Tym Lemon Sournote Overdrive

A few years ago, at the height of my Orange/Matamp obsession I made a clone of a late 60's amp and called it a Lemon. Some people didn't get my poor attempt at humour ? Others however very much did. Since these days all I have time to do is scratch myself and build pedals, I thought it was time to revisit this idea, in slightly modified form. So after scratching myself I came up with this.



The thing about these vintage Orange/Matamp circuits that really suits my ears is the asymmetrical driver that gives a nice boomy but still tight bottom end but with great tops when the FAC and HF Drive is played with depending on what pick ups and speakers you use. They're actually amazingly versatile amps while keeping their tone intact.
They're not "high gain" by modern standards but get a really nice break up when driven hard, if you can stand the volume.

 

This new Tym effect is an asymmetric germanium overdrive with active FAC (tone control) with breakup based on the old Orange/Matamp tone from "fairly" clean to saturated overdrive and with HEAPS of volume on tap. I've designed it to kind of mimic the drive characteristics of my old Orange and Matamp amps although I'm not calling it an "amp in a box" pedal as I've never been a big fan of that description because it, of course, depends on what you're running into.

This circuit works well into all the amps I've tried and has more bottom end than tops and keeps the bottom end clean from distortion, giving it a very vintage Orange like tone. The germanium diodes have a much warmer, valve like break up and the asymmetric clipping gives a pretty convincing Orange/Matamp drive. Add to this the lashings of volume on tap and you can drive pretty much any valve amp with the gain backed off if you'd prefer to use it as more of a light overdrive/heavy boost.

 

The pedal has three simple controls marked with "pics only" indicators based on the Lemon amp artwork designed by Tone with VOL / FAC / DRIVE. This is of course a homage to the early pics only Orange OR amps from the early 70's.
The FAC is a standard low pass/high filter I use on a few of my pedal designs with no mid scoop and takes this from circuit from very bassy to very bitey just like the FAC combined with the HF Drive on the vintage amps.

  

Like all my effects it has true bypass, LED and a standard Boss style 9V input with no battery option and is in my custom stainless steel enclosure. This pedal also has a stainless steel "handle" to give the aesthetic of the handles used on my Lemon amp, which of course is also a Matamp/Orange mainstay, and the handle stops you stomping on the knobs.

This pedal will be available soon on my Tym effects page and like all my effects will be constantly being made but limited supply due to the fact I make everything myself, by hand here in my workshop in Brisbane. 

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