Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
The EchoPlex Preamp emulates the input stage on the old EchoPlex EP-3. It provides up to 11dB of gain and is mostly used as an always on pedal to sweeten the user’s tone. If you want to add the volume control, use a 500k pot and connect lug 1 at the junction of the 100n … Read more
For Fuzz Friday I give you the ControFuzz from Gretsch. Originals are pretty rare and it’s an fairly unique design based around a single 4558 chip. I found a build report from LucifersTrip over on DIYSB, and he suggested a slight mod to the Distortion control that improves the circuit, so the layout below is … Read more
Someone from the Offset forum asked me about building a looper pedal that when used with a delay pedal would have “tails.” For those who don’t know, “tails” is when a delay is switched off, but the remaining repeats come through the bypass signal. This is a popular mod to the Deep Blue Delay and … Read more
Found this one over on the Tagboard forum and thought it would be a good addition here. It’s a simple noise gate with minimal parts count that can easily fit in a 1590a. I’ve laid it out for a board mounted pot. The schematic calls for a 1M pot, but people have built this using … Read more
Hadn’t done a boost pedal in a while and hadn’t done a Lovepedal pedal in a while either, so I’m killing 2 birds with one stone. The Delux 60 uses a Mosfet gain stage set to give clean boost or to push a tube amp into break up. It’s simple but effective. This’ll fit into … Read more
For those of you who didn’t want 1590A week to end last month, here’s another mini layout for you. It’s an early iteration of the Rebote Delay that features a simple JFET stage at the input, followed by the PT2399 delay stage. Simple, yet effective. Note: mind the 3 electrolytic caps on their sides in … Read more
I haven’t made a detailed project in a while, so for Fuzz Friday here’s the One-Knobber. It’s based on the old Dr. Tony Balls stripboard layout that covered the ColorSound One-Knob, D*A*M Meathead and Dark Meathead, and a one-knob adaptation of the ’66 Vox ToneBender, and I’ve added the Ritual fuzz by Black Arts Toneworks. … Read more
Let’s wrap up this 1590a week with one of the mightiest fuzzes of all time–the Big Muff. For this one, I’ve labeled all the components to correspond with the component names on Kit Rae schematics, so find an EHX version on there and populate the board accordingly. This probably won’t work for some of the … Read more
Continuing on with my 1590A kick, here’s one for the Barbershop Overdrive from Fairfield Circuitry. I’ve modified a few things: first, the polarity protection of the original is a bit excessive, so that’s been simplified. And secondly, I included 2 trimmers to help set the bias of the J201s (you’re welcome, Cody). With 3 pots … Read more
I’ve had a couple requests for a 1590A friendly Tube Screamer, and lately I’ve really been enjoying laying out 1590A boards, so here it is. Since there’s 3 potentiometers, you’ll need to use 9mm pots, and the 3PDT footswitch is board mounted. I would suggest using small profile jacks for this like these, or just … Read more