Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
This cool little effect was originally housed in a small box that plugged directly into your amp (which you then plugged your guitar into) and later on some of Vox’s higher end guitars. You’ll need to track down an obsolete 2N2646 unijunction transistor for Q1, but they can be found on eBay or Small Bear. … Read more
Here’s Run of Groove’s take on the DIY classic EA Tremolo. I’ve laid it out so that the rate indicator LED can also be used as the on/off indicator. Here’s how you’d wire the LED to a 3PDT switch as the on/off indicator.
Here’s another layout for a MOD pedal, the Trill Tremolo. On board pots and LED resistor to reduce the offboard wiring mess. I built this one this past summer and I liked the way it sounds, though the Speed control should probably be a reverse log pot. Haven’t had the opportunity to experiment there yet. … Read more
Not really a vibrato circuit, but a nice sounding tremolo. This layout is based on the schematic drawn by LucifersTrip on the FSB forum. I’ve increased the value of the film capacitors from 100n to 220n to reduce the maximum speed a little and make it more usable. People seem to have used anything from … Read more
Request. The stomp is wired in an unusual way so I have shown exactly how to do it. The reason for this is that during bypass the input to the effect is grounded and the emitter of the LFO transistor is disconnected from ground, and so stops the LFO continuing to cycle during bypass. This … Read more
Great sounding tremolo here from Fran, and something for me to finally build with the batch of ICL8038 ICs I bought a couple of years ago! :o) To keep the size down and make it 1590B friendly I’ve done away with the rotary switch used in the original, and instead I’ve used a DPDT on/on/on … Read more
Another project collaboration between Rej at Grind Customs and CultureJam, similar to the Shoot the Moon but with a couple of subtle differences including a shape switch instead of the wave pot (similar to the 2 knob version we did). If you don’t want to roll your own with the LDR and LED, the Vactec … Read more
Based on the Vox Repeat Percussion but with greater control options, and another advantage is this version uses the 2N6027 Programmable Unijunction Transistor which is still available cheaply and in quantity, so you don’t have to search around for 2N2646’s and pay top dollar for them. I haven’t included the connections required for external expression … Read more
Moving on from the Valve Caster, and as recommended by Neil McNasty, here’s Rick Holt’s Vibracaster. The tube components are very similar, but the Gain, Tone and Volume controls have been removed and components selected for unity gain and a simple LFO added. There are lots of mods suggested for this on diystompboxes but I’ve … Read more
Here’s the original ’79 two knob version of the EHX Tremolo…. Here’s a modded layout that may cure the reported LFO clock bleed. Note that the semi-transparent 47µ cap is there just as an example. You should probably try different values there to find out what works the best. Also the 470R resistor should be … Read more