Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
Picked up this Greco TV-500 Les Paul Junior recently, and there’s not a massive amount of information out there, so I thought I should jot a few things down. I’m fairly sure it’s the same as the Ibanez 2343, given the relationship between the two brands – Greco for the domestic market in Japan, Ibanez … Read more
I know, this is not a pedal and it’s also just a Telecaster – not exactly big news – but hey, it’s my blog and I’ll post what I want. Picked up this Profile Silhouette Telecaster on the weekend for a pretty decent price – second-hand Squier money. It had been sitting in a … Read more
I’d somehow missed this one. The Ace Tone FM-3 Fuzz Master is similar to the Ace Tone FM-2 in looks and name, but that’s where the similarities end. The FM-2 is based on the Univox Super Fuzz and the FM-3 is a Big Muff variant. Schematic can be found here on Kit Rae’s BMP … Read more
The AIWA TP-1011 is the reel-to-reel tape preamp Richie Blackmore from Deep Purple used to drive his Marshall. I’m not a huge Deep Purple fan, but I do like the sound of some of these old reel-to-reel preamps. This layout is for the stock circuit running at 18v. If I ever get around to breadboarding the … Read more
A classic Japanese guitar effect – the Shin-Ei Companion Fuzz – it has its roots in the Fuzzrite, with a notch filter at the output. SHIN-EI COMPANION FUZZ FY-2 – VERO LAYOUT FY-2 SCHEMATIC Usual notch filter response. It’s a fairly broken-looking wave – not the infamous volume drop compared to the input level, which is normally … Read more
Onto the Frognose – weird name right? It’s based on the LM386 IC, which is an audio amplifier capable of driving a small 8-ohm speaker. In the configuration below, it’s capable of 20x gain, so it’s a pretty decent booster. If you aren’t familiar with the LM386, two of them are used in the Earthquaker Devices Acapulco Gold, and one … Read more
Continuing with the Electra guitar effects – the MPC2 Dynamic Fuzz. What’s unusual about this one is that the pot acts as a clean blend – one side from the input buffer, the other from the fuzz. Given that this is a cartridge that is inserted into the back of a guitar, the pot is permanently … Read more
Recently the Electra Distortion grabbed my attention again, so as I often do, I went digging for more information on the Electra MPC series guitar effects (modular powered circuits). One problem; Electra doesn’t appear to have ever made a Distortion module. Interesting… Then I read what we know as the Electra Distortion is really … Read more
A classic Boss overdrive – the one that started it all for Boss guitar effects, originally sold from 1977 to 1985. This is one of the later designs that does not use the quad opamp. Kind of curious that after this, many designs used the Boss version of a discrete opamp that can be seen in several … Read more
I found this schematic a little while ago and thought I might give it a try, as I’ve been looking to make a single band parametric equaliser, in this case, based on a State-Variable Bandpass Filter. It’s supposed to be from a Japanese textbook, but I’m not sure of its origin. It looks remarkably similar to a … Read more