Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
I did a layout for the Hudson Sidecar a couple of years ago, and I retraced my steps recently and found a few things that needed to be updated. The Sidecar is a progression of the 999 Overdrive, which is Hudson’s version of a ‘green box’ overdrive, made for people like me that don’t like … Read more
There’s a few variations of this circuit, so I’d recommend reading through the Aion FX build docs or maybe just skip the vero all together and buy the board from them. The build docs also include LTspice simulations of the frequency response, so that saves me a bit of time plotting them out. I’ve labelled a … Read more
Since I’ve been on a slight Beatles related run lately, I thought I should tackle the Castledine Electronics Magical Mystery Box. This is Stu Casteldine’s version of the Brilliant channel from a Vox Conqueror guitar amp. Castledine included a gain recovery section at the end and the transistor-based distortion switching has been removed. I ran … Read more
The Equinox is Spaceman’s trimmed-down version of an old-school studio equaliser – it’s definitely inspired by Pultec, but with a few key differences. I’m fine with the differences, as it makes it practical to build. Schematic can be found here on PedalPCB. If you don’t have a power supply that kicks out 18v, Dirtbox … Read more
The Arbiter Treble and Bass Face is the lesser-known cousin of the Fuzz Face from the mid to late sixties and was probably overshadowed by the Colorsound Power Booster, which had more gain on tap, and perhaps a nicer frequency response. Speaking of which, it’s easy enough to mod this to suit your tastes. I … Read more
Here’s the new boost from Matt Hoopes. Cornish buffer up front, so like the DRV, not a true bypass effect unless you want to wire it that way. Signal is then amplified by half of a 1458 op amp, and then back to back inverting and tone shaping op amp stages with the LM833. Schematic … Read more
I only came across the Hofner Preamp quite recently, despite seeing some other builders making point-to-point style germanium preamps based on this circuit – the prime example being the R2R Electric preamp. There’s a good write up here, but in summary: Back in the day before guitar amps were affordable, and TV was a thing, … Read more
A recent request. This is a monster of a pre-amp from Jonny Reckless. Best to read the details on DIY stomp boxes, as there’s a lot to this. I’ve not built this, and there’s a bit going on with it. I’d suggest checking it against the schematic before starting. I’ve looked over it a few times, … Read more
Yet to build this myself, I quite like the idea behind this – I am partial to anything with bass / mid/high controls for guitar and a germanium transistor. Bonus points for also including a discrete op-amp, which I’ve been playing with lately. Before I looked at the schematic for this, I was playing around with modding a Boss Blues … Read more
Cool JFET preamp circuit from Greer. Its supposed to sound like a Brownface-era Fender amp. I’d be curious what it sounds like without the transformer. Should fit just fine in a 125B with top mounted jacks. Schematic for reference.