Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
Here’s one from MXR you probably haven’t heard of before. It was apart of their Commande line of plastic boxed effects from the late 80s. They aren’t highly regarded because of the plastic, but the circuits were pretty well designed. The circuit in question today is a better design than the DynaComp, offering less distortion … Read more
I’ve wanted to draw this one up for a while. It’s a fantastic clone/variation of the Boss DS-1 Distortion. I had one for a while and loved it, but ended up selling it to fund some other stuff. But I’m definitely adding this one to the pile. You can sub a TL072 or JRC4558 in … Read more
This one was kind of a sleeper. No where near as popular as MXR’s Distortion +, the Distortion II was quite a bit more complicated and ran off a 15v supply, complete with a built power cord . This layout is a bit modified from the original, and can be run off a normal pedal power … Read more
Here’s the MXR Distortion III. It’s pretty similar to the MXR ZW-44, which itself is a Boss SD-2 clone. The main difference is hard clipping in the Distortion III instead of soft clipping in the ZW-44/SD-2. Originals use an MC33178P dual opamp, but try a JRC4558 or TL072.
Got a request for this one. The schematics that come up with a Google search are all wrong apparently, but it looks like the good people on FSB have figured things out. Here’s a link the the discussion and the latest schematic (which this layout is based on) is on page 5. I based this … Read more
I really enjoyed making the Big Muff Project file a couple months ago and thought it would be fun to make a similar project based on the MXR Distortion +/DOD OD250 circuit (in an attempt to combine the 2 names I call this project the Drivestortion). This circuit was also cloned by other pedal manufacturers … Read more
Got a request for Zakk Wylde’s signature overdrive from MXR. It’s essentially Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive without the buffers. Original units have MC33178P, but socket and experiment with dual op-amps. You can use right angle PCB pots to mount them on the board from the solder-side.
A while back Brian Wampler shared a bunch of mods to the classic MXR Distortion Plus circuit in Premiere Guitar magazine. It adds a tone control, a switchable soft clipping stage, a compression switch, and a bass boost switch.
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
The Script version of the Phase 90 is probably the holy grail of phase shifters and was the first effect released by MXR in 1973. It’s probably most famous for helping create Eddie Van Halen’s brown sound on the first 2 Van Halen albums. It was designed before dual op amps were really affordable, so … Read more