I finally got around to modding my Arion Tube Mania! After months of researching and looking for the schematics of this pedal, to no avail, I just decided to go with my gut and swap out the diodes. The original circuit is “supposed” to be based on a Proco Rat but still very different, at least layout wise.

Since the layouts are so different, doing the typical Rat mods would take way more knowledge than I have so I decided to remove the stock clipping-diodes (2nd picture), replace them with sockets (so I could put in different diodes, depending on taste), and install a germanium transistor (nte102, 3rd picture). The gain/clipping is SO smooth, now!

Audio clips:

- w/ original diodes

- w/ germanium