Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
The Zircon is Aion FX’s take on the Hot Silicon fuzz – which is of slightly disputed origin, but we’ll leave that well alone. It’s a silicon Tone Bender MKII, with a Big Muff style tone control. Aion build docs, including schematic and biasing tips can be found here. AION FX ZIRCION / HOT … Read more
Similar to the previous Zonk Machine, this has a MKI switch for a larger input cap. Have had this on the breadboard recently, and decided to jump to a vintage-style veroboard. There are of course more differences between a MKI Tone Bender and a Zonk than just an input cap, but for convenience’s sake, … Read more
Well, this is a little different for me – I have a few pedals and items from the workbench on display as part of an exhibit in a gallery space at Artisan Queensland. This is an exhibit for and curated by Steve from Szephyz Guitars, a local maker in my city. Steve specialises in recycled wood and … Read more
This is my version of the Zonk Machine, based on one of the early vero layouts. I added a switch for the input cap, which is possibly the most unoriginal mod known, and increased one of the input caps from 1n to 2n2. I used an OC76 for Q1 and Q3 and an OC44 for Q2. I found … Read more
Nice bit of MKII history on fuzzboxes.org The MKII might be the most popular of the Tone Benders, although personally I’m split between the MKI & MKIII. There’s also this interesting timeline on the D*AM forum. Not sure who made it, but it’s a handy reference (thanks ClassicFuzz). TONE BENDER MKII SCHEMATIC & VALUES TONE … Read more
A nice easy one – and I’m not sure if anyone has done more versions of an Electra Distortion than Lovepedal has. But hey if it’s working for them and people like it, who am I to judge? A JTM45 it is not. LOVEPEDAL JTM45 – VERO LAYOUT
A classic Japanese guitar effect – the Shin-Ei Companion Fuzz – it has its roots in the Fuzzrite, with a notch filter at the output. SHIN-EI COMPANION FUZZ FY-2 – VERO LAYOUT FY-2 SCHEMATIC Usual notch filter response. It’s a fairly broken-looking wave – not the infamous volume drop compared to the input level, which is normally … Read more
Onto the Frognose – weird name right? It’s based on the LM386 IC, which is an audio amplifier capable of driving a small 8-ohm speaker. In the configuration below, it’s capable of 20x gain, so it’s a pretty decent booster. If you aren’t familiar with the LM386, two of them are used in the Earthquaker Devices Acapulco Gold, and one … Read more
Continuing with the Electra guitar effects – the MPC2 Dynamic Fuzz. What’s unusual about this one is that the pot acts as a clean blend – one side from the input buffer, the other from the fuzz. Given that this is a cartridge that is inserted into the back of a guitar, the pot is permanently … Read more
Recently the Electra Distortion grabbed my attention again, so as I often do, I went digging for more information on the Electra MPC series guitar effects (modular powered circuits). One problem; Electra doesn’t appear to have ever made a Distortion module. Interesting… Then I read what we know as the Electra Distortion is really … Read more