God City Instruments – Socialist Jr. V1.0 Build Guide
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GOD CITY INSTRUMENTS – Socialist Jr. V1.0 Build guide
The God City Instruments (GCI) Socialist Jr. is a highly modified interpretation of the original Brutalist Jr. DIY
distortion PCB. A number of revisions and additions have been made to incorporate common mods and to
improve performance. The resulting circuit is a highly versatile, high gain distortion pedal with some clever EQ
controls and a wide range of saturation.
Please note, all switches used in this PCB are PCB-‐pin style and not solder-‐lug. “Mid” shift is a on/on DPDT,
“dark” switch (named “bright” in the first batch of PCB’s) is an on/on SPDT, and “clip” is a on/off/on SPDT. If a
on/on SPDT is used for clip, the middle position won’t work and D1 and D2 don’t need to be populated.
A note regarding the “clip” switch – if a on/off/on is used, D1 and D2 will be in the connected regardless of
which position the switch is in. However, since the clipping threshold of a 1n4148 and 1n34a is roughly 1/3
that of an LED, the LED’s will be largely out of the circuit in position 3 and only the red LED will be in the circuit
in position 1. So, the clipping modes are; 1.) LED/Ge, 2.) LED, 3.) asymmetrical silicon. For a wider difference
in gain between the clipping modes, try omitting D1 and bridging D4 and D5 with a single 1n4148.
This pedal is an easy build, but this guide is intended for people who have some experience building pedals.
Component sourcing, component identification, assembly techniques, wiring stomp switches, etc. is not
covered. The GCI Brutalist Jr. assembly guide has helpful information for less experienced builders. That guide
can be found here:
http://www.kurtballou.com/brutalistjr/
A complete parts kit is not available at this time, but check this Google sheet for ordering information from
many parts used in this PCB. It lists one possible brand and supplier for all parts commonly used by GCI, but
many other brands and suppliers will work just as well.
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gRTF1VFbeBc9FX1ohjrtKPWfhw_TVHnxki03l3m7lcU/edit?pli=1#gid=27209
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Available separately is the GCI 3PDT utility PCB for PCB pin 3PDT footswitches. This PCB makes footswitch
wiring quick and easy. Not compatible with solder lug style switches.
Don’t forget to connect the ground pad of the PCB to the ground lug of the input, output, and DC power jacks!
And the long leg of the status LED should go through the square pad.
Due to the scope of this project, technical support is not available. However, consider joining the GCI DIY PCB
Builders group on Facebook to get advice from and share your work with other builders. We require that all
group members agree to the rules before being accepted into the group.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2454786551255317/
Component values for the PCB as well as some alternate values are listed below. This is a BOM for the PCB
only. Resistors and diodes are 6.3mm leg spacing, film and ceramic capacitors are 5.08mm leg spacing, and
electrolytic capacitors are 2.54mm leg spacing. I/O jacks, DC jack, switch, enclosure, and knobs are not listed.
The schematic and a drill template for a 125BB (1590BBM) sized enclosure are also attached.
