Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
I saw a Gray Bench Electronics tear-down of the Fairfield Barbershop V1 pop-up in my YouTube feed today and thought I’d go back and look at the layout I did a couple of years ago. Turns out I never posted it – I had only posted my take on the Millennium edition. So here it is, albeit slightly smaller … Read more
Don’t ask me why, but I randomly thought of doing a quick post on custom pot tapers. Maybe it’s because occasionally I have a gain or fuzz pot that isn’t behaving how I would like it to, and I find this very annoying. I’m sure it’s happened to everyone at some stage. However, adding an extra resistor to a linear pot, this can sometimes … Read more
This was one of my first attempts at DIY guitar effects – and it was a spectacular failure (different layout, all my fault, no doubt). I feel like I need to revisit this one on the breadboard, and I do owe someone a nasty uncontrollable fuzz that oscillates… Again like a lot of early DBA, reverse beta transistors, the usual … Read more
Add this board to the Disaster Transport Junior to convert to the Disaster Transport. Increasing the 470n cap will provide a slower LFO EARTHQUAKER DEVICES DISASTER TRANSPORT LFO – VERO LAYOUT
Bit of a classic guitar effect – the MXR Phase 90. Electrosmash has an excellent reference that covers all things Phase 90, including the schematic https://www.electrosmash.com/mxr-phase90. JFETS can be pesky, so make sure you match them as best as possible and buy from reputable suppliers. The script switch is strictly optional. It’s one of those things that … Read more
I don’t know much about the origins of this one, as PedalPCB don’t seem to have listed any information on it (at least that I can find anyway). The Pendulum is a Harmonic Tremolo, meaning the signal is split in two paths, each with either a high or low pass filter; they’re modulated separately and then summed back together for … Read more
An excellent optical tremolo from Forrest Whitesides, AKA Culturejam, based on the Tremulous Lune. Project files can be found here https://forrestwhitesides.com/shoot-the-moon-tremolo/ be sure to check out the rest of his blog. CULTRUREJAM SHOOT THE MOON TREMOLO – VERO LAYOUT VIDEO DEMO
The Klon Centaur – no introduction required really. Arguably the most mythical of all overdrives? Likely the most expensive of all overdrives… This layout took a lot longer than I thought it would. In the end, I also realised that I could have shaved a row off, but hey… maybe I’ll come back to … Read more
The Clown Centurion is a rework of a Klon Centaur by Dylan159 on FSB. Be sure to check the links below, as there’s a lot of handy information on this project. I won’t attempt to explain it, as you’re better off reading what Dylan says. FSB thread link. Link to Dylan’s blog, which is quite cool – a lot of … Read more
This is a nice easy one for tag board off-cuts. The Christian Holmberg (AKA Hemmo) Bazz Fuss. A simple one transistor monster of a fuzz. Kind of surprised that I had not done a layout or actually built one of these… how did this not happen earlier? I was prompted to do this after … Read more