Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
Here’s Bjorn’s take on the classic Big Muff circuit. JFETs are used as clippers in the first clipping stage, and a JFET-based gain recovery stage is used instead of the traditional BJT one found in the original. You can use board mount pots from the solder side using right angle PCB mount pots.
Here’s a quicky designed by Tim Escobedo. It’s an inductor-less wah, and you can use either a pot or an LDR to control the effect. It’s small enough to fit in a 1590a if you want a fixed wah in a small package. Resonance switch is a SPST.
Roger Mayer is one of the most influential effects makers of all time. Responsible for many great players fuzz tones, he’s probably most famous for tweaking (or just rebuilding) Jimi Hendrix’s Fuzz Faces. He also has his own line of pedals and this is his take on the classic Octavia (octave up) effect. This one … Read more
Almost a year ago I laid out the silicon version of the classic FuzzRite. Lately though, I decided to redo it after some discussion with Gabriel Monteiro over the 22k resistor. To see that discussion check out the first layout page for this circuit. Our discussion (which in all honesty was mostly a bunch of … Read more
Here’s Analogman’s original version of the King of Tone, a highly regarded overdrive with a few “unobtanium” diodes. It’s probably best to socket said diodes to play around with your favorite combinations. Switch A controls the 4-diode array in the feedback loop (much like a Tube Screamer), while Switch B controls shunted diodes (much like … Read more
For #fuzzfriday, here’s the Red Fuzz, designed by Robin Tomtlund. It’s made up of 2 stages: the first is based around a single op amp with LEDs is the feedback loop creating clipping. The second is a simple FET-based boost/buffer. Much like a RAT, but with different clipping. The schematic and some sound samples can … Read more
Originally produced in the early 80s, the SD9 was the distortion brother of the classic TS9 Tube Screamer. It ranges from mild overdrive to fuzz territory without losing articulation. The easiest way to describe the SD9 circuit is to say it’s half of a Tube Screamer, with a Big Muff tone stack. Original units only … Read more
Here’s another design by Martin from Soul Sonic FX. Here’s what he had to say about it over on FreeStompboxes: It’s a cool little hybrid combo of an opamp driving a MOSFET. It has a great range of drive, from light and crunchy to thick and heavy. At it’s highest settings, some people might consider … Read more
Around the same time that the EHX Big Muff was first released in 1969, Mike Matthews also released the Muff Fuzz. It was unrelated to the BMP other than the name, and came in the same small enclosure as the LPB-1 that plugged straight into the guitar. Later it was re-released in a floor pedal … Read more
Here’s another BJF designed circuit: the Sky Blue Overdrive. There are 4 controls: Z adjusts input impedance, Distort. controls gain, Texture adjusts the hard clipping, and finally the Volume. It uses 3mm LEDs in the feedback loop of the opamp, and then JFETs for hard clipping.