Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
This was a request. It’s another 386-based distortion, similar in theory to the DAM Sonic Titan. Transistor-based “preamp” section which is amplified by the 386 “power” section, follwed by a 3-band tone stage on the output.
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.
Here’s another one from Marshall’s great pedal line from the early 90s. When it was released it was considered a high gain distortion, though probably wouldn’t be categorized as such today. It was made famous by Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead and covers more than just shredder territory.
Jen was an Italian manufacturer in the 60s and 70s that produced their own line of effects in addition to OEM stuff for other brands like Gretsch and Vox. This fuzz effect is essentially a Fuzz Face with an emitter follower up front and clipping diodes on the output. It produces a treble-heavy fuzz with … Read more
Got a request for this one. Basically a Tube Screamer with a few mods and some extra switches to cut highs and lows. The original has 2SC185 transistors, which have BCE pinout. I’ve laid this out for the more typical CBE pinout. Like you would in a Tube Screamer, try 2N3904, 2N5088, etc for the … Read more
The Sonic Titan creates amp-like distortion through the use of a JFET preamp stage, followed by LM386 power amp stage. The JFET stage creates the clipping and the LM386 amplifies the signal generated by the JFET. Original units use a 2N3819 JFET with DGS pinout, so I’ve also included an layout for DSG JFETs like … Read more
The TS808 layout I post a while back has always bugged me. It’s a real tight squeeze in a 1590B and I wanted a Tube Screamer layout with onboard pots. Well, I finally drew one up and I like this one. It’s laid out for the TS9, but all it takes is 2 resistor swaps … Read more
The Lunar Module was designed to get that Gilmore fuzz tone from Dark Side of the Moon. It’s an aggressive silicon fuzz with a wide range of tones. Got a request for this with the Pregain control as a trim pot. As the original 3-knob Lunar Module had the Pregain and Brite controls as trimmers, … Read more
Here’s the classic DynaComp compressor from MXR. This frequently cloned and copied effect has been an industry standard since it was introduced in the 70s. It uses the CA3080 IC, which can be a bit expensive and/or difficult to source as it is a rather obsolete chip. It might be a good idea to use … Read more
Here’s another Seppuku FX fuzz box. The sound is kind of in the vein of Devi Ever or Death by Audio. The texture control pans between thick overdrive and over the top fuzz. This one should fit in a 1590a. I included a daughter board for the pots to cut down on some off board … Read more