Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
I’d already done the Blues Breaker in this format, and it sounded pretty good, so I thought why not try the MI Audio Crunch Box, as it’s a high-gain derivative of the Blues Breaker. They have a similar topology – the Crunch Box has the soft clipping diodes removed and hard clipping LEDs added after the … Read more
I’ve had some success with the Joe Davisson diode compression discrete opamp on some other circuits (namely the Cornish SS-2), so I thought I might try a Blues Breaker – it works… sounds good. Apart from the lack of IC, there are a couple of other minor mods to a stock Blues Breaker, mainly a larger input … Read more
Given that I’ve been playing around with a few circuits using this as a replacement for the opamp, I thought I should make a little vero layout, which can be dropped into an existing circuit to test it. If you are unfamiliar with this, it’s a simplified discrete opamp – basically, build it, and place … Read more
I saw that DirtBox Layouts has done a layout for this from the schematic on PedalPCB – it’s one that I’ve been wondering about for a while after playing with the CODA FX Black Hole Doom Machine. I had an idea of what was happening, but I was slightly off in some parts around the transistors replicating the power … Read more
It’s a Tone Machine / Arbiter Doubler – let’s get that out of the way up front. Here’s the thread on the D*A*M forum for the Grand Magnus Orbiter Rainy day project for me, as I already have a Tone Machine that I’m happy with. Not sure I’d ever be up for a two-layer tagboard … Read more
Continuing with the Hornby Skewes theme, time for the Shatterbox – original layout below using the old school large format 0.15″ stripboard. Although I’m not sure if I actually want to build one this way… apart from all the off-board components, it’s PNP silicon, which is annoying having a positive earth circuit with none of the benefits of … Read more
While on the JHS thing, I noticed this booster and thought it looked interesting. The output switches between filters to allow for treble and bass boost, unlike most other boosters where it all happens at the input. Very few seem to be around, as I could only find one photo of the internals and one video … Read more
I started copying the original layout for veroboard and gave up toward the end as it’s a cramped mess – this is a similar but more practical version. The germanium John Hornby Skewes Zonk II is similar to a Fuzz Face but without the 100k feedback resistor, and note that the output cap is taken … Read more
This is a slightly different hybrid MKII than I have previously seen – this is a Sola Sound MKII built by D*A*M, referred to as the Black Fish Skin version by Macari’s Music. The PNP Silicon transistor is a PNP version of a BC109 / BC108. I couldn’t see the value of one resistor on the photos, so a safe … Read more
The Analog Man Beano Boost takes the classic Rangemaster treble booster and adds a very useful function — a switched input capacitor that widens the tonal range beyond the original’s treble boost. Because it’s a single-transistor germanium circuit, the choice of transistor does shape the tone and clipping character, especially at higher gain settings. That … Read more