The Drive of Malice

November 1 production ladder update

Production specification: Two-step zener ladder: soft shoulder from ±3.65 V, flat at ±4.55 V.

The production D2 zener has its cathode toward D1. These are the production values specified in the November 1 update. Re-match Volume when changing clipping combinations.

November 2026 · production reference

The November 1, 2026 website brief supersedes the earlier Revision C component values, plots and prototype configuration notes. This page describes the production specification and the supplied October–November bench results.

The original Revision C Word reference remains available as a dated source document; use the production tables here for current values.

The Malice main board

The 60.0 × 106.4 mm board carries the drive amplifier, twelve-LED ring, hard-clip ladder, CRz fuzz and the panel connections.

Turn and explore all six boards in the 3D stack

Signal path

Input → Wall of Ice → Twin Assassins / Notch Blend → Drive and LED ring → optional hard-clip ladder → optional CRz fuzz → Aurora Curtain → optional compressor and gate → Volume → output.

1. What this section does

This is the heart of the pedal: the stage that turns a clean signal into a distorted one, and the two additional clipping circuits that sit alongside it. Three tiers live here, each reachable from the panel: a high-gain amplifier that clips softly into a ring of red LEDs (always in circuit), a zener ladder that clamps hard (the Clean switch), and a two-transistor fuzz (the CRz switch). They can be used alone or stacked, and they are arranged so that each one takes a portion of the waveform the one before it left.

The drive keeps bass fundamentals available while three R–C voicing legs balance bass, mids and treble at the LED ring. Wall of Ice and Twin Assassins shape the signal before clipping; Aurora Curtain shapes its upper harmonics afterward.

2. The drive amplifier

The op-amp gain stage uses three R–C voicing legs. The Dist control provides up to 23 kΩ effective feedback, with R54 = 220 kΩ shunting the pot. The reference sweep uses 12.2 kΩ feedback, about half travel.

At that setting, the supplied small-signal sweep rises from about +38.6 dB at 200 Hz to +43.6 dB at 20 kHz: a 5 dB spread. Bass, mids and treble now reach the LED ring at similar pick levels. With a playing-level 200 mV input, the whole band reaches the ring ceiling together rather than the treble arriving first.

Read the chart data

Frequency (Hz)	Relative gain (dB)	Absolute gain, approx. (dB)
200	0	38.6
300	0.5	39.1
500	1	39.6
1000	2	40.6
2000	3	41.6
3000	3.8	42.4
5000	4.5	43.1
10000	4.9	43.5
20000	5	43.6

Read the chart data

Frequency (Hz)	Before (dB)	After legs, no shelf (dB)
100	29	37.5
5000	36	40

Presence shelf and Aurora Curtain

U3A adds a presence shelf with Rf = 5.6 kΩ and Rg = 10 kΩ in series with 3.9 nF to ground. The reported shelf is about +4 dB above 3 kHz, with its half-way point around 3 kHz and a flat region below 1 kHz.

The 200 kΩ Aurora Curtain control closes to a corner around 3 kHz, matched to that shelf. Open and closed responses lie together below 1 kHz. Closed, the response stays broadly flat within about 1 dB from 200 Hz to 3 kHz, then rolls off; open, it adds presence. The control therefore moves from a flat balance toward +4 dB presence, with useful travel across its range. A numerical closed-Curtain sweep was not supplied, so this comparison is described in words.

3. Tier 1: the LED ring

Two opposing strings of six red LEDs share R53 = 470 Ω in the nonlinear feedback path. As they conduct, they add feedback and progressively round the peaks. The soft knee is around 9 V and the ceiling around 12 V.

Ring onset depends on playing level: about 50 % Dist with a hot pickup, and about 80–95 % with a light touch. These are observed ranges, not a fixed knob threshold. Rail grind on the ±15 V supply begins above about 1.5 V peak at the input jack.

The LED network remains connected when the Clean switch bypasses the ladder. With low enough signal and Dist, it conducts little; increasing level moves progressively into rounding.

4. Tier 2: the zener ladder

Production specification: Two-step zener ladder: soft shoulder from ±3.65 V, flat at ±4.55 V.

The production D2 zener has its cathode toward D1. These are the production values specified in the November 1 update. Re-match Volume when changing clipping combinations.

The Clean switch engages or bypasses this ladder after the LED-feedback drive. CRz independently adds the transistor fuzz. Each stage reshapes the waveform arriving from the previous stage.

5. Tier 3: the CRz fuzz

CRz uses MMBT3904 and MMBT5088 transistor stages, with Asymmetry, Fuzz Gain and Fuzz Level trimmers behind the front panel. Its own low cut near 100 Hz gives it a different bass balance from the ring and ladder. Overload recovery with fuzz engaged is about 50 ms; this is a fuzz-stage result, not a settling-time specification for the whole pedal.

6. Coupling and output

Every coupling corner on the main board is below 2 Hz. C30 with R58 = 1 MΩ gives a reported corner of 0.72 Hz. After clipping, the signal passes through Aurora Curtain, then the optional compressor and gate, and reaches Volume and the output buffer.

Presence shelf and Aurora Curtain

U3A adds a presence shelf with Rf = 5.6 kΩ and Rg = 10 kΩ in series with 3.9 nF to ground. The reported shelf is about +4 dB above 3 kHz, with its half-way point around 3 kHz and a flat region below 1 kHz.

The 200 kΩ Aurora Curtain control closes to a corner around 3 kHz, matched to that shelf. Open and closed responses lie together below 1 kHz. Closed, the response stays broadly flat within about 1 dB from 200 Hz to 3 kHz, then rolls off; open, it adds presence. The control therefore moves from a flat balance toward +4 dB presence, with useful travel across its range. A numerical closed-Curtain sweep was not supplied, so this comparison is described in words.

7. Production specifications

8. Production service checks

• Use secure locking connectors for the ±15 V rail leads and confirm both rails before calibration.
• For the drive response reference, use 20 mV drive, Dist at 12.2 kΩ, filters open and a 10× output probe. Probe correction is already included in the published chart data.
• Check the three voicing legs, R54 = 220 kΩ, R53 = 470 Ω and the production ladder values against the tables above.
• Match output level after changing clipping or dynamics settings.

9. Production update

The November production update changes R5 to 150 Ω, C3 and C11 to 47 µF each, C25 to 680 nF, R54 to 220 kΩ and R58 to 1 MΩ. It specifies the U3A presence shelf and replaces the earlier response plots with the supplied production data.

The earlier Revision C document is retained as a source record, rather than as the current parts or calibration specification.

10. Working with the complete chain

Input → Wall of Ice (+6 dB, with the gate key taken after it) → Twin Assassins / Notch Blend → drive and LED ring → optional ladder → optional CRz fuzz → Aurora Curtain → optional compressor and gate → Volume → output.

Production compressor setup · Player’s guide

Earlier source documents

The original Word references below predate the November production update. Their component values, charts and feedback presets are historical; use this page and the current compressor setup for production values.

• Steward of the Seas user’s guide · Rev 2Word document · 0.5 MB · 25 October 2026
• Steward of the Seas technical design guide · Rev 2Word document · 4.2 MB · 25 October 2026
• Drive of Malice technical reference · Rev CWord document · 1.1 MB · 25 October 2026