Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
With all the recent talk and hype of the DigiTech Bad Monkey lately, and the sky rocketing prices of them on Reverb, a layout seemed to be in order. I used to gig with one of these and loved the Low control on it. Helped it stand out compared to other TS-style ODs. So it’s … Read more
New Year, might make Modulation Monday a thing. We’ll see. Anyway, here’s the EQD Hummingbird V2. It’s derived from the Vox Repeat Percussion and now updated to use the 2N6027 in place of the obsolete 2N2646. There’s also a couple other improvements from the earlier version so a new layout seemed like a good idea. … Read more
Happy Fuzz Friday, everyone! Hope everyone is having a good end of the year and holiday season. Here’s the Suhr Rufus Fuzz. If you ever wanted a Fuzz Face with an input buffer and big ol’ ton stack at the end, this would be right up your alley. Here’s the schematic for reference. Should be … Read more
Here’s Jackson Audio’s MOSFET boost, the Amp Mode. Pretty simple MOSFET circuit with a BJT output buffer. Easy fit in a 1590B.
Here’s a very cool Rat variant now out of production. Fairly straight forward Rat with a variation of the Ruetz Mod, LEDs for clipping and a switch to toggle a feedback loop. On the original this is a toggle (SPST), but would be fun to put on a momentary footswitch. Couldn’t confirm the IC in … Read more
The Slow Gear emulates a guitarist riding the volume pot or a volume pedal, creating a swell effect. This will fit comfortably in a 1590B or 125B, though with the 1590B you’ll probably want to wire the pots off board or use long-leg right angle pots mounted on the component side. Here’s the schematic for reference.
Thought this one was interesting so I gave it a go. It’s a fairly typical Rockett overdrive (.45 Caliber, Animal, Blue Note, etc.) with a fairly typical MOSFET boost (AMZ Booster, EQD Black Eye, etc.). Fits in a 125B with dual footswitches. Schematic and discussion found here. Fabricated version available on the store.
Happy Fuzz Friday, all! Here’s a cool silicon Tone Bender style fuzz from Solid Gold Fx. Aside from using silicon transistors, the first stage is a JFET. When the switch is closed it adds in a 4.7uF input cap in parallel with the 330pF input cap. You could replace the switch with a B100k pot … Read more
The blog needs more modulation, so here’s the classic EHX Small Clone chorus. Made famous by Kurt Cobain, the Small Clone has a wide range of chorus tones. I’ve laid it out two ways, one stock, and one with the Depth switch replaced with a pot. You can probably squeeze this into a 1590B, but … Read more
Here’s an interesting take on the classic DOD 250/MXR Distortion + circuit. It’s pushed by a simple BJT boost and has an added presence control and tone switch. Schematic here. Easy to fit in a 1590B or 125B.