Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
Another simple one – the Conrad Buzz Box and Volume Expander – there is no volume expansion happening; this is just fuzz. This is an easy one to convert to NPN, and there’s quite a bit of discussion on the usual forums re transistors. Good results have been seen with low-gain silicon in Q1, and germanium … Read more
A nice simple one – the Jordan Boss Tone. JORDAN BOSS TONE V1 – POINT TO POINT LAYOUT The California version. JORDAN BOSS TONE V2 – POINT TO POINT LAYOUT Still the California version, with a few minor variations. JORDAN BOSS TONE V3 – POINT TO POINT LAYOUT This is the NPN / PNP transistor … Read more
The Colorsound Bass Fuzz is a Big Muff style circuit, missing a pair of diodes and the gain recovery stage, not unlike a Jumbo Tone Bender. Caps have been enlarged to suit the bass guitar. COLORSOUND BASS FUZZ – VERO LAYOUT
I used Kit Rae schematics, but I did not follow the same component numbering, as I don’t find it all that intuitive. Kit did it that way for a good reason, this way works better for my brain. There’s also this excellent post by Kit Rae on the EHX forum, broadly describing differences between versions. … Read more
As far as I know, only a handful of D*A*M FZ-678 were ever made, maybe 5 in total – it’s a variation on a Zonk Machine. It’s the same structure as a Zonk / MKI, but with a filter attached to the input. I haven’t made a layout for it, as it’s all there to … Read more
Since I’m on a bit of a tag board thing at the moment, I thought I would copy the Ghost Effects Warmjet V layout from a couple of photos – why I don’t know, as I already have a point to point version that I’ve built. Anyway, here it is… I’ve been looking at this for … Read more
This is my slightly more spacious take on the original tagboard layout for the Baldwin-Burns Buzzaround. Same size board and the same layout; it’s just spread out a bit more to take advantage of all the lugs available. BALDWIN-BURNS BUZZAROUND – TAGBOARD LAYOUT
The Hornby Skewes Zonk Machine is pretty much a MKI Tone Bender with some value changes – most notably the 1n capacitor on the input and resistors to collectors. A classic guitar effect from back in the day. ZONK MACHINE – ORIGINAL TAG BOARD LAYOUT TAG BOARD LAYOUT There’s enough room on a 12-lug tag board … Read more
I bought a couple of these enclosures on e-bay, not being completely sure what they would be like, but I’m pretty happy with them. They feel solid, and the tolerances are good (no big gaps, and everything fits nicely). The corners are a bit sharp, but nothing a file can’t sort out before finishing. VINTAGE-STYLE WEDGE … Read more
