Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
After a couple of posts about workbench tools etc, I thought perhaps it’s time for a guide on where to start, as the internet is a big place full of opinions (now including mine). Sometimes it’s hard to work out what one actually needs and why they are needed. The idea of saving money by … Read more
This is my scruffy old analog signal generator that I picked up for $15 or $20. I was actually surprised it still worked, given the apparent age. If you don’t have a signal generator and you see one going cheap, I’d suggest buying it if you are going to be building a few FX pedals … Read more
I haven’t done a point to point layout for a while, and I also remembered that I’ve been meaning to make a Zvex Fuzz Factory for some time, but have never quite gotten around to it. So here it is. I tried a Fuzz Factory using a different layout as one of my first guitar … Read more
This is my first layout for a PT2399 based delay. The Earthquaker Devices Disaster Transport Jr. It’s a pretty cool delay, with some very usable sounds – the addition of the tone control certainly helps, especially if you like something a little lo-fi sounding, or just as a method to filter out noise on longer delay … Read more
This is a simplified version of a Pete Cornish ST-2 (based on the Colorsound Overdriver). I did the full layout, and it it kind of large, and double buffers are not for everyone. So no buffers, and the power supply filtering is simpler. I’m sure the proper Pete Cornish version is probably better, but if you prefer something smaller and simpler, … Read more
The Pete Cornish ST-2 is a Colorsound Overdriver with a few mods. The ST-2 is intended to be a tone-shaper; it’s not actually an overdrive. So if you are looking for dirt, you have come to the wrong place with this one. Although one can make a few tweaks to bring some dirt to this, but … Read more
Like the very lengthy title below suggest, it’s a Pete Cornish SS-2 with mods. After finishing the SS-3, they’re almost the same, so I thought I would also do a SS-2 layout. Changes Swapped the Cornish buffer for a standard opamp based buffer Ran the reference voltage through the spare opamp Used a quad opamp … Read more
The Pete Cornish SS-3 is one of my favourite overdrives – so I thought I might make another one with a different layout and buffer. Changes Swapped the Cornish buffer for a standard opamp based buffer Ran the reference voltage through the spare opamp Used a quad opamp instead of 2 x single op amps … Read more
The Grand Orbiter Phase Machine is a four-stage OTA phaser, with options for vibrato or phasing (a bit like a Univibe). Not exactly a small board, but not too much to take on either. MLC caps might be a good idea for some of the 1uf caps to save space. Currently unverified. I have reviewed the … Read more
A classic phaser from the mid-seventies – the Musitronics Mu-Tron Phasor II. It has the same six-stage phaser as the Bi-Phase, with less happening in the oscillator section. This is the hardest layout I have ever done and took some time to finish and check… including some time wasted after I started using a layout with … Read more