Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
This is a modernised version of the Maestro Super Fuzz FZ-1S (unrelated to the Univox). It keeps the hard clipping and twin filters, but there’s no clean blend, which is OK by me, as who wants a clean blend on a fuzz anyway. DOD CARCOSA FUZZ – VERO LAYOUT CARCOSA VIDEO DEMO
The Inventions 1981 DRV is a modded Rat, and it’s a pretty nice one. If you wanted a more ‘hi-fi’ Rat, this would be it. It runs at 18v, which undoubtedly helps with the more open sound/dynamics compared to an original Proco Rat. There’s also a slight boost before the main op-amp, where the … Read more
The humble Proco Rat – a staple of distortion throughout the 80s, and then later rediscovered by people that couldn’t afford expensive pedals or just liked the sound. By the way, I refuse to acknowledge the Rat as a fuzz pedal. Others may, but not me… Excellent analysis on Electrosmash if you have somehow missed it – link here The … Read more
Another tweaked Fuzz Face from Zvex – not to downplay the good work of Mr Vex and his amazing array of guitar effects pedals, but it is what it is. The Fuzzolo, Mastoron and Wooly Mammoth all have a similar Zvex Fuzz Face variant as a base – thread on DIY Stompboxes, and you can … Read more
This is an LM386L based distortion that I’ve been playing with – I called it Kool Thing as I was testing it on one of my guitars that has an open tuning (DADDAD for the record), and I was getting a distinct Sonic Youth vibe – which is not all that surprising with that tuning. It’s basically … Read more
The first version of the Death By Audio Fuzz War is notoriously tricky to clone – this is the second version, which is a modded Jumbo Tone Bender with a tweaked tone stack. So, in other words, it’s a modded Big Muff. Schematic / build docs at PedalPCB DEATH BY AUDIO FUZZ WAR V2 – VERO … Read more
I did a point to point layout for this some time ago, which was actually my first post for this blog. Full description via the link above. The Colorsound Tone Bender Distortion is more distortion than bender – there are zero similarities between a MKI, MKII or MKIII bender and this circuit. COLORSOUND TONE BENDER DISTORTION – … 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