Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
Got a request for a Baxandall tone stack daughter board, (much like the Big Muff Tone Stack daughter board) and thought it was a great idea as it’s a great tone control. The schematic for this came from this article, which is worth the read. I’ve laid it out two ways, one with board mounted … Read more
Here’s a great optical tremolo designed by CultureJam. Schematic can be found here. D1 is the external rate indicator and could be used as the on/off indicator as well. Just use part one pole of your 3PDT to break/connect one of the leads of D1. D2 and the LDR should be isolated together (heat shrink … Read more
Here’s an interesting opamp-based fuzz from Demeter for Fuzz Friday. I imagine other dual opamps can be used in place of the LF442, so socket and experiment. The trimmer in the original seems to be set at 2.5k. Schematic can be found here.
Got a request for the classic DS-1 with some Keeley mods and since my earlier DS-1 layout doesn’t have board mounted pots, it seemed like a good idea. The flip-flop switching has been removed. Here’s the schematic for reference.
Here’s a loud one for you (I am not responsible for any blown speakers that may happen as a result of you building this thing! haha)! It’s a popular preamp and used as a booster by the metal band Meshuggah. It apparently sounds best run at 18v. I didn’t include an onboard charge pump since … Read more
Another Electra variation from Lovepedal. It’s described as a two-stage COT50… I guess the “stages” are the different ways to bias the transistor off the emitter. The stages are switchable via footswitch in the originals, but if you put it on a toggle switch you should be able to fit it in a 1590A. Here’s … Read more
Happy Fuzz Friday, everyone! Got a few requests for this one. It’s a bit like a fuzz in the way a Big Muff is a fuzz–bridges the gap between fuzz and distortion. And it’s somewhat similar to a Big Muff with two gain stages pushing a BMP tone stack. Schematic can be found over on FSB.
Got a request for this one. It’s the active midrange boost (of up to 25dB at around 500Hz) found in Fender’s Eric Clapton signature Stratocaster. Ended up not board mounting the pots for a smaller board for those building this into a guitar. Here’s the schematic for reference.
Here’s one from MXR you probably haven’t heard of before. It was apart of their Commande line of plastic boxed effects from the late 80s. They aren’t highly regarded because of the plastic, but the circuits were pretty well designed. The circuit in question today is a better design than the DynaComp, offering less distortion … Read more
Another drive circuit from Bajaman. He’s been on a tear lately! In his words… Here is my latest build based on the frequency response characteristics of the Diezel VH4 tube head channels 3 and 4, but scaled down into a 9v dc pedal friendly format… I got a chance to try using it on Neil Young’s “Keep … Read more