Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
I’ll start with the Fender 5F2A Princeton, as this is generally considered to be “the one” for a lot of people. Basically take a tweed Champ, and add the classic Fender one knob tone control, which has no insertion loss, and you’re in business. It’s hard to go wrong with this formula, which is why … Read more
I know these are everywhere, but humour me – this is mainly for my own reference. FENDER CHAMP-AMP, 5C1 (WIDE PANEL TWEED) Note: The Fender Champion 600 and 800 are said to use the same schematic (or at least extremely similar). Preamp: 6SJ7 pentode, grid-leak biased (no cathode resistor) Inputs: two jacks, each 75k in … Read more
This is the original Vox AC-4, not much like the current line-up at all, apart from the low wattage. Volume Tone, on/off Speed Foot switch for trem (vibrato) – no depth control 8″ 3ohm speaker made by Elac ~3.5 watts RMS EF86 preamp pentode EL84 power pentode EZ80 rectifier ECC81 for trem VINTAGE VOX AC-4 … Read more
FUZZ FACE VARIANT SCHEMATIC, INCLUDING MK1.5 & VOX TONE BENDERS The schematic includes room for components not present on a standard fuzz face, as some variants have additions. I thought I’d keep it relatively simple and not venture into circuits with input blends or the various trimmers substituted for resistors (at least for now … Read more
I found this schematic a little while ago and thought I might give it a try, as I’ve been looking to make a single band parametric equaliser, in this case, based on a State-Variable Bandpass Filter. It’s supposed to be from a Japanese textbook, but I’m not sure of its origin. It looks remarkably similar to a … Read more
The Aria Super Fuzz Sustainer is a variant on the Big Muff, probably based on the Elk Sustainar as it shares the same values mostly (based on a Triangle BMP). The tone stack is a bit different, and it’s clearly missing a recovery stage at the end, not unlike a Colorsound Supa Tone Bender. Unusual to see the 6n8 … Read more
I saw this pop-up in a GroupDIY audio forum and thought it looked interesting. It’s a FET based limiter from Roger Mayer that he designed way back in the day, and is still in production in various forms at the moment. There’s also a version posted where someone redesigned it using TL074 quad opamps, which much be a more practical endeavour considering the … Read more
The Earthquaker Devices Hizumitas is basically the same as the Elk Sustainar, but with a 3n3 cap instead of a 330pf cap in the tone control (specifically the high pass filter). There are some other minor differences, but the 3n3 is probably the biggest factor in terms of sound. Even though the EQD Hizumitas … Read more
I followed a vaguely similar layout to the one pictured at the bottom of the post for the Pete Cornish TB-83 Treble Booster. This is a straight treble boost using a silicon transistor – it’s going to sound horrible into anything apart from a cranked valve amp, or maybe a valve based pedal. Given … Read more
