ONÇA-PINTADA  [/ˈõ.sɐ pĩ.ˈta.dɐ/]

Available now, use the buttons below to get yours!

CLIQUE AQUI PARA VER EM PORTUGUÊS

Onça-Pintada is the Brazilian name for the jaguar, a very adaptable feline present in most of our country’s vast territory, including the Amazon forest, the southern tropical jungles and the central plains. 

This pedal is a booster/drive/fuzz equipped with a couple of selected MP26A germanium transistors, made in former USSR between 1979 and 1986, that we bought in factory sealed boxes; it also carries Soviet NOS diodes (D2G and D9D), carbon comp resistors currently made in Japan, Mallory 150 capacitors, Switchcraft connectors and G0rva Mechano footswitches (more reliable, but with softer click).

We made a Youtube playlist with videos by us and by others, check it out.

The idea for this project was born in the peak of the pandemic, when we weren’t able to offer our traditional line of pedals. That’s why it is soldered exclusively by me, Du Menegozzo (Deep Trip founder and developer of all circuits): I solder all the boards, I assemble the wiring with much care and planning, no margin for errors. It’s like a Deep Trip custom shop, that we’re inaugurating with this pedal and will expand in 2022, with limited batches of boosters, fuzzes and drives, always using New Old Stock components, like germanium transistors and diodes.

The circuit is an original (not based on vintage pedals) with the main goal of recreating (on a clean, low volume amp) the amazing tones of a classic treble booster pushing a tube amp! But it can also be used to push tube distortion or even as a stand-alone low gain fuzz.

The first transistor plays the treble booster part, with low input impedance and asymmetrical amplification, rich in even harmonics as a vintage Dallas Rangemaster; and it pushes the second transistor, with more symmetrical biasing, towards wonderful distortion. The germanium soft clipping combined with the specific frequency response of this particular transistor that we chose finish the recipe and deliver a myriad of irresistible guitar tones!

Even the wires are special, we’re importing pre-bonded spools, more rigid, for a cleaner assembly. Fancy stuff!

The “Foco” knob (it means “focus” in Portuguese) set at maximum is responsible for that typical treble booster tone: honky, focused on the mids, cutting the lows on the guitar for a tone that can cut through anything, zero mud. But if you lower the Foco you can beef up the low end, or even bring some fuzzy low end to your guitar heaven party.

In the”Volume” knob, you have more than enough gas to generate a true avalanche over any amplifier or pedal that dares to be in front of the Onça-Pintada!

This pedal only works with a 9V battery, no power supply input. We can't include a battery in the exported pedals due to international regulations, but we recommend non-alkaline, zinc-carbon batteries. They cost pennies and will last for months, because this circuit draws tiny currents! Don't forget to remove the plug from the input jack whenever you're not using the pedal, so you save the battery's charge.

Besides that, the Onça-Pintada circuit has low input impedance, which is essential to this magical tone. That means it works best when connected directly to a passive instrument, with no other circuit between them. So we recommend you to put it first in your pedal chain for the intended tone. However, nothing impedes (pun intended) you from trying and even preferring its tone after other pedals or buffers, feel free to experiment!

Like any germanium-equipped pedal, Onça-Pintada's behavior and tone are temperature dependent. So, its tone may change in different environments, but we have tested and modified this circuit for pretty extreme temperature changes, so we can assure it will behave properly in any of those real life situations (although it may sound slightly different).

For more consistency, keep your pedal away from heat sources, like warm tubes or heaters, for example. Also avoid storing it under high humidity, because all carbon comp resistors can absorb humidity and drift in value (although we use the newer, tougher ones).