Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
Here’s a cool variation on the MXR DynaComp. Apparently it’s well loved by Rickenbacker players for adding even more Byrd-like jangle to their tone. It’s laid out for board mounted pots and you should be able to squeeze it into a 1590B.
This day had to come. Recently i was asked if i could build a vintage sounding treble booster for modern pedal board. Sure. Why not. And quick looking around showed that there were not that many (!?) rangemaster modernizations around. Or yes there are, but most of them do have something wrong with them – … Read more
It’s Fuzz Friday time again, and this week I give you the Ampeg Scrambler. This one’s a pretty rare one, even back when it was originally made in the late 60s. It’s a pretty crazy octave fuzz with a clean blend. Originals used 2N5306 for Q1, 3, and 4, and a BC169 for Q2, but … Read more
Here’s a pretty versatile and unique overdrive from Smallsound/Bigsound. The designer, Brian, was kind enough to share his schematic over on FSB, so a big thanks to him! I’ve laid this out for board mounted pots and added trimmers to help bias Q1 and Q3. I posted the layout on FSB and JohnK has already verified … Read more
Another circuit by Mesa Boogie. This one uses an Inductor, a dual LED and a different Bypass Switch wiring. There’s already an unverified layout (multiple boards) by Savvas in the Contributions section of the forum but I wanted to add one on a single board. You can find the original thread and schematic here.
Got a request for this one. It’s an interesting variation of the Tube Screamer circuit, but with a lot of changes and modifications. There’s an optional boost switch you can include if you like that’s not apart of the original. If you don’t want to include it, just don’t populate the 270Ω resistor and 2.2uF … Read more
A slightly modified version of Xotic BB Preamp from Mesa Boogie. You can find original thread and schematic here.
A “Mini” version of Smallsound/Bigsound Fuck Overdrive. Thanks to Brian for uploading his original schematic! (You can find original thread and schematic here.) 11/07/16 Layout updated! Brian has suggested to use J201 for Q2 & Q4 and to add a 10K trimpot between V+ and the Bias pot.
For Fuzz Friday, here’s the original Fuzz War from Death by Audio. It’s essentially 5 gain stages going into a Big Muff-esque tone stack, into a clipping stage and a final gain stage. Here’s the schematic for reference. Original models have the Fuzz control as a trimmer internally, but I’ve laid that out as an … Read more
Got a request for this one. It’s the bass version of the Voodoo distortion. It’s a very popular bass effect, especially in Japan apparently, but also sounds great with guitar too. A transistor stage at the input pushes a Rat-like LM308 distortion section, followed by a Big Muff-style tone stack and a simple output buffer. … Read more