Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
Here’s a classic circuit from Dan Armstrong–the Red Ranger. It’s a booster with a switch for boosting treble, full range, or bass. Original units didn’t have a volume control, but it could easily be added to the output.
Here’s another Dan Armstrong effect. It’s part ring modulator (when playing chords) and part octave (when playing on the neck pickup, high on the fretboard with the guitar tone control down). For the clearest octave effect, match the diodes as closely as possible for forward voltage. It might also be worth matching the 47nF caps … Read more
Here’s a quicky for your Saturday. The Blue Clipper was one of the small effects units by Dan Armstrong that plugged straight into your guitar output jack. It uses one side of a JRC4558 to produce a basic distortion effect.
The Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer compressor has become a staple among the DIY community. Original units plugged straight into the guitar, with no external controls except for an on/off switch. This layout has the level control offboard, but the bias is a 10k trimpot, but could easily be wired offboard as well. And you should … Read more
Another addition to Dan Armstrong library, The Purple Peaker treble booster. This layout is using two SPDT switches instead of the original setup. You could get closer to the original with using 2PDT, taking the ground to pins 2 & 5, Lo wire to pins 1 & 3, and finally Hi to pin 5 – … Read more
Adding to Dan Armstrong library, The Yellow Humper bass booster. This layout is using two SPDT switches instead of the original setup. You could get closer to the original with using 2-pole On-Off-On switch, taking the ground to pins 2 & 5, Lo wire to pins 1 & 3, and finally Hi to pin 6 … Read more
Not a lot of demos about these nice little circuits. Anyway. Dan was a great man. One of my idols. If you’re not familiar with the man and his work, you could check out http://www.danarmstrong.org/ I just built this one too and it’s really great sound heater. Something you might want to leave on all the … Read more
Request, to give Miro something to do with his morning :o) Info about the original: The Blue Clipper is an excellent fuzz-tone with incredible sustain. They’re back! The legendary Dan Armstrong Sound Modifiers are now available again and they’re better than ever. These units are now 100% USA made and are hand-built to authentic 1975 … Read more
This one is verified. Level and Sustain are both 10K And with external Sustain control:
Here’s a more unusual effect. Playing chords it has a ring mod-ish quality to it, but played higher up the fretboard and using the neck pick up with tone control down gives a very prominent octave effect which sounds great. You’ll notice I shared holes for the diodes and a couple of the resistors, this … Read more