MI Audio Releases Cross Over Drive and DIY Dual Drive OD Kit

Sydney, Australia (August 20, 2013) -- MI Audio will be releasing a new limited-run overdrive in September called the Cross Over Drive. This pedal was designed to be the swiss-army knife of drive pedals with a seamless transition from boost to overdrive to distortion to fuzz with a sweep of the GAIN knob.

The backbone of the Cross Over Drive are four discontinued FET transistors designed to capture the response and touch-sensitivity of an amp’s organic overdrive. But making a FET stage behave like a particular tube stage is actually a very complex affair and is not a simple substitute like most other FET-based preamp circuits. Our experience in designing valve amplifiers at MI Audio has seen us obsess over every minute detail of the Cross Over Drive’s circuit from operating points, dynamic range, scaling of clipping thresholds, output impedances, intrinsic capacitances due to the Miller Effect… you get the idea! This obsession has led to an original pedal design like no other that becomes a natural extension of your guitar, amp and playing style.

The most coveted guitar tones are those where the guitar, player and amplifier work as one. Every attack on the guitar string, be it by plectrum or finger pick, legato to down-stroke, neck or bridge pickup –all provide a different tone and feel that traditional overdrive pedals can struggle to capture. This response has been the driving force behind the design of the Cross Over Drive and this attention to detail is what sets it apart from the pack.

At its lowest gain, the Cross Over Drive is a boost/enhancer adding some extra sparkle to the guitar’s natural tone. Mid gain mode gives some nice, complex, tube-like overdrive but allows clean-up of the signal via the guitar’s volume knob that A/B’s well against a standard clean. Add a bit more gain for a smooth, harmonic-rich, sustaining lead sound from 70?s rock to jazz-fusion and crank it to enter loose fuzz territory for those big stoner-rock riffs! Due to the nature of its design, every player will make this pedal sound their own – responding to every nuance and attack of your style and genre.

The two knob EQ of DETAIL and BALANCE helps maintain the full drive sound whilst allowing for refinement of the top- and bottom-end. The DETAIL knob provides the body of the overdrive tone with lower settings perfect for bright amplifiers. The BALANCE control allows for the adjustment of the amount of top-end harmonics for either a smooth, round lead sound or turned up for a tone that will cut through a mix.

Specs:

• Hand made in Sydney, Australia with 5 Year Warranty
• Bypass: Heavy Duty 3PDT footswitch with True Bypass
• Power: 9VDC/battery only, 2.1mm jack, negative tip.
• Current draw: 5mA
• Input Impedance: 1M?
• Output Impedance: <25k?
• Controls: Volume, Gain, Detail and Balance
• Enclosure: Durable gold powder coat and screen print finish.
• Size: 2.2" x 4.3" (55.9mm x 109.2mm)

The Cross Over Drive will be limited to a run of 250 and will be available at selected retailers worldwide.
Street price: $199.95

Watch the company's video demo:

MI Audio will be offering a new DIY kit like no other, designed for those who love to build and tinker with effects pedals, and is called the MI DIY Dual Drive OD Kit. If you have ever wanted a custom boutique overdrive pedal, now you can build your own – all you need is a soldering iron and a passion for tone.

The MI DIY Dual Drive OD Kit allows you to build two channels of op-amp based overdrive and/or distortion designs – to your specifications! Each channel has a GAIN, VOLUME, and three-band EQ with the voicing in the hands of the builder. By adjusting stages of gain and clipping options or tailoring the low-end body and high-end presence (via internal trimmers), your pedal will sound like no other.

The kit comes with two printed circuit boards and two unique circuits; one overdrive and one distortion, both with an open design that encourages a number of modifications and wiring options – alternate or stacked, series or parallel. The MI DIY Dual Drive OD Kit also contains all the parts required to build the two circuits including all potentiometers, knobs, jacks, switches and passive components. Also included is a pre-drilled blank aluminium enclosure that is the canvas for your artistic output allowing you to add any artwork you wish.

The MI DIY section of the MI Audio website not only has hints and tips for building these two circuits, but also has posts from some top effects DIY-er’s who have made some interesting and unique pedals with the kit serving as the inspiration. The MI DIY Dual Drive OD Kit is the perfect platform for those beginners who have always wanted to step into the effects DIY world, yet is complex enough for the intermediate and advanced builders to experiment with and design their own circuits.

The MI DIY Dual Drive OD Kit includes:

• Two MI DIY Dual Drive printed circuit boards
• A pre-drilled blank aluminium enclosure
• All components required for the build of the two provided circuits, including potentiometers, knobs, jacks, footswitches, integrated circuits and passive components.
• Instructions for the MI DIY kit is available online at the MI Audio website.

Street price: $129.95

For more information:
MI Audio