Cherry Bomb Gain

[Smeero]

I never use this thing because all the gain is bunched up in a very small window at the end of the pot. Has anyone had any luck with a different pot value or other mods?

[Om_Audio]

I have not done this yet but Jacob- jkokura's response in this thread gives a simple method that might help.
http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=3941.0

Jacob said in that thread re an external trimpot mod:

"...However, you may find yourself with a very small amount of useable range on that pot. What I would do would look like this:

Setup the PCB with the 5K trim pot on board. Find the sweet spot you like, Now measure the Resistance between pin 3 and pin 2 of the trim pot when it's set at the sweet spot. Could be anything between .001 ohms and 5K ohms, but we'll say for arguments sake that it's ~2.5K. Now, slowly turn it one way to find the max usable setting that direction. It could be as high as 5K for example. Mark it down, and we'll say for in this case it's 3.5K. Next, find your other limit by turning the opposite direction. Find the limit of it's useable sound, and mark that down. We're going to argue that it's 1.5K in this case.

So the sweet spot is 2.5K, and your range is 2K from upper to lower, starting at 1.5K.

What I would do is then remove the trimpot and set up a B2K pot on the enclosure. I woud run a 1.5K resistor from where the trimmer's pin 3 would normally connect on the PCB to lug 3 of your pot. Now your base will always be 1.5K, so you even at 0 it's useable. Now connect lug 2 and 3 of your pot to the other two spots on the PCB for the trimmer. You can also just connect them together and run one wire to where the trimmer pin 1 would go, up to you. Now you have just your useable range on your pot control, 1.5K to 3.5K, and the sweet spot will be in the middle at about 2.5K resistance."

[sgmezei]

I ended up using a 1kC or 5kC I believe. I really wish it had a smooth transition.

[madbean]

Using a 1kC will make a big difference, FWIW.

[the3secondrule]

+1

I built mine with a 1kC gain pot, and the gain transition is very smooth

Using a 1kC will make a big difference, FWIW.

[Smeero]

thanks all! will try 1kC