Electric Roots GERMAN SHEPHERD User manual

German Shepherd @ Electric Roots
Version 1.0
10/15/2020
GERMAN SHEPHERD
Are you searching for a crushing, amp-like distortion sound? Look no further!
Our German Shepherd is a very aggressive JFET preamp/distortion with tons of
modding options. Form your sound by changing particular parts of the German
Shepherd (e.g. clipping diodes) and unleash the beast!
59x54mm

German Shepherd @ Electric Roots
Version 1.0
10/15/2020
Knobs
VOL
Controls the output volume
DRIVE
Controls the amount of gain
BASS
Controls the low frequencies
MID
Controls midrange frequencies
TREBLE
Controls the high frequencies
BOM
Resistors
R1
1M
R2
N/A
R3
1k5
R4
510k
R5
33k
R6
47k
R7
100k
R8
1k
R9
N/A
R10
43k
R11
33k
R12
22k
R13
22k
R14
100k
R15
2k
R16
N/A
R17
43k
R18
100k
R19
33k
R20
1M
R21
43k
R22
47k
R23
24k
R24
24k
R25
33k
R26
33k
Capacitors
C1
100pF
C2
100uF(elec)
C3
22uF(elec)
C4
220nF
C5
4n7
C6
470p
C7
4n7
C8
100nF
C9
3n3
C10
100uF(elec)
C11
470pF
C12
2n2
C13
2u2(elec)
C14
47nF
C15
470pF
C16
2u2(elec)
C17
100uF(elec)
C18
100uF(elec)
C19
220pF
C20
22nF
C21
22nF
C22
470nF
Transistors
Q1
SST5484
Q2
SST5484
Q3
2N7000
Q4
2N7000
Q5
2N7000
Q6
SST5484

German Shepherd @ Electric Roots
Version 1.0
10/15/2020
Diodes
D1
1N4148
D2
1N4148
D3
1N4148
D4
1N4001
Potentiometers
VOL
B1M
DRIVE
A100k
BASS
B1M
MID
A20k/A25k
TREBLE
A250k
TRIM1
100k
TRIM2
100k
TRIM3
100k
TRIM4
100k

German Shepherd @ Electric Roots
Version 1.0
10/15/2020
Suggestions
Beware of Counterfeit components, if you want quality products, order a kit ,
don’t use ceramic capacitors over 1nF they tend to have microphonic
characteristics in some setups.
The 2N7000 can be replaced with BS170, just flip it 180 degrees!
Wiring

German Shepherd @ Electric Roots
Version 1.0
10/15/2020
Notes
This PCB requires proper JFET biasing. They need to be biased to around 4,5V but
you can also do it by ear. If you want to bias them correctly, you need to hook up
the PCB to a 9V power supply. Take your multimeter and connect the black
(negative) tip to ground and the positive tip to „Drain“ (Have a look at the
schematic, it’s marked with a „D“).
You can now read the voltage and carefully trim those pots one after another.
CLR is usually 4k7 – 10k. The value depends on how bright you like your status LED.
Mods
Try different transistors (SST5457)
Try different diodes (D1, D2, D3)
You can also tweak the tone stack to your liking

German Shepherd @ Electric Roots
Version 1.0
10/15/2020
Schematic

German Shepherd @ Electric Roots
Version 1.0
10/15/2020
License
By buying and using this product you confirm that you have read, understood
and accepted our Terms and Conditions (electric-roots.com/termsandconditions).