Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
George Giblet did a trace (and some guesswork on the cap values) on FSB a few years back. The cap values might not be 100% per original, but according to George, those should be at least close enough. There are a few ideas on this late 60’s circuit that are not present on every single … Read more
The Zircon is Aion FX’s take on the Hot Silicon fuzz – which is of slightly disputed origin, but we’ll leave that well alone. It’s a silicon Tone Bender MKII, with a Big Muff style tone control. Aion build docs, including schematic and biasing tips can be found here. AION FX ZIRCION / HOT … Read more
Similar to the previous Zonk Machine, this has a MKI switch for a larger input cap. Have had this on the breadboard recently, and decided to jump to a vintage-style veroboard. There are of course more differences between a MKI Tone Bender and a Zonk than just an input cap, but for convenience’s sake, … Read more
There is a layout for the fuzz section in library but here comes the whole package with the inductorless wah circuit ryincluded. The wah pot can be wired as a manual panel mounted “bandpass filter” tone control or wired through an expression jack. The fuzz section is based on Foxx tone machine but there is … Read more
This is my version of the Zonk Machine, based on one of the early vero layouts. I added a switch for the input cap, which is possibly the most unoriginal mod known, and increased one of the input caps from 1n to 2n2. I used an OC76 for Q1 and Q3 and an OC44 for Q2. I found … Read more
A small break from the break… And a short demo by Orion Tonehunt.
A classic Japanese guitar effect – the Shin-Ei Companion Fuzz – it has its roots in the Fuzzrite, with a notch filter at the output. SHIN-EI COMPANION FUZZ FY-2 – VERO LAYOUT FY-2 SCHEMATIC Usual notch filter response. It’s a fairly broken-looking wave – not the infamous volume drop compared to the input level, which is normally … Read more
Continuing with the Electra guitar effects – the MPC2 Dynamic Fuzz. What’s unusual about this one is that the pot acts as a clean blend – one side from the input buffer, the other from the fuzz. Given that this is a cartridge that is inserted into the back of a guitar, the pot is permanently … Read more
After spending some time on the germanium Fuzzrite, time for a bit of silicon action. It’s a bit less interesting, as there seems to be less variance to the circuit – or none? Some differences in construction methods occurred, but that’s about it as far as I can tell. Although I need to do a bit more … Read more
I think you can see where I was going with this Fuzzrite layout – visually satisfying on top, quite the mess underneath, but who’s going to see it once it’s in a box? It is a good looking board when finished. MOSRITE FUZZRITE – TAG BOARD LAYOUT