Diamond Fireburst User manual

Thanks for purchasing a Diamond Fireburst!
We hope you have as much fun playing guitar through this pedal as we did designing
and testing it. Our goal is to provide a new twist on higher gain guitar tone, and to make
it just plain fun to play.
Remember to protect your hearing and wear appropriate hearing protection when play-
ing loud…
Design Features
True bypass signal path.
Footswitchable between thick liquid fuzz and focused, mid-boosted distortion.
Premium audio components, including 2% polypropylene capacitors and 1% metal film
resistors.
All discrete-component distortion and mid-boost circuit.
Active Baxandall bass/treble tone control system with audiophile grade op-amp.
Battery or standard negative tip 9V DC adapter operation.
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F I R E B U R S T
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Controls
Gain
This controls the overall distortion level. Backing it off all the way gives a mild distorted sound,
while opening it up moves it quickly into a thickly saturated fuzz/distortion. As you move the
gain past 12 o’clock you’ll notice that the low end also begins to build in strength. The mid-boost
footswitch can be further used to switch between this deep fuzz and a much more focused dis-
tortion sound.
Bass
The bass control allows cut and boost of very low frequencies (<150 Hz), with no cut/boost at
the 12 o’clock position. There is little if any effect on midrange frequencies. In standard fuzz
mode, the pedal already has a tremendous amount of low end response – turning the bass up
can really send it over the top!
Treble
The treble control allows cut and boost of high frequencies (> 3 kHz), with no cut/boost at the
12 o’clock position. There is little if any effect on midrange frequencies. By turning both bass and
treble up, you can effectively achieve a sucked-mid response.
Volume
This adjusts the overall output volume of the box. Once the relative levels of gain and filtering
are set, this control can be used to adjust overall clean vs. effect levels.
Switches
On/Off
This switches the pedal between bypass and in-circuit operation. A red LED indicates that the
pedal is on. The fuzz/distortion mode that the pedal switches to when turned on is dependent on
the current position of the mid-boost switch.
Mid-Boost
This switches the midboost gain/filtering circuit in and out of the signal path. Operation is indi-
cated with the yellow LED on. The mid-boost circuit provides both bandpass filtering and a small
amount of gain to offset the loss of loudness due to the additional filtering. The main goal of the
mid-boost is to tailor the raw distortion sound from a deep fuzz to a much more focused higher
gain distortion sound. It is important to note that even with the overall on/off foot switch turned
off (but an instrument plugged in), the mid-boost switch can still be preset to the desired mode
of operation, with the yellow LED still indicating status of the mid-boost circuit. This allows a gui-
tarist to visually set the pedal to fuzz or mid-boost distortion modes prior to bringing it into the
signal path.
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F I R E B U R S T
Powering
Changing the battery
Changing the standard 9V battery first requires the removal of the four back corner
screws of the pedal. The battery clip is attached to the inside of the back plate - gently
pull the back plate off so as not to strain the connecting wires between the battery clip
and main circuit board. After replacing the battery, carefully place any slack in the con-
necting wires into the box cavity, and replace the back plate with the four screws, taking
care not to pinch the connecting wires.
Using a 9V adapter
Any standard 9V DC negative pin AC adapter for effect pedals can be used to power the
Diamond Drive. The insertion of the AC adapter plug automatically removes the internal
battery from the circuit.
Warranty
Diamond Pedals carry a full five year warranty on registered products - make sure to
send us your warranty card! The warranty is simple - if you have a problem, call us,
send us the pedal if necessary, and we’ll make it right.
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Suggested Settings
The pedal has been designed to give great tone with all four controls at the 12 noon po-
sition. Here are some other settings that we’ve had fun with....
For that high gain garage band sound.
Try the mid-boost on or off.
Seemingly endless sustain, much like you
get with that handy little magnetic string
vibrating device you can buy.
Ouch.
Gettin Dizzy
E-Violin
Eviscerator
PorkNose
Just in case you ever need the sound of a
tiny portable amp with gobs of gain, dial
this setting in...
BassCajones
For fun we tried putting a passive bass
guitar through it, and it sounds pretty darn
good. Doesn’t affect the low end much at
all (at least for a 4-string), yet gives a nice
fuzz grind. Also cool when you turn on the
mid-boost for upper register soloing. Out-
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put levels from an active bass are just a tad
high for a usable effect, unless you really like the sound of square waves.
MidBoost Off
MidBoost Off
MidBoost On/Off
MidBoost On
MidBoost Off
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