The Breaker - Overdrive kit

The older I become, the less Im interested in heavy OD-sounds. Nevertheless, for my G3 Blues Amp I still wanted some nice mild (= bluesy!) Overdrive. Purchasing a DIY-kit is always a surprise: You never know what you gonna get; in thebox of musical chocolats ;-). However, this Breaker-kit sounds good. Every part was shipped carefully and labelled. Well done by MD. Indeed, almost like a tube-amp on the very edge of breaking. No heavy distortion, but a musical and mild overdrive.
Be aware, after the 3 o clock setting, the sound becomes unmusically detoriated as if the whole device is clipping or so.
An interesting feature fir me was to combine this DIY-kit with a BlueLay-kit in ONE bigger (BBDD-)enclosure. To obtain a handy device for my small G3-Blues amp. On summary. The Breaker is a nice and affordable kit: rather simple to build. Especially good for starters.

Experiment
A few weeks later... I wanted ánd ordered a second kit (very affordable without enclosure) for some experiment. First, I tried to
replace the four delivered diodes by Germanium diodes (1N949). And second I placed a NE5532 (A)P chip in stead of the usual TL072P. In theory a sensitive idea... But I found out that there is not enough space/width on the PCB-print to house the bigger Ge-diodes. In my case the brittle glassy house broke due to the tension build-up where the leads are connected to the housing. Something like that 🤔. Not advisable except with serious and careful treatment. So, there were no interesting changes in sound, as I hoped and expected before...

B. B., 09.12.2021

Very very good kit, with good manuals, easy to built even for a noob like me.
Awesome...!

This is a little demo clip from me... Cheers!!!

https://youtu.be/Hh-YLN1mltk

Andrea P., 30.12.2021

cest une overdrive superbe !

Le montage en lui même ne pose pas de soucis pour peu quon prenne son temps.

Leffet en lui même correspond très bien aux descriptif : dynamique et réactif. Un poil brillant peut être...


Bref, que du bon !

Sylvain T., 21.03.2022

The building was pretty straightforward. Warning!
Please observe the little dot in the lower right corner of the cip and check the schematic again for placing it. I didn’t and almost destroyed the circuit, it got insanely hot.
Musikding please mark the right placement of the cip in the instructions more clearly! It can be overlooked, I know I did. The sounds one can get with this pedal are grand. Even though I don’t like this buzz word it’s truly a transparent drive. Add it to you board, you’ll love it!

Filip D., 07.12.2022

Comme toujours la qualité du kit est au rendez vous. Composants de qualité bien identifiés et bien rangés dans des petits sachets, un réel plaisir pour l’assemblage. Il suffit de suivre le schéma de câblage et cela fonctionne du premier coup. Pas de difficultés particulières pour la mise en œuvre, faites attention à bien identifier les potars de 100k, il y a un Log et un Lin. Le son par contre, là cest fabuleux on peut réellement ciseler le son obtenu, si vous aimez le son Clapton époque Bluebreakers vous avez fait le bon choix. Vraiment un OD de très grande qualité, le son est génial aussi bien avec ma Red comme ma Strat. A mettre sur votre pédalier sans hésitation.
Eric guitariste amateur.

GODRY E., 18.01.2023

Leicht zusammenzubauen, klingt hervorragend clean und leicht angezerrt, relativ wenig Stoergraeusche.

Oleg S., 04.02.2023

Easy to mount, also in type B housing.
A little too bright.
To remove the brightness, add a MKT 4.2nf capacitor at the output of the circuit. (Pcb: out and Grd).
On a 5F2 or 5E3 amp, great Clapton or Mayer sound.
Very Great

stephane p., 11.03.2023

preacisely delivered, easy to assemble, great sound!

Jore S., 03.05.2023

Adds some extra sparkle to your tone, this is a relatively low gain pedal. Easy to build (1-2 evenings) as a novice.

Erik Å., 09.08.2023