A Fun Custom MXR Distortion+ (Modded) Clone

The MXR Distortion+ is one of the classic distortion effects pedals. I'd built one using the AionFX Aphelion board last year, and it also forms the basis of my home-brew Dimetrodon Distortion pedal (which I swear is really coming soon - I'm just waiting for the last of the beta test feedback!). One of the cool things about the AionFX board, is that it has three clipping and treble options which can be selected with a couple of toggle switches on the front of the enclosure. The clipping switch lets you choose between germanium diodes (as used in the Distortion+), silicon diodes (as used in the DOD 250), or LEDs (more like a turbo Rat). The treble switch changes the high frequency cut characteristics of the effect tone. I have a friend who recently took up the guitar and wanted a Distortion+ pedal, and the cool thing about this particular configuration is it gives you effectively three distortion pedals in one, with three treble options on each!

Although this is a classic build, I went ahead and used all modern 1% tolerance metal film resistors and metal film capacitors in the build. The only classic pieces are the Ge and Si diodes (one pair for both of the different clipping circuits). The electrolytic capacitors are Nichicon. The op amp is a socketed new production LM741. The LEDs are new production red diffused LEDs.

As with all AionFX builds, they're designed to use a star ground on the input jack of the effect. My friend also asked for a battery clip, so I went ahead and added that, which meant I needed one Switchcraft 111X and one 112BX 1/4" audio jack. The build uses a standard AionFX layout for the enclosure, and everything fits neatly, if a little snugly.

My friend wanted a dark metallic gold enclosure, and said I could have fun with the design itself. So I decided to go a bit whimsical. I'd found the little enthusiastic dinosaur several weeks before, and picked up a license to the clipart. I just hadn't found the right pedal to use it on - so it found its way onto this one. I went ahead and copied the markings directly from the AionFX full kit version of the pedal.

In terms of the sound, it's an MXR Distortion+, so it sounds great, though you can lose some of the high tones if you set the high-cut wrong for the song you're playing. Also the note in the Aphelion instructions is very true:

"Be aware that due to the hard clipping configuration, there will be a large difference in volume between different sets of diodes. The maximum available volume will be lowest with germanium diodes and highest with LEDs..."

The pedal therefore works best if you set it for one clipping mode and adjust volume and gain, as if you change clipping modes, the available volume will change drastically.