Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
I saw this one pop up recently and decided to take a punt on it (thanks Damian). For the money, I figured it was worth a look even if it only ended up being a decent chassis and set of transformers. Turns out that this amp is a testament to the quality work that Goldetone … Read more
Testing an Unknown Power Transformer Every now and then I end up with a transformer on the bench that I know came from valve gear, but I did not take enough notes when I pulled it. That was the case here. I knew this one came out of an old Zenith radiogram, but that was … Read more
I posted another AWA PA872 a while back, but realised I never actually shared this one. It had been sitting on the shelf for months – one of those projects that was nearly there, but never quite finished. I finally got around to wrapping it up this weekend. This looks to be an earlier unit, although … Read more
Request – here you go & I hope this is what you were after. Could shave off a column or two if that’s a bother. The Fortin is a pretty stock silicon fuzz face with an input blend, a 10k trimmer in place of the usual 8k2 resistor and a 100n cap on the output. … Read more
I came across a series of photos of this build on the PedalPCB forum, and there seemed to be a bit of confusion around the schematic. Thought it was worth documenting some of the observed values here for reference. The board shown below is from the wedge enclosure. There’s also a more pedalboard friendly version, … Read more
Yes, it’s another MKI. I designed this layout based on a Zonk to fit a specific enclosure width. So nothing remarkable, just one for me to use later. MKI TONE BENDER – SHORTY It’s missing the 33k resistor that normally sits across the 50k pot, cause I like to use an A25k instead. I sometimes … Read more
One that I’ve probably overlooked a little, given its place in the early history of English fuzz pedals – which was likely inspired by the Maestro… There was a three-transistor version prior to this called “Fuzzy” which by all accounts is a Maestro. The later versions dropped the input buffer and made the jump from … Read more
I’d never heard of these until this morning – and I could not believe the second-hand prices of the original… especially considering the new price of a hand-made pedal from the builder. It’s kind of a Timmy x boutique Tubescreamer type thing – can find the schematic here. Dual tin can opamp is required – … Read more
One of my projects – just a MKII layout built to suit a particular enclosure and layout style that I’ve been working with lately. The board is just the right size for this enclosure. Most of the assembly is done on a wiring jig first, before transferring it into the enclosure – would be a … Read more
I’m surprised I had not covered this one before, but I suppose it is a MKI, so it should feel fairly familiar. There seem to have been a few different iterations — essentially just different flavours of the MKI, so keep that in mind when choosing transistors and biasing the circuit. Some versions also used … Read more