TROTSKY DRIVE

A while ago, I found a chap from Moscow selling NOS Russian transistors on the bay. I ordered a box of KT312 silicon NPN devices and within a few weeks, my package from the former Soviet Union arrived. I had been playing around with single transistor designs to achieve a boost/light overdrive design that added sparkle and a nice high-end. After various attempts, I came up with a design based on the old Electra distortion, a module fitted in Electra guitars in the 1970's. The Trotsky is very similar to the Electra, but adds germanium clipping diodes, a bright switch, variable gain and a volume control.