Pause&Effects Thalassa - Germanium Clipping Overdrive

Medium gain op amp based overdrive pedal with soft LED + germanium diode clipping and active Baxandall tone stack.

The controls:

- Gain: the amount of overdrive from clean to dirty. Starts to overdrive at around 10 o'clock. At maximum gain it's almost fuzzy. The LEDs give the overdrive an open feel, whereas the germanium diodes give it compression and a touch of fizz towards maximum gain. Very responsive to picking.

- Volume: output volume

- Bass/Treble: Active bass/treble control, at 12 o'clock it does not cut or boost bass/treble frequencies. Clockwise it boosts bass/treble frequencies, anti-clockwise it cuts bass/treble frequencies. To achieve mid frequency boost, lower both bass and treble and increase volume. To achieve mid cut, boost both bass and treble and lower volume.

NOS Tungsram Germanium OA1150 diodes.

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Aluminum 125B size die-cast box. True bypass. Operates on center negative 9V power supply only. Hand built in Hungary (European Union).

Please check for further sound samples on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@pauseeffects​

Follow me on Instagram to see what I'm up to: https://www.instagram.com/pauseeffects/​

This is my first circuit that I designed from the ground up. It is using established circuit designs of the past, but as a whole it still doesn't follow any of the established pedal types I know of. I wanted to build a pedal that was versatile. I came across an active tone control circuit and it opened up new possibilities. An active tone control doesn't just cut frequencies, it also amplifies frequencies too. This is especially powerful for bass frequencies. The idea of a two knob tone control came from the Timmy, but the Timmy has the bass control before the clipping stage which can end up sounding muddy or flabby. In this pedal the bass control is after the clipping giving a satisfying umph that is not distorted.

The pedal has the Greek letter Theta on it and is named after the sea (θάλασσα/Thalassa is sea in Greek). The sea is both beautiful and terrifying. It's always in motion, one never gets tired of watching it. The tone stack and the clipping sweep of the Thalassa makes it a very versatile pedal. It can sound pleasant and mild like the sea on a hot summer day lapping at the shore or it can roar like the sea during a storm.