Drivemaster and Guv'nor clones

Reverend

I have both but they are old and prone to break downs. I was wondering if there any good clones of either or people that make decent kits that are doable for someone less gifted with a soldering iron?

monquixote

Loads of companies make pedals based on the Guvnor. The Riot and Crunchbox being two very good examples.

Reverend

How do they compare? Both seem to have less knobs.

monquixote

I've had both and the Guv'nor+, but never a Mk 1 Guv'nor (though I have used one a couple of times)

The Crunchbox is a nice JCM800 type distortion and the Super Crunchbox adds a lot of nice clipping options. The tone control is one of those add treble while removing bass type ones, but you have no control of mids. 

I love the Riot. It's quite versatile and has 3 clipping options again you don't have any control of mids, but the different clipping options changes the bass response. 

The Marshall Guvnor+ is good, but not that much like a Mk1 Guv.

Though it wasn't what you were asking about the Visual Sound "Son of Hyde" is a Shredmaster clone and is very good indeed.

Bidley

Drop @badgerific a line. He's handy with a soldering iron and has done a bit of work for people around here. If you tell him what you want I'm sure he'll be able to help.

mike_l

I'll have a play with my lot over the weekend, and see what comes closest to the Mk1 Guvnor.

If you have room on your board (and the - or room for -  appropriate power supply) the Blackstar HT dual is pretty similar sounding.

What settings roughly are you using?

Dave_Mc

I think BYOC does a guvnor clone (I'm assuming you want a clone and not something "based on" it- as monquixote rightly says, there are several pedals which are "based on" the guvnor). I haven't tried it, though.

I'm guessing clones of the drivemaster will be rarer, but I could be wrong.

Bidley

I think BYOC do clones of all the old Marshall pedals don't they? I know they do the Shredmaster.

meltedbuzzbox

You can get a real Drivemaster for £20 - £30 on ebay

I just picked one up. 

Its the same construction as a shredmaster and that thing can take abuse. Mines been going strong for many years now. 

Never tried a guvnor. I know the mk2 can be had for reasonable monies. 

ICBM

I would just fix them - it's only the jacks and the switch that are crap. You can replace them both with better ones - you need to find another way of supporting the power jack if you replace both jacks on the Drivemaster with non-PCB-mount ones, but hot-melt glue works . With the Guv'nor, just leave the loop jack original.

The pots are a bit exposed to damage on the Guv'nor, but not the Drivemaster.

Dave_Mc

Bidley said:

I think BYOC do clones of all the old Marshall pedals don't they? I know they do the Shredmaster.

Not sure, I think you're right about the shredmaster and I think they do a bluesbreaker too. Dunno about the drivemaster. I could go and look but...

Man the internet's making us lazy, isn't it? If you'd told me when I was 10 that I could look up any question I wanted and just had to type in to a computer in my house, I'd have thought it was the greatest thing ever. )

Reverend

I have a Shredmaster Clone and the Guv'nor 2 (which is great but not quite the same). I'm sending the broken pedals off to be fixed and have bought another Drivemaster on ebay.

One of the things I would like is clones of them on smaller mxr/nano sized enclosures for international gigs when flying.

Jeremiah

I think the BYOC clone of the Guv'nor is called the Chancellor. I'm not really sure what the difference is between the Guv'nor and the Drive Master though...

ICBM

Jeremiah said:

I'm not really sure what the difference is between the Guv'nor and the Drive Master though…

Not a lot! They are essentially the same circuit but with a few different component values.

Reverend

£50-60 difference on ebay?

meltedbuzzbox

ICBM said:

Jeremiah said:

I'm not really sure what the difference is between the Guv'nor and the Drive Master though…

Not a lot! They are essentially the same circuit but with a few different component values.

I thought one was overdrive and one was distortion? 

ICBM

meltedbuzzbox said:

I thought one was overdrive and one was distortion? 

Two sides of the same coin really, although there are some differences between the 'definitive' types of each. (eg Tube Screamer and Rat.)

The Guv'nor and Drivemaster circuits are identical apart from some component values - and it's a "distortion" circuit in that the clipping diodes (which are LEDs) are to ground rather than in a feedback loop. But so are some other well-known "overdrive" circuits.

The Shredmaster is substantially different though.

Johnnyseven

The Guv'nor has a jack socket labelled LOOP, the Drivemaster doesn't - no idea what it does though.

meltedbuzzbox

whats the difference on the Shredmaster @ICBM

well apart from the extra gain and the backwards middle pot (or contour)

mike_l

Without too much messing around, and back-to-back, I've been getting pretty similar sounds to a Mk1 Guv from

Blackstar HT-dual, Marshall Jackhammer and a Zvex Distortron.

Admittedly, I haven't had *exactly* the same sound, but I haven't played with them too much, just going for a similar sounds to the Mk1. A little longer and I'm sure I'd get *exactly* the same sound.

ICBM

Johnnyseven said:

The Guv'nor has a jack socket labelled LOOP, the Drivemaster doesn't - no idea what it does though.

It's an insert jack which you can use as an FX loop (with a Y-cable) to put another pedal there so it's only on when the Guv'nor is on - eg a delay which you only want along with your lead sound - or you can use it (with a normal cable) to split the clean and dirty sounds to different amps. Potentially quite useful, although I've never heard of anyone who uses it.

meltedbuzzbox said:

whats the difference on the Shredmaster @ICBM

well apart from the extra gain and the backwards middle pot (or contour)

Essentially the first part of it is like the Guv'nor/Drivemaster (but with other different component values, different 'harder' clipping diodes, and a fixed middle control), then it has a second IC which is an extra tone stage which operates the contour control, and an output buffer.