VFE Ice Scream

The VFE Ice Scream is an overdrive designed to push higher gain amps into meltdown. It starts with a mid boost stage before the gain circuit, then adds variable low and high cuts, so a player can shape exactly which part of the signal gets driven. VFE's designer, Peter, described the goal as an overdrive with the flexible midrange control of the ST9 but the warm drive characteristics of the TS808¹. It is available as a DIY project: Madbean Pedals sells the circuit boards and publishes the build document¹.

What it does to your sound

The Ice Scream takes the familiar Tube Screamer idea and opens it up. A standard Ibanez TS808 creates its signature mid hump by removing bass, removing treble and amplifying the remaining midrange, with soft clipping via a pair of diodes, as Origin Effects' technical analysis puts it². GuitarPlayer's reviewers described the TS-808 as delivering "warm, grainy distortion, plenty of output, and has a strong upper-midrange bump that colors your gui[tar]"³. The Ice Scream keeps that warm drive character but makes the midrange a controllable feature rather than a fixed voicing, with a mid boost stage ahead of the gain circuit and low and high cut controls after it¹.

That puts it in the same family as modded Tube Screamers aimed at high gain amps. The Fortin-Modded Ibanez TS808 Tube Screamer, for example, is voiced with an enhanced upper midrange to accentuate pick attack and harmonics while retaining low-end girth, with a full-frequency response⁴⁵. The Ice Scream reaches a similar place by design: the mid boost before the gain stage, plus the cut controls, lets the builder dial in where the emphasis sits.

Controls

A couple of parts notes from the build document: the included 1MD is a 1MA with a tighter tolerance (10% versus 20%), and the 10kC pots are hard to source, with 10kB suggested as a substitute¹.

Versions: Vanilla, Mint and Sherbet

There are three versions of the Ice Scream, each with slightly different values in key components¹. The Vanilla and Mint versions differ in their MIN and MAX values, volume pot, and MAX capacitor:

Both rows come from the same build document¹. The final run combined the extended EQ and gain range of the Sherbet version with the asymmetrical clipping of the Mint version, with the clipping configuration still changeable via internal DIP switches¹. The document's builder socketed all the components related to the variations while working through which version he liked best, an approach worth copying if you cannot decide¹.

Building one

The Ice Scream is built on Madbean Pedals circuit boards into a 1590B enclosure¹. The active devices are a Q1 MPSA18 transistor, IC1 4558 and IC2 4558 (the 4558 on the upper left of the PCB)¹. Power comes from a 9V DC supply, with the manual's measurements taken at 9.42V from a One Spot, drawing 20mA; the circuit uses the charge pump option on the switching board for +/-9V rails¹.

For troubleshooting, the manual gives these voltage checks with all knobs at their middle position¹:

• IC1 pin 8: 8.88V¹
• IC1 pin 4: -8.6V¹
• Q1 collector: 8.88V¹

Technical assistance for builds is available via the madbeanpedals forum rather than email¹.

Licensing

Purchased VFE_IceScream circuit boards may be used for both DIY and small commercial operations. The boards may not be resold or offered as part of a commercial kit, but peer to peer resale is fine¹.

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