Sunking - accidental mod that made it my favorite OD ever

[Cortexturizer]

Okay, so I was writing about this here http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=13332.msg122519#msg122519 and about my experience so I won't repeat myself hehe.

Finally, the switch on my Sunking died so I had to open it, sorry for my laziness guys, it had to get to that for me to open the damn thing.

Listen, I know all of the controversy about the Klon and everything, but dudes after you do this mod (LOL, whata "mod" right!?) you'll be in love with this pedal as much as I am, so here it is, the MAGICAL MOD hahah



That's it. Now I never looked at the schematic and considered the consequences of this I just went with it. Sounds at least ten times better. It has much more sparkle and treble though, but it still can be tamed perfectly with the tone knob. Acts and reacts like an amp, the only pedal I have ever tried to do so. When you chug this thing with your right hand it's that immediate sound you get just like with the amp. Seriously I play metal with this thing. I have a melodic post metal/sludge band and this is all I need. I kid you not.
The best thing, cleans up PERFECTLY. When I first discovered the error on my etched board, I reversed it to stock connecting R12 and C8 and I thought it was just a little better than your average tube screamer, by a hair. Immediately made the cut on the board again, and lived happily ever after. I mean listen to this thing, here's a new demo I did just now

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/kuato-design-stompboxes/accidental-klon-jam-at-2-a-m[/soundcloud]


I played everything on this clip with the gain knob MAXED. On full people. The funky rhythm thing on my tele deluxe was played on the bridge pickup with the volume of the guitar on 3, or somewhere between 2 and 3! The jazzy were played with the neck pickup also with volume on 2-3. Then I went full on volume for the sustained solos. This even has more gain than this demo needed, I purposely left some of the tones ringing just so you guys could hear how long of sustain this thing has, I can literally hold a note for 15 seconds.

[jubal81]

Wowser, that sounds fantastic.

[sirbergersworth]

Sounds very nice. This mod could easily be put on a switch. Cool


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[madbean]

What you've done is remove the 390pF from the feedback loop of the gain stage. No need to make a trace cut, just omit C8.

However, there is a downside here: omitting that cap completely means there is no high frequency filtering, which may lead to noise or possible oscillation if you max all the knobs. That may not be your experience, but it's worth mentioning it in case some else wants to try it.

What I suggest here is using a DPDT or SPDT toggle and switch between the stock C8 and either no cap or something much smaller, say 10pF. That way you get essentially the same tones but a tiny bit of HF filtering at the same time.

[Cortexturizer]

That's what I was thinking, I mean it's not hard to deduce from that RC thing in parallel heh. Still, the difference in gain and overall presence is huge. Although, the tone with C8 makes for a low mids emphasis whereas without makes for an upper mid emphasis. I don't think it lacks bass actually, it's just that bass response is surgically defined and correct, precise. Don't know, works for me, and I guarantee it will work for anyone that wasn't impressed by the Sunking and they thought it was, well, okay.
Works a tad better with humbucking guitars though. Still, kewl plunky tones and fat solos are still possible with singe coil equiped guitars without being harsh, there is a demo depicting that on my soundcloud.

All in all, if somebody makes this "mod" and likes it please let me know Cheers

[mjcyates]

I am in the process of completing an Aion Refractor and it just so happens that I haven't populated C8 yet. I will probably put it on a switch. I will let you know what I think.

[madbean]

I'll give it a try too. I have not ordered the SK2 boards yet, so there's still a chance to incorporate another mod.

BTW: I found a mod I like a lot: in addition to changing the tone cap from 3n9 to 5n6, there is a 1k8 resistor in the tone section. Change that to 10k and it moves the neutral position of the treble knob more toward the center. You get less treble boost at the max position, and more treble cut at the min position. I'm going to incorporate this into the next Kingslayer.

[Cortexturizer]

That sounds awesome as well Brian!
Admittedly, I keep the Tone control on my Sunking [sans C8] on 9 o'clock with the gain maxed. When I put the gain on half, then I keep the tone on half as well.

