Catalinbread Knight School Overdrive - DIY Kit

KNIGHT SCHOOL OVERDRIVE - DIY KIT

If you would like to purchase a Knight School Overdrive, we offer a DIY kit. Assembly is very simple and requires only a soldering iron, solder, and good ventilation. We take care of the rest. In 1975, Craig Anderton, founder of Seamoon Effects, published what would become the essential reference book for aspiring pedal makers. This book, titled Electronic Projects for Musicians, unwittingly gave a boost to the design of many products by start-up companies. Several of the circuits featured in this book use integrated circuits, or “chips” as most people call them, which were not common in commercial products at the time. One of the timeless circuits from this book was the Tube Sound Fuzz, a gain device centered around an exotic component called a hex inverter. The architecture of this hexadecimal inverter allows for crisp, striking distortion using only a few components, with wild variations hidden inside by simply adjusting a few values. And that's exactly what companies did, one of the first to adopt Anderton's circuit being Electro-Harmonix. In the late 1970s, EHX launched the Hot Tubes, a modified version of this circuit, optimized to deliver both smooth and biting overdrive. Being a relatively unique circuit and previously unavailable commercially, the Hot Tubes had several notable users such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Kim Gordon, Jeff Buckley, and The Edge. Another person who used the TSF was Jeorge Tripps of Way Huge, who modified the values of this circuit in a different direction and produced the brand's flagship circuit, the Red Llama. This pedal has been produced intermittently for 30 years and has found its way into the hands of several influential musicians, such as Tom Petty, Paul Gilbert, and John Mayer. Our Knight School Overdrive possesses the DNA of Mr. Anderton's Tube Sound Fuzz, Hot Tubes, and Red Llama, reworked to create a distortion device that covers all the gain bases, from clear and bright boost to heavy grit with extreme touch sensitivity. We've included a mid-range knob, which was actually first featured in early Gibson amps, but we've implemented the version from the Matchless Chieftain amp, one of our favorites. You'll find that it adds a lot to the character of the device and is particularly useful if you play on British-style amps. Features: Volume: Output level.

Mids: This control was added because the original TSF circuit contains quite a bit of midrange, and a little more is added after this control with the fixed gain stage. The original values of this circuit give you a 6 dB dip at 450 Hz, close to the “body” frequency of the electric guitar. Turn this knob all the way down for a deep scoop, which better balances the pedal with British-style amps that have intrinsic midrange boosts, or keep it up to counter amps that are naturally scooped in the midrange, such as Fenders. You can also use it as a classic mid control and have fun with it!

Drive: This control regulates the gain of the first stage, which feeds the mid-scoop circuit and a second stage with a fixed gain level. Turn this control down to minimum for a great clean, bright boost, and up to maximum for a rich distortion sound. It's important to note that the Knight School Overdrive is incredibly touch-sensitive, so this knob should be adjusted accordingly. You can set it to open up with your strongest chords for a dramatic effect or keep it relatively high and only use it on quiet parts. Power Supply The Knight School Overdrive only accepts a center-negative DC power supply capable of providing 9 volts and at least 0.5 mA of current (more is acceptable). DIY kit information The printed circuit board has labels indicating the location of each component. The image below will help you identify the different components. You will also find a video below that shows you how to proceed.