grunge guitar pedal DRUNK BEAVER Big Grunge

grunge guitar pedal DRUNK BEAVER Big GrungeThe Drunk Beaver Big Grunge is based on the Boss Power Driver PW 2, which was only made for 9 months in 1996 and 1997, and as such remains one of the company's rarest pedals. The PW 2 was intended to be Boss's "grunge" pedal, but they were late to the party and obviously also overlooked the fact that Kurt Cobain was very closely associated with the DS 1 (and later the DS 2). The PW 2 certainly didn't set the world alight at the time, but today you can

The Drunk Beaver Big Grunge is based on the Boss Power Driver PW-2, which was only made for 9 months in 1996 and 1997, and as such remains one of the company's rarest pedals.

The PW-2 was intended to be Boss's "grunge" pedal, but they were late to the party and obviously also overlooked the fact that Kurt Cobain was very closely associated with the DS-1 (and later the DS-2).

The PW-2 certainly didn't set the world alight at the time, but today you can more commonly hear it referred to as "the Oasis pedal" than "the grunge pedal" – not because Noel Gallagher ever used one, but because people who have experienced it have found that you can dial in a really accurate Definitely Maybe sound!

Vitalii has put in hours and hours painstakingly reproducing the original circuit design of the PW-2 because so few accurate schematics exist. But he has made some modifications in places: for example, the Big Grunge's EQ section features a combination of stock and custom frequency bands which he has perfectly tuned.

Big Grunge Circuit

The discrete op-amp design is typical of many Boss dirt pedals, but the biasing of the PW-2 is completely different and uses a lower voltage. There are also no clipping diodes – all the dirt is generated by overdriving the op-amp, which gives a really nice amp-like response.

The discrete op-amp FETs are Toshiba 2SK208 – the modern counterpart of what the PW-2 had – while the single IC used in the EQ section is an RC4558.

Big Grunge EQ

While the PW-2 had 2 frequency bands, the Big Grunge's gyrator-based 3-band EQ allows for finer control over your sound, and offers up to +-15dB of gain per band. The EQ is a combination of stock and custom modes on the Mykolaiv Grunge: 

Low has the "custom" centre frequency of 80Hz instead of the standard 130Hz

Mid has the stock centre frequency of 890Hz

High (not present on the original PW-2) is set at a centre frequency of around 3.5kHz

As per the original, most of the EQ change is achieved in the last few degrees of each knob's travel, but despite this it's a surprisingly effective design - especially with Vitalii's tuned frequency bands.

Big Grunge Demos

Big Grunge Features

• World exclusive - built exclusively for Boost Guitar Pedals!
• Upgraded and updated version of Boss PW-2, Boss's own "grunge" pedal.
• Handmade in Poland
• Power: 9V centre-negative (not included)
• Current draw: <10mA
  
• Dimensions: 125B, 122mm x 66mm x 39.5mm