Neutrino not all it's cracked up to be?

[thegreatwent]

finished a neutrino build recently (black).
was really underwhelmed when i initially plugged it in.
kinda harsh overdrive. the bottom end drops out when engaged. snarky in the upper-mids.
played through both a modded DRRI and Matchless C-30 clone with a tele and play 99% of the time on the bridge pickup.
this combo of bright amps and guitar means i've been struggling to find overdrives that work well with my setup.
i ended up replacing the suggested opamp and inserted a 4580d and put in all the diodes instead of leaving one out and this seemed to help a lot, but i am still disappointed in the bottom end and overall midrangey nature of the pedal.
i recently built a green bean and that is voiced much better.
anyone else have a similar experience.
i've also found the toneclone Nobels ODR1 clone to be voiced well too with plenty of low end, though, at times i wish it had a little lower mids and midrange.
next build is the deadringer..

[rowland1]

I havent had the same exact experience  But I did recently get a DRRI. I love it but found that I don't like the sound of many of the overdrive pedals that I had liked a lot with my Blues Jr. I find the tubescreamer type pedals too harsh unless I really mess with the eq. Im not sure why some pedals interact differently with this amp  .

Ultimately I was pleasantly surprised how great Madbean's Rump Roast sounds with the DRRI.

[oldhousescott]

The Neutrino is voiced brighter than the screamer. If you're using the vibrato channel, it has a bright cap on the volume pot which can make many ODs sound screechy. Lots of folks clip out the bright cap for that very reason. How does it sound through the normal channel? There's no bright cap on the normal channel and that will give you some idea how it will sound with the bright cap clipped on the vibrato channel (there is an extra gain stage in the vibrato channel for the reverb makeup, so they won't sound identical even with the cap clipped).

You might want to check out the Clark Gainster (there's a topic on the board here). It's got a great OD sound with plenty of growl and low end.

[pietro_moog]

i don't know, i have a similar amp somehow and i like the eternity od.
asymmetrical, high mids hump. i don't know, each his own?
let's say i use it with a big push in volume and my guitar has the tone control half the way.
i usually keep the tone control in the first half.
i like it. that's me.
btw, tele and bridge pick ups are a very bright combination, i use humbuckers.

[mjcyates]

I have built a few Neutrinos and I like them. I play them through a Hot Rod Deluxe which is a little darker than the DRRI. Could just not be a good match for your rig.

[thegreatwent]

i haven't yet tried it in the normal channel of the drri. i rarely use it. i HAVE clipped the bright cap in the vibrato channel. i did all the "weber" mods to the drri. weber 12f150, orange drops, negative feedback pot, etc.

i put in some higher value caps in C1 and i got more bass out of it..still too snarky with the tele and drri. i'll bet it sounds great in something like a marshall and with humbuckers, or if you wanna do the neck pickup single coil SRV thing. i love the tele bridge single sound. sometimes it's a lot of work to get it to sound good, but when it's good it's so gratifying.

the search goes on...

borrowed a friends Fulltone Fulldrive 2 and that's a much nicer sound. i played the green ringer next to it and they are very similar. i think the green bean edges it out a touch as it's a bit more transparent and fuller, though i'm intrigued with the deadringer/full drive because of the boost option. i'm trying to simplify my pedal board - going to try and keep it to one overdrive, one boost, one fuzz and possibly a distortion, though the deadringer might double as an overdrive and distortion.

i destroyed a  deadringer pcb i made trying to pull some solder of with a solder wick - pulled the trace right off the board - lead free solder is so unforgiving..i'm going to etch a new board. looking at the board it appears as though some of the resistors could/should be 1/8th watt as i had to stand the 1/4 watts for those positions on their ends.

is this the case? any help would be appreciated.

one day i'll pull out the 18 watt marshall style amp i've got and my les paul faded double cut and try out the neutrino..

[tenwatt]

The Neutrino is my favorite Mad Bean, OD circuit to date.  I play a PRS Custom 24, Gibson ES-335, and a '52 RI Tele through a Bad Cat Cub IIR and would put it up against ANYTHING.

EDIT:  For reference purposes...I built the "Burst" version.

[gtr2]

I too like the neutrino.  Mines built to the "black" version.  I'm currently using a tele with a 79 champ.

Josh

[oldhousescott]

If you increase C3, that will add more bass. You might start by going to 330n or 470n. In addition, C4 rolls off the highs. 220n is standard for the GB and other screamer types. A larger value here will roll off the highs more. Try 220n or 270n or even 330n. That should smooth it out and alleviate the snarkiness.

[thegreatwent]

thanks old house scott!
i socketed a number of the components but i wish i would have known about c4 and c3 and i would have socketed them as well..
will try it and see how it works out.