3 drives, one pedal - considerations

[seedlings]

I'm working on a 3 drive pedal, with wiring yet to do.  The 'base tone' will be always on, and it's a modified Egghead - modified to be more similar to a T!mmy (more similar, not identical).  Feeding that is another Egghead (basically like madbean's) for the crunch section, switchable in/out.  Feeding those two is a Runt for the lead channel.

The idea is to set the amp just under edge-of-breakup, and then set the base Egghead also for edge-of-breakup for a flavorful base tone.  Punch in the second Egghead at a medium gain setting for crunch, and add the Runt as needed for over the top gain.

The three circuits are populated and working.  With all 3 engaged, there is a bit of whine/feedback, and perhaps that's just to be expected with all that gain available.  For those of you with multiple drives-in-one, did you take any precautions to prevent too much gain... like a series resistor to the Volume pot to prevent excessive voltage/current into the next circuit?

Thanks!

[drolo]

With cascaded gain stages the key is to dial back each one a bit as to not overwhelm the following one (unless that's what you want to achieve :-) )
Finding the right balance between a pedal that is useful on its own and cascaded with others is the difficulty.

[seedlings]

Thanks drolo.  The pedal came together last night, and it sounds as I hoped.  The Eggheads stack very well - especially with that variable HP filter in the gain stage.  The rat is exactly what I needed for a cut-through-the-mix lead channel.  Once boxed, careful volume knob adjustment (as you noted) is all that is needed to keep the squeal in check.

Now if I can find some decent, TINY knobs to clean up the controls.

CHAD