Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
I feel like a Skreddy layout/build is overdue – the Lunar Module is a silicon Fuzz Face variant with a boost stage in front. Does that almost make it a Tone Bender MKII variant? Maybe not. The Schematic can be found here. SKREDDY LUNAR MODULE – VERO LAYOUT LUNAR MODULE VIDEO DEMOS
The Gretsch Expandafuzz is a bit of an odd-ball guitar effect from the late sixties / early seventies. Not much out there on these in terms of information and video demos. First oddity: Apart from having a switch and a knob for almost everything, the one switch it doesn’t have is for bypassing the entire effect – it’s … Read more
Surprised that I hadn’t done a standard vero layout for this earlier… The Colorsound Jumbo Tone Bender is just a Big Muff missing some diode clipping and the last boost stage (the lack of diodes in the first clipping stage makes up for the lack of boost). They share nothing in common with their predecessors of the … Read more
So it’s another Fuzz Face variant – but no doubt. good one. The Earthquaker Devices Erupted is a one-knob Fuzz Face with a single-knob controlling bias. Quite a few layouts included volume pots; if you prefer to have one, I’m sure you can work out how to do it. Signal path: buffer > pickup simulator (transformer) > … Read more
The Bigfoot FX Magnavibe is something different in a world of tremolos; it’s a Magnatone guitar amp style vibrato style effect. Slow and subtle works best for me, as it adds interest to the sound without being over the top. You can get a lovely shimmer happening. Plenty of discussion in the usual forums on what LDR and … Read more
I haven’t looked at an Ampeg Scrambler in a long time – in fact, my first attempt a few years ago went nowhere and ended up in the bin. It’s a pretty wild octave fuzz from the late sixties; not a huge number were produced so the originals are expensive now. Scramblers were designed … Read more
The Selmer Buzz Tone – three volts of nasty sixties guitar fuzz. I’d strongly recommend reading this first before committing to a build. If you don’t, disappointment will most likely follow. Most mid-sixties three transistors fuzzes are notoriously fussy about transistors / biasing. Plenty of discussion in all of the usual places regarding what works and what doesn’t. SELMER BUZZ TONE … Read more
Hope you like standing resistors… chances are the ferrite beads might have to stand too. SPACEMAN EFFECTS TITAN II FUZZ MACHINE – VERO LAYOUT
Just realised that I never posted a regular vero layout for one of my favourite guitar effects – the Matsumin Valve Caster. It doesn’t require power filtering, so you could easily drop the 100ohm resistor and 100u cap. The Valve Caster was one of my first builds, and it doesn’t have any power filtering and … Read more
This is a simple adaptation of the Neve high / low shelf EQ found on a few famous model consoles. I had never noticed it on the online tone stack calculator before, so I thought I would try it out in spice using a Neve Preamp. The TSC version has a generic opamp in there for gain. Speaking of … Read more