Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
Onto the Frognose – weird name right? It’s based on the LM386 IC, which is an audio amplifier capable of driving a small 8-ohm speaker. In the configuration below, it’s capable of 20x gain, so it’s a pretty decent booster. If you aren’t familiar with the LM386, two of them are used in the Earthquaker Devices Acapulco Gold, and one … Read more
This is a nice easy one – think it might have been my first IC-based guitar pedal builds. The Earthquaker Devices Acapulco Gold is quite the beast. So loud… the 22k resistor going to volume 3 helps pull the level down a bit. It could even be a bit bigger or not there at … Read more
This is an LM386L based distortion that I’ve been playing with – I called it Kool Thing as I was testing it on one of my guitars that has an open tuning (DADDAD for the record), and I was getting a distinct Sonic Youth vibe – which is not all that surprising with that tuning. It’s basically … Read more
I just found an old, nearly finished layout for the Frantone Lo-Tone Classic Fuzz in my files, so I thought now is as good a time as any to finish it. After the D*A*M Sonic Titan, I thought I would see what else has an LM386, and this popped up. Kind of unusual with the incredibly low input impedance … Read more
This is as close as I could get to the original layout for the D*A*M Sonic Titan. It’s pretty much a JFET smashing the LM386 with level, but in the nicest possible way. I’ve read a 10k level pot can brighten things up a little. Apparently, this was on some of the earlier versions. There’s … Read more