Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
The Talons is a great sounding overdrive pedal and is EQD’s take on the Marshall Guv’nor. FSB member Zedsnotdead traced it and requested a layout with board-mounted 9mm pots to fit in a 1590B. As per usual, the pots should be mounted on the solder-side of the board. Watch out for the EQ pots as … Read more
The White Light is based on the MXR Distortion +/DOD 250 circuit, but with some modernization and improvements. There’s an added tone control called “Weight” and the toggle switch adds compression by adding an extra germanium clipping stage. The board is laid out for solder-side mounted right angle PCB pots or you could use long … Read more
The Rocket is Aron Nelson’s modified version of Gus Smalley’s 3 Transistor Fuzz. Basically it’s a Fuzz Face with an emitter follower in front of it. Just about any medium to high gain transistor will work. Not a bad idea to socket some of the capacitors and try different values (see Aron’s schematic and notes … Read more
The Dr. Quack is Jack Orman’s improvement on the EHX Dr. Q envelope filter. Basically, there’s an added input buffer to increase the input impedance (which is kinda low in the Dr. Q) and offers better range control. Check out Jack’s blog post on the circuit for more information and a few mods.
The Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay is regarded as one of the best PT2399 based delays out there (with the price tag to match that reputation). It’s a warm and natural sounding circuit with an analog direct signal path (aka, no buffers), and plays nice with distortion boxes as well. I’ve labeled IC1 as a … Read more
Here’s a quick one. Fairly simple silicon fuzz from the 60s. AstroTone marketed these under their own name, as well as making them for Sam Ash. I laid this one out so the board mounted pots are in a triangular layout. The Attack and Volume controls are mounted on the component side, while the Tone … Read more
Found the schematic for this over in the Aron Nelson Gallery. It’s designed by Scott Frein. Uses a simple JFET buffer to help push the transistor-based drive section. Here’s his description: A pretty simple overdireve. The buffer on the front really brings it to life. Good AC/DC,ZZ Top crunch from this. Hit it with a … Read more
This is DAM’s take on the silicon FuzzRite. Loud, snarly, and nasty fuzz tones in this circuit. Q1 is a KSP42, which seems to be pretty similar (if not the same) to a MPSA42. I’ve read of MPSA18s working in that spot as well. Q2 is a 2N4401, which should be easier to track down, … Read more
Jen was an Italian electronics company that produced a lot of OEM stuff for other companies (Vox, Gretsch, etc.) as well as marketing their own line of effects. For instance, the HF Modulator was the same effect as the Gretsch Playboy. This effect is a ring modulator and sounds fantastic with a fuzz pushing it. … Read more
