Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
THE PROBLEM WITH VERO / STRIPBOARD LAYOUTS As much as I like a bit of vero (clearly), vero is not meant for commercial-scale production, at least in the modern sense. Unlike PCBs, where pots and switches can all be mounted on the board, thus providing a convenient way to hold the board in the enclosure, vero … Read more
Another CMOS based distortion, this time from Mad Professor – the Stone Grey Distortion. Details available on Aion FX, including schematic. Not that the original uses JFETS acting as diodes for clipping, which means very little if any difference when compared to a regular diode. If you want to use JFETS, details are in the Aion build … Read more
This is the CMOS version of the Electro-Harmonix Hot Tubes from the late seventies. I used the Aion FX schematic, which has some minor differences to the original. Smaller Drive pot, as it’s difficult to source pots over 1meg, and some improved power protection and filtering. ELECTRO-HARMONIX HOT TUBES – VERO LAYOUT HOT TUBES VIDEO DEMO
I followed a vaguely similar layout to the one pictured at the bottom of the post for the Pete Cornish TB-83 Treble Booster. This is a straight treble boost using a silicon transistor – it’s going to sound horrible into anything apart from a cranked valve amp, or maybe a valve based pedal. Given … Read more
The layout is for the Guild Brian May Box, which on the Guild schematic is marked as designed by Pete Cornish, but he has disputed this. There’s a massive write-up here on Fryer Guitars, including photos of inside Brian May’s Pete Cornish built pedal board, and inside a pretty vintage looking Pete Cornish treble boost, which … Read more
I just bought this rather beat-up Vox BM1 Escort practice amp from the seventies, or maybe early eighties today. I’m thinking seventies, as it doesn’t have an IEC power connector, and the grill cloth is the red/brown colour. The back panel looks different to the one on Vox showroom and other photos that I’ve seen, so … Read more
Details of this project can be found here – as I started with a modded Pete Cornish SS-2 using the Joe Davvisson diode-compression op-amp, and then moved on to this. Essentially the same as the SS-2, but with the addition of a lo-cut. After a bit of testing, I’d suggest a C50k for the sustain … Read more
Since I’ve been on a bit of a Harmonic Percolator thing lately, I thought I might do some 0.15″ mojo layouts using Albini / Mad Bean Pepper Spray values. Here’s one built by Sean of Spiller Instruments. Looks great, as do his other builds. INTERFAX HARMONIC PERCOLATOR, ALBINI VALUES – VERO LAYOUTS
A somewhat polarising classic – the Boss DS-1, with a slight twist, as this has the Joe Davisson discrete diode-compression opamp onboard instead of an IC. BOSS DS-1 DIODE COMP OPAMP – VERO LAYOUT BOSS DS-1 DIODE COMP OPAMP – WAMPLER STYLE JCM MODS This is what I ended up being happy with on the … Read more
Silicon version this time, as it was pretty similar to the hybrid silicon / germanium version. Link to schematic Link to tracing journal on Aion FX CATALINBREAD KARMA SUTURE, SILICON VERSION – VERO LAYOUT VIDEO DEMO