TaranisDynamic Distortion

From the vendor

The Taranis Dynamic Distortion is an adaptation of the Mr. Black Thunderclaw, originally released in 2014 and traced by Aion FX in 2024.

The Thunderclaw is not strictly based on any existing pedal, though it does use several building blocks from other distortion designs. The input section and clipping arrangement resembles a RAT with a clean op-amp boost into back-to-back diodes to ground. The two cascaded tone controls are similar to single-band Baxandalls and bear some resemblance to the Tube Screamer tone control, both of which have boost and cut capabilities.

This is followed by an active volume control, with a potentiometer controlling the gain of an inverting op-amp stage, providing a constant output impedance. All of this is powered by a split-rail (bipolar) +/-9V supply using a charge pump, which eliminates the need for coupling capacitors within the circuit. It can also reduce noise since there is no 1/2V reference voltage.

The Taranis is a direct adaptation of the Thunderclaw with no modifications or added features. We have included a zener diode for over-voltage protection as well as some extra power filtering for the ICs, but otherwise it is faithful to the original circuit.