Thunder Lead

Project overview

Inspired by the tone of the Marshall Superlead, part of the series ‘Develop your own Preamp’ where you can combine preamp sections of iconic amplifiers with different types of EQs in order to create your own custom boutique pedal.

Introduction

You love that massive British Rock´n´Roll tone, but are tired that there are almost all related to the Plexi? Here is something for you. Run-off-Groove´s Thor is a take on the Marshall Super Lead ™. They replaced the Tubes with jets and tweaked it till they got it right. They even came up with a solution for the problem that this kind of circuit usually tempts to have too much gain compared to the original. Btw, the documents on their Page go deeper into this circuit if you want to know more about the theory behind how this circuit has designed.

Back to the sound and what you can expect from it. ROG is known for its amazing-sounding takes on existing designs. So what we did is I pretty much 1 to 1 copy of it but with the major benefits that you do not have to deal with tagboard to make one.

Sound-wise I was pretty surprised that this circuit isn’t done many more times. It Rocks way more than you need for your rhythm playing if gives you creamy leads you know from your favorite records from the 80s with a pretty authentic tube triode-like response. Also, the two toggles for brightness and low-end adjustment make way more sense than one would expect from just the flip of a switch. I really enjoyed playing with this little and easy-to-build project.

Controls

• Gain
• Level
• Bright switch
• Bottom Switch

For further analysis on this circuit take a look at this thread on Free Stomp Boxes Forum.

For any technical questions regarding this build don’t forget to check out our Facebook Group and our forum at Free Stomp Boxes.

Thunder Lead – Building Docs

Thunder Lead – Drilling Template