Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
As I was recently playing around with the Colorsound booster made by Steve Williams of Pig Dog fame, I noticed some similarity to the Guild Treble Booster, AKA the Brian May Box. I made a slightly simplified version of the Guild, without the buffer based on one of the Fryer Boosters. I kind of free-styled … Read more
So there are a few bits missing, but if you are familiar with treble boosters, I’m sure you’ll work it out. Being a small and simple circuit, it’s a good candidate for breadboarding. The filter pot is your standard input blend, probably similar to the values that Steve Williams uses in his Pigdog Competition Special … Read more
The Colorsound Overdriver / Power Boost family went through a few different versions over the years. This layout is for the classic 1971 9V Overdriver version – essentially the 9V successor to the earlier 18V Power Boost, with the same basic three–transistor topology but set up for a standard single-supply pedalboard. It makes a huge, … Read more
Since I’m doing boosters at the moment – the D*A*M Supa Rooster. I’d suggest placing a 1m resistor on the input and output if you get switch pop – a lot of people do this all the time for their rangemaster type circuits. If you want it to look true to the original, use … Read more
Nothing groundbreaking today—just a variable-gain germanium booster I through together this afternoon, heavily inspired by the D*A*M Red Rooster. I built mine on a slightly different layout, but if I do another one I’ll use this version; it’s cleaner and a bit easier to wire. And if you like the idea of incorporating a trim … Read more
Here’s a simple Rangemaster treble booster. I’m jotting down some notes from my recent builds because I really dig this layout. I used a 1590BBS enclosure and an 8-way tag strip. It’s pretty similar to the Pigdog Eel Pie layout, which inspired my design. Inside, you’ll find a Mullard OC71 transistor. But honestly, the specific … Read more
Just a Rangemaster with a rotary switch for selecting input capacitors – it uses some odd parts, as this is what was available in my local electronics store – the 5 lug tag strip in particular, a regular Rangemaster is on 6. It’s also a slightly odd rotary, but it was all that was left … Read more
I came across this while browsing one of the usual forums recently and thought it looked like an interesting Rangemaster variant. Silicon or germanium transistor, variable boost, quiet, standard power supply… seems to have a lot going for it as far as treble boosters go. Here’s the thread on DIY Stompboxes (Peter is FSFX) … Read more
Continuing with the Hornby Skewes theme, time for the Shatterbox – original layout below using the old school large format 0.15″ stripboard. Although I’m not sure if I actually want to build one this way… apart from all the off-board components, it’s PNP silicon, which is annoying having a positive earth circuit with none of the benefits of … Read more
While on the JHS thing, I noticed this booster and thought it looked interesting. The output switches between filters to allow for treble and bass boost, unlike most other boosters where it all happens at the input. Very few seem to be around, as I could only find one photo of the internals and one video … Read more