LoCo Pedals Blue Soul

This is an "unofficial release". When I'll have time, I'll make a few of it.

      Blue Soul is a tool for blues to classic rock tone lovers that goes from treble boost to dirty fuzzy drive. Raw and biting, uncompressed simple pushing force. Easy to understand controls to set and forget, just switch it on and control the rest from your instrument.

Based on old 70's topology but every component is different. I did not invent the transistor amplification nor the diode clipping and so is with this circuit. Started out from something like an Astrotone / Sam Ash Fuzz, stripped down to an Electra Distortion, when I realized that this is actually similar to the dirt engine of the obscure Ibanez No.83 Fuzz and Double Sound Fuzz Wah. I've built it up again by giving it an input blend between Rangemaster and Bazz Fuss and a tube amp inspired channel blend bias to be useful to me. If it's the same to you, well I'm glad and honored.

Controls

For first the Gain is the Volume knob of your instrument! You will love how much control you can have without even thinking to switch off the pedal.

Volume: There is. This is actually the potentiometer you can adjust the output volume level of the pedal.

Bass: Clockwise blends in bass for saturation to the fuzz sounds and body for the boost and overdrive settings. Counterclockwise cuts the bass to accommodate humbuckers and prevent boominess when boosting the amp.

Range: In the middle it has the least gain. Counterclockwise accentuates high frequency gain. This is where the treble boosted overdrive is for those Glassy blues licks. Clockwise ads the most gain for low end saturation and pushes the sound into the Fuzzy territory. Imagine like blending a bright and a bass channel on an amp. The plethora of sounds you can achieve here with a little modification is probably what inspired so many versions of the Electra circuit to be put out and sold by some pedal makers. Well... You have it all on one knob.

Switch

Si:   My favorite electronics store sale out treasure find silicon mojo diodes from the 60's in symmetric configuration. I will let the users decide what clipping character they hear. For me, these are the best sounding diodes with the most natural saturation and cleanup I've ever heard, and I'm an addicted collector of diodes.

0:   No diode clipping. Be aware that the pedal will be much louder in this position. A good amount of push with glassy highs or just transparent boost or slightly bass heavy sag, depending on what you set from the controls. Set the Range on glass and go nuts with the Texas blues licks.

Ge:   Germanium diode added for creamy compressed character in asymmetrical clipping with a higher headroom less compression led diode, inspired by Marshall amps. It will be not as dirty as the silicon, instead it has that old-school burning tube sound that some would characterize as natural tube sag.

So, there you have it. My own challenge to have an old school sounding treble or full boost, overdrive, fuzz, distortion with Germanium and Silicon sound, out of one single amplifying stage, without any biasing issues from temperature and happily accepting daisy chaining with any other pedals.