Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
I accidentally messed up a small Colorsound Fuzz Box board by drilling mounting holes in the wrong place – but I didn’t want to waste the vero board, and I thought an Electra Distortion & Colorsound Fuzz Box might make a nice pair of one-knob pedals. Perhaps not the most exciting post to return … Read more
I came across this while browsing one of the usual forums recently and thought it looked like an interesting Rangemaster variant. Silicon or germanium transistor, variable boost, quiet, standard power supply… seems to have a lot going for it as far as treble boosters go. Here’s the thread on DIY Stompboxes (Peter is FSFX) … Read more
I’d somehow missed this one. The Ace Tone FM-3 Fuzz Master is similar to the Ace Tone FM-2 in looks and name, but that’s where the similarities end. The FM-2 is based on the Univox Super Fuzz and the FM-3 is a Big Muff variant. Schematic can be found here on Kit Rae’s BMP … Read more
A bit of a classic – the MK1.5 Tone Bender. Some great phots and background information here on Fuzzboxes.org and some great video demos below – who better than Ant Macari to talk Tone Benders. Note that some earlier versions carried a 500k volume pot, instead of 100k resulting in more bass – ultimately bringing it … Read more
Just a reference for me – this is specifically for this layout mounted above the pots. MKI TONE BENDER OFF-BOARD WIRING PLAN The final soldering of the board to the pots has not been done yet – that will be done when it is mounted on the actual enclosure lid, as opposed to the dodgy piece … Read more
I guess this is where it all started – The Glenn Snoddy Fuzz-Tone. I modified an existing MKI layout on the larger vintage size vero for this, sized to fit in a wedge enclosure. Initially, I was going to do the original layout used, but it was a bit of a mess – as was the practice … Read more
The Sunn Buzz is an odd little fuzz from the mid-to-late sixties. It’s silicon and runs on a single AA battery (1.5v) with a topology vaguely similar to the Fuzztone. The design was fairly questionable – the fuzz box had to be plugged into the amp input jack, which would have been fairly limiting. … Read more
The AIWA TP-1011 is the reel-to-reel tape preamp Richie Blackmore from Deep Purple used to drive his Marshall. I’m not a huge Deep Purple fan, but I do like the sound of some of these old reel-to-reel preamps. This layout is for the stock circuit running at 18v. If I ever get around to breadboarding the … Read more
The Fuzztone is an early design of Dan Coggins before Lovetone or Dinosaural appeared. The first publication in ETI (Electronics Today International magazine) actually had an error on the schematic – it wasn’t critical, as it just changed the frequency response a little, and it lost some level along the way in the filter … Read more
I purchased a Vox Escort amplifier a little while back, and it’s quite a cool little transistor amplifier. It’s a simple transistor amp from the early seventies with an IC-based amplifier. It screams when turned up. Here’s my original post with more information on the amplifier (including a schematic). Anyway, I thought I might try recreating one, albeit in a different … Read more