Omitting C8 gives it so much more gain and character [I will understand if there are some that don't like it this way] and the overall tone goes much more to vintage crancked amp territory, I am thinking Jan Akerman for example. It's an upper mid heavy tone, that cuts and is liquid, majestic for solos and single note lines, it might not be everybody's cup of tea when it comes to rhythm work but it works for me even for that. What I like about this so much is that the pedal is incredibly present in a band mix, without being harsh and overly trebly, it might be on a verge of that in the bedroom, but on rehearsal, and on stage, it's a life saver. It's not one of those pedals that you love at home but hate using wit a band, this is just the opposite, when I step on this thing it's as if I've slapped everyone in the room in the face Yeah, some people naturally don't want that kind of a tone personae, but I like it. When I stop playing alternative and metalized kinds of music, and turn to blues and jazz/fusion which I love listening the most, I see myself using this thing only for solos, with great success. We'll see. For now, it stays the best in my opinion.

All of that being said, I might, just might, sometime in the future, mod it for a little more bass, Brian you mentioned that as well somewhere I think I have it saved somewhere...HM, might just try that as a final tweak and if it doesn't improve it significantly, then I am out of tweaking overdrives and trying different stuff. [of course, I live in denial, cause I have 3-4 boards of dirt ready to go these days]

[midwayfair]

Man, that's a GREAT clip.

I might try this (or Brian's suggestion). I've never been happy with the treble content on the klon circuit, but most of my tinkering has been lowering the bass content and raising the active treble cutoff.

[ddog]

What I suggest here is using a DPDT or SPDT toggle and switch between the stock C8 and either no cap or something much smaller, say 10pF. That way you get essentially the same tones but a tiny bit of HF filtering at the same time.

Sorry for the old bump.

Im very dumb with switches, can someone draw this out for me on the sunking ii (presumingly c9)? Thank you!

EDIT: Don't even have to draw it out, let me know if there is a link to somebody else switching caps with a switch and Ill steal their idea

[televisiondown]

Sorry for the old bump.

Im very dumb with switches, can someone draw this out for me on the sunking ii (presumingly c9)? Thank you!

EDIT: Don't even have to draw it out, let me know if there is a link to somebody else switching caps with a switch and Ill steal their idea

Check out the Beavis Audio page. Lots of good info and diagrams!

[ddog]

Thank you!
I think this should do it:




Seems very fundamental, but just making sure

[juansolo]

I'll give it a try too. I have not ordered the SK2 boards yet, so there's still a chance to incorporate another mod.

BTW: I found a mod I like a lot: in addition to changing the tone cap from 3n9 to 5n6, there is a 1k8 resistor in the tone section. Change that to 10k and it moves the neutral position of the treble knob more toward the center. You get less treble boost at the max position, and more treble cut at the min position. I'm going to incorporate this into the next Kingslayer.

After years of using an 8n2 as the tone cap we've gone back to the 3n9 and just swap the resistors around. Tone knob works much better that way and the mids go back to where they should be.

[cooder]

I'll give it a try too. I have not ordered the SK2 boards yet, so there's still a chance to incorporate another mod.

BTW: I found a mod I like a lot: in addition to changing the tone cap from 3n9 to 5n6, there is a 1k8 resistor in the tone section. Change that to 10k and it moves the neutral position of the treble knob more toward the center. You get less treble boost at the max position, and more treble cut at the min position. I'm going to incorporate this into the next Kingslayer.

After years of using an 8n2 as the tone cap we've gone back to the 3n9 and just swap the resistors around. Tone knob works much better that way and the mids go back to where they should be.

So do you use 10K as a value for that resistor swap as Bean suggests?

[juansolo]

I'll give it a try too. I have not ordered the SK2 boards yet, so there's still a chance to incorporate another mod.

BTW: I found a mod I like a lot: in addition to changing the tone cap from 3n9 to 5n6, there is a 1k8 resistor in the tone section. Change that to 10k and it moves the neutral position of the treble knob more toward the center. You get less treble boost at the max position, and more treble cut at the min position. I'm going to incorporate this into the next Kingslayer.

After years of using an 8n2 as the tone cap we've gone back to the 3n9 and just swap the resistors around. Tone knob works much better that way and the mids go back to where they should be.

So do you use 10K as a value for that resistor swap as Bean suggests?

We swap the 4k7 and 1k8 around and keep the 3n9 now.