Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
Got a request for the BB Preamp, but not the current version. The earlier version uses a dual-gang pot for the Level control and apparently more bass response. Like many of Xotic’s offerings the BB owes a lot to the classic Tube Screamer. Schematic can be found here. If you’d prefer to build the newer … Read more
Some info about the original: The Pro Analog MK III is a slight twist on the famed Sola Sound MKII Professional circuit- One of the greatest sounding vintage Germanium Fuzz guitar effects pedals of all time! The ProAnalog MkIII Fuzz pedal features a slightly wider dynamic range between low gain and high gain than the … Read more
This is Brian’s version of Bajaman Optical Limiter. Here you can find the original thread. Note: You could swap D3 with 100R resistor and 100uF cap with 220uF if too noisy.
Last week for Fuzz Friday I posted the early version of the Soundwave Breakdown from Death by Audio. Here’s the newer version of DBA’s Soundwave Breakdown with 6 transistors and another external control. On earlier examples of this revision the Sensitivity pot is an internal trimmer, but the newest version seems to have moved it … Read more
Ever hear about “leaky” germanium transistor and wonder how to measure that? Well, here’s a little utility board that allows you to test germanium transistors. It’s based on this article by R. G. Keen, which you should definitely read. It explains pretty much everything going on in this process. I’ve included a switch to allow … Read more
Here’s another overdrive from Lovepedal, the Kalamazoo. Somewhat similar to the Timmy/OD11 but with different tone controls. D5 on originals is a 1N914/4148 (they’re pretty much the same diode), but a 1N5817 or even a 4001 would probably bet better (it’s for polarity protection). Also, I’ve included pads for the capacitor labeled “Cx” on the … Read more
Happy Fuzz Friday, everybody. Ranjam over on FSB traced an early DBA Soundwave Breakdown (serial number 4) which it’s different than the current model. The unit he traced didn’t have the trimmers later units did. Don’t know the original value of those trimmers, but 50-100k is a good starting point. Those trimmers control the input … Read more
Apparently it’s Tube Screamer week. This is Run Off Groove’s adaption of the classic overdrive to work around a CD4049UBE CMOS chip. More info, schematic and sound clip here. As you can see in the schematic, there’s a resistor (RX) where different values will work for different guitar pickup types: 100k for single coils, 220k … Read more
The TS10 was apart of Ibanez’s mid-80s Power Series of pedals. It’s slightly different than a TS9 with an added resistor before signal hits the opamp and a bigger capacitor coming off the volume control. Otherwise not too much is different. I’ve laid this out for 9mm mini pots that can be board mounted from … Read more
Rev2 addresses slight error pointed out by our friend Mr. Bond. Should not affect tone or behaviour too much..