Introduction: Passive Guitar Overdrive (Black Ice)

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About: Why fix it if it ain't broken? Because it's fun.

A friend of mine brought to my attention a passive guitar effect, called "Black Ice" which takes the place of the capacitor (or wired with the capacitor) on the tone knob, and when used, gives the guiatr's sound a "crunch" similar to an overdrive. He wanted to know if i could make it, as opposed to buying one for 30 dollars. After a bit of research, I found out is was simpler than I first anticipated, and a whole heck of a lot cheaper. Along with building the effect as it was originally supposed to be done, i threw in my own twist. I found the amount that the version one effect changed the sound was underwhelming, but my version, when wired in as i specify in the instructable, has a profound change to the guitars sound. 

Version one is the original Black Ice circuit. It produces an overdrive-type crunch, though it is not exactly like a true overdrive. It is a little more "hummy" than an overdrive, and the tone is more mellow.
Version two, my version, has a smoother tone than version one, until it is turned up all the way, when it becomes more agressive of a crunch, and plenty of 'wanted unwanted' distortion. It also modulates the higher frequencies into the loswer ones. The tone is also less mellow. I prefer its more noticable and agressive tone as compared to the priginal Black Ice circuit, but it does require a more complex hookup. 

Step 1: Parts

For version one, you need two diodes. Thats it. The type of diode does matter however. Schottky diodes are what the original circuit uses, but cat-whisker diodes can be used as well, as long as they have a very low voltage drop. I made a version using Schottkys, but for this instructable i will feature the cat whisker diodes. This version is the original Black Ice circuit.
For version two, you need 4 diodes. This is my version of the circuit. 

Step 2: Circuit

For version one, the two diodes are wired in parallel with opposite polarity. In version two, they are wired as a full wave rectifier circuit.

ATTENTION!
My version was originally intended to be wire as seen in the schematic. But after some experimentation i found a better way to wire it. On step 4 there is a diagram showing how to wire in the effect. Us the diagram on this step to build it, the diagram in step 4 to wire it

Step 3: Finishing Touches

Once soldered together, you can then fix them in your guitar. Or, you can jazz them up a little. These are going to my friend, who will then be installing them. Since his soldering skills are....lacking, I bundled everything up with shrink wrap so the joints dont come apart during soldering. Longer leads were also  added, to make installation easier. With the version two effect, it is polarity sensitive, so make sure you dont mix it up. I added a dot of paint on the postitive output from the circuit. The negative output is directly opposite it, and the inputs from the guitar pickups are the two leads adjacent to the marked one. 

Step 4: Wiring It Up

For the first version, It is wired in place of the capacitor on the tone pot. Polarity is not an issue. If you want to use the cap along with the overdrive, see below:

The tone pot has three contacts. First, wire the signal input for the tone knob into the middle contact. Then, the capacitor is wired to one of the outside contacts and the back of the tone pot, and the overdrive effect to the other contact and the back of the pot. The back of the pot is then grounded as normal. This allows the tone to be anywhere from full capacitor, to half capacitor half overdrive, to full overdrive. This does however mean that the tone/overdrive will always be on to some extent, and cant be turned alost off like it can be when just a single effect is used.

To wire in the version two effect, nothing to the original guitar's wiring needs to be changed. (If you saw this before i made this change, disregard the original information). Follow the diagram. There are two ways to wire it. The basic wiring is the same, but the opposite lead from the marked lead can be left unatatched for a stronger overdrive effect. Do not touch any of the exhisitng wires in the guitar.

Step 5: Jam Session!

Now that the effects are built and installed, its time to play! The tone knob is used as normal, unless you wired both the capacitor and overdrive onto the tone pot. Then, in one direction it controls the overdrive, and in the other, it controls the tone cap. With version two, the tone pot not only controls the amount of crunch, but how rough the crunch is. The higher it is turned up, the rougher the crunch. The diodes also have the effect of modulating the higher frequencies with the lower ones. The nice thing is that this effect is different in  sound than overdrive delivered by an amp, but it can be controlled on the guitar itself, and unlike pedals, goes with you everywhere on stage, seeing as it is built into the guitar. 

There will be a video up soon demonstrating the sound of the effect. 

Congratulations on the completion of your own passive overdrive effect!

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