Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
The Velvet Fuzz is a unique fuzz that combines amp emulation and 2 different selectable fuzz tones. The toggle selects between a LM386 (Tight) circuit, and a 2N5089 (Big) circuit. These then push a Plexi Drive circuit that gives the Marshall amp emulation. The modular nature of this design gives you the option to have … Read more
Another amp emulation overdrive from Wampler that’s supposed to sound like (you guessed it) a cranked Vox. This one has been discontinued, but was very popular. It’s very similar to the Plexi-Drive, but doubles the transistors and there are a few component changes. I’ve added trimmers to help bias the J201s.
I’ll give you heads up now. This is going to be Wampler Week. I laid out the Plexi-Drive a long while ago, but I wanted to give this “Marshall-in-a-box” circuit another go with board mounted pots and trimmers for those pesky J201 JFETs.
A small Germanium Booster/OD. Original using NPN Germanium Transistors. Since PNP Germaniums are more readily available, cheaper, and reliable here’s a PNP version. Remember you can NOT daisy chain this with NPN devices. And here’s a layout that’s a touch larger, but includes an onboard inverter to give you the ability to daisy chain it. … Read more
A super rare pedal from the UK from 75-77. When they come up for sale they go for stupid amounts of money, >$700. The only information I could find about it. This interesting pedal is Top Gear’s most dynamic, and combines both their Fuzz and Treble Boost circuitry into one versatile effect. Even though the … Read more
I came across this on FSB forum last night and it peaked my interest and seems to be a unique part of the fuzz history. As the emperor of the Germanium Deathstar, and as a loyal follower of fuzz I couldn’t not make a layout for this. And come on, who doesn’t love dirty, nasty … Read more
A great sounding heavy distortion by VFE Pedals. You can find schematic and info on their website here.
For Fuzz Friday here’s a really cool circuit designed by Lubdar over on the Madbean forum. It’s inspired by Death by Audio designs and can go from overdrive to full on fuzz. If you can’t get a DBA design working, give this one a shot. Here’s what he had to say about it: It’s a … Read more
Another great pedal from VFE. You can find schematic and info on their website here.
About a month or so ago, Hungry Robot Pedals made a limited run of overdrives called the Mosfet Screamer. As the name implies, it’s based of the classic Ibanez Tube Screamer, but with a fair amount of modification. Eric from Hungry Robot was kind enough to share the schematic on Instagram, so a big thanks … Read more