Slow Lorris Dirty Rat Mod Idea

[Mojo Fandangle]

I'm building a Slow Lorris / Rat for pro skater Steve Caballero. (a friend hooked me up through his photography work with Steve).

He's asked for a 'punk distortion' so I want to do the switchable diode option as a You Dirty Rat clipping stage.
I own a YDR, and do find it to be a bit more vintage punk sounding than the standard Rat so I think it will suit it better.
I do really like my YDR. It has a cool slightly Fuzzy sound that gives it a bit more character than the standard Rat.

From what I've read, the YDR uses asymetrical(?) 1n34a germanium diodes for it's punk mojo.
I plan to do 1n4148's instead of the LED's because I read that the standard Rat uses 1n4148's. LED's are apparently for Turbo Rats.
I'm hoping this will also give less of a volume difference between the 2 clipping options.

This is my pretty much my first attempt at modding so I'm wondering if my concept will work or not?
It seems like a pretty solid idea (from what I've read).
If anybody knows anything about, or has done YDR mods, I'd love to hear some ideas, or reasons why this might or might not work.

PS: If anyone happens to know Steve, please don't tell him about my project. It's sort of a surprise gift from my friend.

[matmosphere]

I'm pretty sure the You Dirty Rat uses germanium diodes, which is what gives it is unique sound. I don't think it's asymmetrical clipping though. If you're building this on a Slow Loris just sub in germs for one set of diodes. Personally I'd say keep the leds because the Turbo Rat is all kinds of fun/ insanely loud.

Gotta say, cool project. Makes my mind swirl at the possibility for the artwork. Rat Bones!

[Mojo Fandangle]

Gotta say, cool project. Makes my mind swirl at the possibility for the artwork. Rat Bones!

Yeah I had considered a Rat Bones logo for graphics. Or maybe the Caballero dragon with a mohawked rat head. Rat Bones is probably better

[thesmokingman]

they may have used germie at one time, current production uses bat41

[Mojo Fandangle]

they may have used germie at one time, current production uses bat41

I looked in the original Dirty Rat that I own.
It uses HS270 diodes. They're apparently used as replacements for germanium 1n270 and  1n277's but my info might be wrong.
I bought it a few years ago. I will try using Bat41's instead.

It also uses an OP07 IC instead of the LM308. I've read that they're very similar so it should be a safe substitute.
The transistor is also slightly different. It's a 2n5458 instead of the 2n5457 but I think a simple swap should be okay.