Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
Thought i’d post this here too in case someone wants to try it out. There’s an old development thread on FSB for this AC30 emulation circuit. There are number of schematic versions with slight differences, but the basics are the same for all of them. It is a nice high gainer with some noise content, … Read more
Smoother sounding than the Mk. II Professional, the Tone Bender Mk. III not only added a tone control, but the circuit was a deviation from earlier Tone Benders. Q1 and 2 create a Darlington pair that amplify the signal, while Q3 is what creates the fuzz. I’ve laid this out for negative ground operation, so … Read more
Who doesn’t love a Klon, right? Here’s the buffer stage of the Centaur. The original Klon uses one side of a TL072 for the buffer and the other for gain stage. If you’re building the just the buffer, you can get away with a TL071. I’ve laid out a perf and PCB for each.
Many associate this pedal with the fuzz tone for “Spirit in the Sky” by Prodigal Son, though I’m fairly sure that theory has been debunked. At any rate, it’s a great sounding fuzz, and should be a fairly easy build.
This is a pretty cool fuzz box. It’s a cross (sonically anyway) between an early Vox Tone Bender and a Big Muff. It uses PNP germanium transistors, but still uses a negative ground power supply. Originals have OC76 transistors with hfe of around 100 for Q1 and 300 for Q2. 300 is high for most … Read more
Here’s another layout for a MOD pedal, the Trill Tremolo. On board pots and LED resistor to reduce the offboard wiring mess. I built this one this past summer and I liked the way it sounds, though the Speed control should probably be a reverse log pot. Haven’t had the opportunity to experiment there yet. … Read more
MOD Kits has several cool effects kits that are point-to-point using tag strips. The only downside to those is they can take up a lot of space in an enclosure. Here’s one of their newest circuits, The Aggressor. It’s a high gain distortion effect. Here’s a sound demo from their site.
FSB forum member Nocentelli posted a schematic for this so I thought I’d draw a perf layout for it. Here’s what he had to say about it: “It’s a fuzz/distortion/dirt circuit designed by Dan Coggins (Lovetone + Dinosaural designer) for ETI magazine in 1993. Having breadboarded it, I like the sound a lot (like Timmy’s … Read more
Here’s my take on the ZVex Fuzz Factory. The originals have the pots mounted to the board as well, but ZVex uses the little square pots which are more expensive. I wanted a layout that used regular 16mm pots, which are easier to come by and what you probably already have in your parts stash. … Read more
This is one of the many variations of the old Electra Distortion. Sounds like a cranked Tweed 5E3 amp. The original Lovepedal Woodrow has just a volume knob, but it’s easy (and useful) to add a gain control. If you just want one knob, connect Gain 3 to Gain 2.