Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
Got a request for this one. It’s a nice boost with a 3-band EQ. Pots are board mounted and it will fit in a 1590B sideways (ala Zvex pedals) with the circuit board vertical. From the Run Off Groove article: The Tonemender is a very flexible, yet simple clean boost with a 3-knob tonestack that … Read more
Here are two great sounding, yet simple circuits from Run Off Groove. The Big Daddy uses a JFET gain stage to push a 386 chip, while the Grace uses a JFET buffer in front of the 386 for added sparkle. Schematics, sound clips, and more info can be found on the ROG site.
Apparently it’s Tube Screamer week. This is Run Off Groove’s adaption of the classic overdrive to work around a CD4049UBE CMOS chip. More info, schematic and sound clip here. As you can see in the schematic, there’s a resistor (RX) where different values will work for different guitar pickup types: 100k for single coils, 220k … Read more
Here’s a simplified Tube Screamer circuit from Run Off Groove, the Tube Reamer. Basically, it’s a buffer-less TS without the tone control. The IC can be just about any dual op-amp. JRC4558 or TL072 are good places to start. Should be a great candidate for a 1590a build. For more info, schematic, and demo see … Read more
Here’s something interesting to do with some of those 4049UB chips. It’s a CMOS Big Muff (22/7 being the fractional equivalent of pi). Brian from ROG added a switch to the tone stack to allow for flat response and a super scooped response, in addition to the classic scooped mids. I’ve also drawn up a … Read more
And improvement over the original English Channel project, the Run Off Groove Britannia is an adaption of the classic Vox AC-30 amp into stompbox form. Couldn’t squeeze this one into a 1590B with onboard pots, but it’s laid out for a 125B enclosure. Pots are right angle PCB mount type, mounted from the solder-side of … Read more
Got a bunch of CD4049UBE chips left over from building Red Llamas? Here’s something else you can do with them. You might need to play with the the value of the 8.2k resistor going to the drain of the J201 to make sure you’re getting to around 4.5v there. Also if you encounter squealing or … Read more
The ROG Eighteen is an overdrive/distortion circuit based on the classic 18watt Marshall amp of the late 60s. It uses JFETs in place of tubes, like many other ROG amp-based drive effects. J201s are specified, but socket and try some other JFETs (2N5457, MPF102, etc.) The Volume control will probably act more like a gain … Read more
Here’s another “Brian May in a box” circuits, this time from Run Off Groove. The May Queen is a treble booster/overdrive that should get you pretty close to those classic Queen tones. The cap between 9v and the drain of Q3 in the layout below is optional. It’s a high end filter, so the larger … Read more
Part of the last request included a cab simulator to run the headphone amp through. The ROG Condor is a great cab sim and has a fairly low parts count. It uses a JFET amplifier at the input, boosting the signal to drive the following 3 filters (Bridged-T notch filter, High-pass filter, and Low-pass filter). … Read more