Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
Here’s a good, subtle sounding compressor. It uses a LDR and LED to control the limiting done by the effect. You can go the home-brew route and put a LDR and LED in some shrink tubing or there should be enough space to use a VTL5C2 or a NSL-32 photocoupler. Diodes I’ve listed as 1N34s … Read more
The Heart Throb is a Schaller Tremolo circuit modified by MarkM, and uses pretty standard parts that you probably have kicking around in your parts drawer(s). The SPDT switch controls the rate. I’ve added polarity protection and power filtering. The LED not only is an on/off indicator, but will pulse to the rate of the … Read more
Here’s the mighty SolaSound Tone Bender Mk.II shrunk down to fit in a 1590a. I laid it out for NPN transistor, as I really wouldn’t want to try and squeeze a charge pump in a 1590a along side the effect board. Like the larger layout I posted last year, you could build the Marshall SupaFuzz … Read more
I found this layout going through an old folder on my computer. Pretty simple IC-based dirt circuit and will fit in 1590a. Here’s a sound sample.
This is a pretty cool distortion effect from Seattle based designer Devi Ever. In her own words: The Hyperion is everything the Big Muff wishes it could be. It can cut through in a loud, live, band setting. It has a gorgeous sustain that full of harmonically rich tonal characteristics that doesn’t require much tweaking … Read more
I know, this is the 3rd different BMP layout I’ve done, but this is the one I’m the most happy with. It will easily fit in a 1590B, it has board mounted pots, and said pots aren’t all in one row across the top. As with the other Big Muff layouts, you can build pretty … Read more
Here’s a great bass drive from BearFoot FX in Sweden. Kind of similar to a RAT, but not really. It’s a completely different beast. Q1 calls for a 2N5952, but other JFETs should work there too, just socket and mind the pinout.
The Maestro Super Fuzz-Tone was introduced in the early 70s. It uses 6 transistors, 2 of which are used as clipping diodes. Original transistors were 2N5133s, but 2N5088s or BC109Cs can be good subs. I’ve built 2 clones of this pedal in the past (though not with this layout) and used 2N5088s with good results. … Read more
This was (I believe) the 3rd iteration of Maestro’s Fuzztone fuzz pedal. The first 2 used germanium transistors and AA batteries. This marked the changed to silicon transistors and a 9v battery. Originals had 2N3860 transistors, but 2N2222s or 2N3904s would probably work just fine. Couldn’t find any info on the diode, so socket and … Read more
Gnarly, oscillating fuzz tone–this is a bit of a weird one. The original used both positive and negative 9v (which I have a hard time wrapping my head around). FSB forum member Induction altered the circuit to support standard power supplies, so no need for a 9v battery or adding a +/- converter. And it … Read more