Hey El, if you set OD2 = 0 it should not add any gain, and just pass the signal through (as there is (if OD1 is not set to = 0) already some gain). Loading up the front end with gain (as you are doing) puts more gain into OD1 circuit. But from the other post, setting OD1 = 0 turns this off no matter what you shove into it (hey a little bit may leak through). There is a circuit, the signal passes through it. If you turn the circuit "off" by turning OD1 = 0, then it "stops" the signal at that point. (again a little may squeak through, but shouldn't). Gain is an end to end structure (that we play around with) but needs a complete circuit. You can do all sorts of things on the way (journey) and various toys do different things to the signal, but fundamentally eddy electrons have to get from one end to the other or it doesn't work. Much of your experiments should help you understand this flow, and some of what you have played with are interesting ideas (e.g. turning OD2 = 0 effectively removes a MP1 gain stage (but not entirely, you still get its noise as the signal has to pass through it)). There are other ways to achieve your results with less noise which I've left alone as your experiments should be edifying you as to how gain and circuits works (i.e. you are pushing boundaries that no one would normally bother with, but good for understanding
, but in the end not necessarily the best way to achieve the result). IMO this direction will not lead to a good gain structure for a final sound/tone, but hey if it helps you understand the circuit and gain structure
. Firing up the MP1 input with lots of pre gain will just overload the OD1 circuit (I may be alone here ? but I wouldn't put anything other than a wah pedal in front of the MP1, like WHY?
lets screw it at the start ??), yeah it will cope, (hey if it makes the sound you want, well cool and each to their own (better use a Rockman ??), it's BAD gain structure BTW even if it does cope (but if you prefer transistor distortion to tube, hey fill your boots)). I'm not trying to poo poo your results BTW, it's helping you understand, which is good, but please understand that you are pushing boundaries that may (will possibly) have BAD gain structure results (e.g. will add noise etc).
Hey any sound that works is valid, and you can take any gadget to it's limits, in the end it's what you "want" (it's your sound), but bad gain structure is BAD gain structure, this comes into play much more when the volume goes up to very loud stage levels....