are:
Texture (red) - this is the "distortion" control, it makes the sound go from a fairly heavy distortion to just plain out of control.
Blend (green) - this blends the distorted sound with the clean signal, which works really well for adding just a touch of distortion.

Switch (L) - controls a feedback loop of the distorted sound
Switch (C, R) - Work together to make a symmetrical clipping stage with the other two diodes that are always in the circuit.

This was the most challenging pedal I've made to date. The biggest reason for this is that I wasn't using the exact transistors needed, and apparently the ones that were suggested as a replacement don't really work. I had the circuit built right, but the transistors just weren't right. That was problematic.

After extensive troubleshooting, I got the clean stage working (with the blend rolled all the way to the clean signal, I was getting something), but the distorted signal was not coming through at all. After trying the recommended (MPSA-14) transistors in every combination I could think of, I tried some other transistors (5088's) and immediately the circuit worked! It was a huge relief. I think it sounds a little different than it's supposed to (perhaps not so much of an octave fuzz sound) but still a really far out, distorted stompbox.

Here are some Sound Samples of this pedal:
1 - TriceraRocks Blend Knob Demo
2 - TriceraRocks Texture Knob Demo
3 - TriceraRocks Diodes Switches Demo

Thanks for listening - let me know what you think :-D