Impossibility Drive Mini

When you're tired of tone and all else fails, why not totally shiz things up with the Impossibility Drive?

More sound mangler than tone machine, this crazy box of fuzz takes your sound places you may not even know you wanted it to go.

It's very difficult to describe. There are a couple of easy to grasp controls - IN and OUT, which will adjust your gain just like your guitar volume, and your output volume. After that it's anyone's guess, including the original designer. That'll be why the controls are simply numbered rather than named. The other four pots and two switches (more on that below) are totally interactive with each other. Basically the learning curve on this is steep, but the fun and journey of discovery will last for weeks. One of those four is our own addition - a voltage starve control which, frankly, was a massive missed opportunity on the original pedal.

The range of tones available is typical of the circuit designer's oeuvre, going from barely broken up OD to all-out splattery fizz, with all kinds of crazy hoohaa and oscillation freakery in between.

This kit is based on the only schematic available, and is quite an eyeful. We can only assume it's correct as not a lot makes sense.

So what's this for? Getting creative. Stick it in front of another fuzz and let the fun commence. Do NOT expect creamy Gimour tone, and don't come crying about your sanity and lack of sleep once you start messing with it.

The kit is supplied with vertical-mount pots which have round shafts, so you'll need set-screw fitting knobs. Spacing is tight at 17.5mm, so stick with smaller knobs such as 1900H.

If you want the PCB without parts there's a link for that at the bottom of the page.

Partial kit: PCB, all board-mounted components, pots.

Full kit: As above, plus footswitch and appropriate daughterboard/components for your selected bypass type (see Downloads section for details of those), jack sockets, DC socket, battery snap, hook-up wire, LED.

1590B Enclosure (pre-drilled) is available as an option with full kits, and will not take a battery. Knobs are not included.

Difficulty: Improbability

Difficulty: Medium

PCB size: 50 x 54mm

Knobs required: 6

Enclosure: 1590B

Direct Connect compatible (4-way)

Download the INSTRUCTION PDF