This is the first of a number of experiments.
The Elements series was, at least partially, guided by the idea of making circuits with topologies which would be easy to repurpose into new circuits. In other words, the basic layout of each circuit can easily modified in a number of ways to yield distinctly new sounds through.
The Citrine Volcano is the first circuit which is deliberately built on PCB designed for an Element pedal. In this case, it is Earth.
The frequency response is a bit different, but the primary differences are the asymmetrical clipping, hard-wired gain setting, and a switch which changes one key component to a completely different kind of component, itself changing the circuit to one much more similar to Chum than Earth.
In detail: the input and output capacitors are reduced, there is a different transistor at the heart, the clipping diodes have very different forward voltages (making for very asymmetric clipping), and the switch replaces the resistor between the transistor’s collector and base with a diode. This small switch changes the overall sound significantly.
Through experimenting with what specifically to change, there seemed to be too many good options to only make one variant. So, I decided to just make a handful of these and move onto to the next design.
Specially, there are six of these, and no more will be made.
Citrine mode has more in common with Earth than the Volcano mode. The asymmetry of the signal is more pronounced, and it is noticeably louder than the Volcano. It is touch-sensitive, meaning rolling back guitar (or bass) volume will reduce the amount of gain. The clipping is the easiest to hear difference compared to Earth.
The Volcano mode is similar yet distinct from the Chum circuit. Compared to Citrine, it is gated, and more saturated. Rolling back instrument volume will make it even more gated. The frequency response (much more bass) is the easiest to hear difference compared to Chum.