Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
The Earthquaker Devices Speaker Cranker is based on the Electra Distortion. I believe the 1N60 diodes are not germanium, they’re schottky diodes. Germanium will probably reduce the output level significantly. Like most pedals, experimenting with different diodes is worth a try, and I have seen a schematic with a 100nf output capacitor, and a B10K … Read more
This is a bare-bones Roland BeeBaa. I built the full version and found that all I really used was the scooped fuzz sound – so this is just that. Nothing but unadulterated vintage Japanese fuzz…. I think this works best with low-gain transistors. I made a version using weird KT315 Soviet BCE transistors, and it sounds mean. … Read more
I think this is my favourite Electro-Harmonix Big Muff. I built this using vintage 2N3565 glob top resistors and opted for some large vintage ceramic capacitors where possible (mainly for looks). Sounds great – the lower gain vintage transistors do change the tone and feel to some degree. Of course it still sounds like a Big … Read more
The Matsumin Valve Caster is a very underrated little circuit, with almost no decent demos online. The only demos I could find either sounded kind of terrible, which is nothing like my build, or they are attempting high gain sounds, which is something this just doesn’t do. The Matsumin Valve Caster works best as a clean boost, … Read more
My all time favourite JFET overdrive, the Fairfield Circuitry Barbershop. The Fairfield Barbershop has a really wide range of useful tones. From clean right through to heavy drive bordering on fuzz. Nice easy build too, as it’s not complicated. I also included a layout for what I imagine is the Barbershop Millenium edition (the one … Read more
The Bumble Buzz is based on the Kay Fuzztone, which is a simplified Univox Super Fuzz. It’s a collaboration between Union Tube & Transistor and Third Man Records (Jack White). There are no knobs; just stomp and go. Raw octave fuzz…. UNION TUBE AND TRANSISTOR BUMBLE BUZZ – VERO LAYOUT UNION TUBE AND TRANSISTOR BUMBLE BUZZ – … Read more
Basically the Marshall Supa Fuzz is a Sola Sound Tone Bender MKII, but with some different capacitor values and it uses Mullard OC75s for all three transistors. It sounds killer, and cleans up really nicely using the volume control on the guitar. When you hear the fuzz, it’s hard to imagine the clean sound, the fuzz … Read more
The Colorsound Tone Bender Distortion, one of the lesser known Tone Benders – which also happens to be a recent D*A*M collaboration with Colorsound (Macari’s Music), who released a faithful reproduction using original circuit boards after some were found in a basement. More information can be found on the D*A*M forum which is a very handy … Read more