Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
Over a decade ago Robert Keeley was kind enough to share this design with the DIY community. It’s a fairly unique fuzz, with a germanium treble booster at the beginning, a differential amplifier in the middle, and a basic buffer at the output (this is so it will play nice with other effects). Robert’s full … Read more
Info about the original: We set out to take a classic design with lots of history and make it obviously something new. We took the op-amp version of old PI and inverted one of the stages, brought out the midrange, tightened the bass, and most importantly, added a Germanium transistor output! Yes, this is a opamp-transistor … Read more
Info about the original: The Keeley Oxblood Overdrive is our response to everyone kloning pedals. We wanted to build a new circuit that let players blend from perfectly clean to amp-crushing roar. We wanted that impossibly huge and focused midrange that makes any guitar… Strat, Paul, Tele, sound incredible. We knew we could do it our … Read more
alphadog808 was having problems with his Katana Boost build and I noticed one of the cap values was incorrect. I also noticed that I had no motivation to fix it because it was an old pig ugly layout so thought I’d do an updated version and add it as a new thread to keep the … Read more
So close to the Ross Compressor that the 2-knob versions seems to be essentially verbatim, but I thought the 4 knob version was worth adding for the additional Clip and Attack controls. In the original the onboard trimmer isn’t used and instead two 1K resistors were used between the bottom lug of the (top left) … Read more
Info from Keeley Electronics: The Java Boost is a germanium based Treble Booster designed to give you classic tones from the 60’s and 70’s. It is not a clean boost. It must be used with a cranked amp that is overdriven or distorting a bit already. Cranking the amp and pedal will result in more … Read more
Layout updated. If you want to build this now I would suggest you build this version http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2014/02/keeley-katana-boost-layout-rev-2.html Vero layout for this popular pedal with built in charge pump to provide the required 18V from a 9V supply. UPDATE (09-02-2012): The schematic that this layout was created from has been shown to be incorrect. In … Read more
I haven’t seen any layouts of this one around so thought it would be good to add to the collection. I have done this with a 3 position switch so in one position you’ll have silicon diodes, in the other postion you’ll have germanium, and in the centre off position it will remove all clipping … Read more
UPDATE (09-02-2012): Without the chargepump and so requires an 18V supply. The schematic that the earlier layout was created from has been shown to be incorrect. In the scheme the switchable 10u cap was linked to the source of Q2, this in fact needs to link to the source of Q1. Apologies to anyone who … Read more