MARSHALL: Blues Driver / Boss Discrete Opamp

Blues Breaker x Blues Driver v1 ccd2740bcbac

If you’ve read any recent posts, you may have noticed that I’m experimenting with discrete opamps – specifically replacing standard opamps with simplified discrete opamps – I’ve only played with the Joe Davisson diode compression opamp so far (with some success). While I was checking out DIY Stompboxes, I saw Rob Strand was experimenting with the Boss discrete opamp … Read more

MI AUDIO: Discrete V2 Crunch Box

MI Audio Crunch Box V2 discrete vero layout d0e343439bee

I’d already done the Blues Breaker in this format, and it sounded pretty good, so I thought why not try the MI Audio Crunch Box, as it’s a high-gain derivative of the Blues Breaker.   They have a similar topology – the Crunch Box has the soft clipping diodes removed and hard clipping LEDs added after the … Read more

MARSHALL: Blues Breaker, Discrete Opamp Mod

Blues Breaker discrete vero layout v1 2c48024c75bf

I’ve had some success with the Joe Davisson diode compression discrete opamp on some other circuits (namely the Cornish SS-2), so I thought I might try a Blues Breaker – it works…  sounds good.   Apart from the lack of IC, there are a couple of other minor mods to a stock Blues Breaker, mainly a larger input … Read more

GREER AMPS: Lightspeed X Southland Overdrive, Switch Mod

GREER AMPS Southland X Lightspeed vero layout v1a dcd60cc8dc37

So given the Lightspeed and Southland are basically the same circuit, I thought I might add a switch to swap between the two. The switch does three things; Switches the hard clipping diodes in/out Changes op-amp gain (to account for the hard clipping diodes) Changes Drive pot resistance While they use different op-amps, they’re both … Read more

DIAMOND: Fred Briggs Diamanté Compressor

Fred Briggs Dimante Compressor vero layout v1 60f64073735b

I was looking at the Diamond Compressor schematic the other day and thought it looked interesting and possibly something that could be simplified – it turns out it can be simplified.  Of course, someone had already done this.  Jump over to the La Revolution Deux for details, AKA Fred Briggs’ blog.   I used a TL074 instead … Read more

EARTHQUAKER DEVICES: Disaster Transport Jr, with mods

AVvXsEhMZQe88 dfzW1oF3aE3m GqYSV2 ObSOMNVHXktt9XTKaKtXAoLChgJEVR93rxEuVcONDsS2Yiw59KaOMhpDbjDy pu zLPHIJbdZWFPUCmOu4Vh4nQNcKbqOg8MQuZUJOaVmt 473af0b33e0a

This is the standard Disaster Transport Jr, with the tails mod, and another that I just found that adds a kind of chorus effect to the delay, with just an additional resistor. A Disaster Transport layout seems fitting, as there’s been widespread flooding where I live, so kind of appropriate for the weather. Here’s the link to … Read more

FOXX / AION: Tone Machine / Vulcan

AVvXsEhAvWdV0xYm WthK78sFfVpheO PyaaHDfTq2C06AlKkYWeFFjkF TMNMGXy 0OKho2sPTSiFUshZ7W94zU2FPoV xzq4qBmo2zlx7tD32eqTwOJ2f wc8bFL791LEHFGiuzpu 9bb76fb23bd6

After recently finishing a mojo size / vintage transistor Tone Machine that has been sitting on the bench for way too long, I decided to do a regular layout, as the practicality of some of my other layouts for the Foxx is probably not for everyone (maybe even me in retrospect). So I’ve done a standard … Read more