600th Verified Layout!

Going into our 5th year online, the Briggs Unknown Fuzz has become the site's 600th verified layout, thanks to Neil for verifying that one. 

When I did the first 100th Verified Layout! post I didn't have any intention of doing them every 100.  I was just amazed that we'd got it up to 100 and so wanted to post something to thank everyone.  When it got to 200 I thought I should do the same thing again as a tongue-in-cheek parody, and so it has gone on since then. Thanks for that goes to you all for building and verifying these layouts, and discussing them to make this what is a great effect building community.  Seriously you are a great bunch and it's been a pleasure getting to know you all over the years. 

Special thanks to Miro from myself and I'm sure also from everyone else who enjoys his layouts.  He really has brought a new dimension to the blog, his work is always top notch (I doubt I could do most of his layouts as compact and neat as he makes them) and he has contributed a lot more than I have this year (and probably last year too).  So thanks mate, you're a star.

So one year is about to finish and a new one begin.  Let's see how long we can keep the parody going and how quickly we can get to 700 (Miro's turn), even if we are running out of suitable schemes :o)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all

Ibanez Standard Fuzz

No way we're going to beat last year's number of layout posts :) We might break the verified 600 before new years though :)

Since i was up for taking on the big fuzzes.. Here's another vintage fuzz with up octave overtones. The layout turned pretty neat with some symmetry in there, but it'll once again eat up your 10µ cap supply :) Original has no polarity protection nor filter cap, so you should think about adding those yourself. The first gain stage with SK30A FET is per original, but instead the BCE pinout of the 2SC1815 used in the original, i drew the other transistors to match the pinout of your standard 2N2222 (and similar). Anything with relatively high hFE will work fine. BC550, 2N3904 MPSA18 and so on. Reportedly, lowish hFE gain transistor would work the best here. Try any Si NPN, you might get the best result with hFEs around 200. Just mind the pinout. I also left the clipping diodes on the edge of the board so one can take them easily on a switch and have his (or hers) way with them. Maybe a three position switch with LEDs, Germaniums and a diode lift in the middle? Tone change switch can be either a toggle or a stomp, which way you prefer it. If you want, you can omit the small link and the cuts from the bottom right off the board and wire the switch lug 2 directly to balance pot's lug 3.

Peavey Hotfoot Distortion

It's christmas eve already. Ho ho ho for all you builders out there!

We seem to have very few effects with buffered bypass, so i think i found a suitable one. The Peavey HFD-2 Hotfoot Distortion. It's more or less 1:1 with a Rat, but with added JFET input buffer which also takes care of the bypass buffering. There is only 2PDT stomp needed for the bypass, and it takes care of the LED and silencing the circuit too. The original has J231 JEFTs for the buffers, but as those will be a pain to source, i'd suggest using 2N5457 which are used on all the Rats. And those are just buffers, so the tonal differences will be practically none. If you change the values at 1K5 and 47R, both leading to 2µ2 caps, you can get yourself a Rat with a JFET buffered bypass. The method of taking the distortion out when bypassed is also worth a mention. Adjust the value of R-LED to match your indicator LED.

BBE Crusher

BBE's take on one of the classics. Once again, the power supply filter cap is probably an overkill, so use 47µ, 100µ or 220µ instead of the 1000µ.

Unicord/Univox Super-Fuzz

A friend of mine was wondering about Malekko mini boxed fuzz and forums told us that the unit was apparently just Univox Super-Fuzz clone in A-box. With our favourite methods, there is not a snowball's chance in hell to fit this in A. There's already Mark's original layout in the library, but i redrew this so it can be fitted in 1590B box instead of BB.

This layout is per the factory schematic found on Univox.org. I swapped the transistor pinouts for modern ones so that 2N5088, 2N5089, MPSA18 and similar can be used. There's added anti-popping pull-down resistor at the input and a polarity protection for your convenience.

Layout is now fixed and verified. Happy building everyone!

Gearmandude's old demo vid:

BBE AM64 American Metal

I wasn't aware that BBE would release nice, simple designs with all through-hole components for good bargain prices. Funny how all the units on eBay are priced about a double of the original unit as a new...

The input cap (4n7) could be upped to at least 22n and there are other things one could do to this too. Clipping on a switch and so on. You won't be saving any money building this though... The power filter cap is 1000µF in the original unit, but i left it at 220µ for this layout. Both of those values are a overkill. You'd be fine with 47µ or 100µ in its place.

Proco Rat 2

Now, there is only couple of small changes to the output buffer and volume control when compared to the original Rat. The volume control looks like it could give you some trouble with the output level. If it does, just snip the 10K resistor from volume 3 to ground. I would personally use linear taper for that too.. If you want to turn this in to Turbo Rat, then just swap the 2M2 resistor for 220K and use 3mm red LEDs for clippers. Or use 1N34A germanium diodes to make it YouDirtyRat. (fixed clipping info accordingly)

EHX IC Big Muff V5 '78

Javi mentioned on the original IC BMP post that the original 2 ICs instead of the quad used in that layout make the circuit sound a lot better. So i thought i'd draw up a layout for '78 tone bypass switch version with two opamps. This way one can build a clone that's closer to the original and/or try out different opamps for it. It is per Analogguru's schematic which has couple of notes on it. First of all, the sustain connections are tweaked to function better. Both can be easily be modified per original on this board. And then there's a note for 820K resistor from supply to IC2 pin 3. That resistor needs to be 1M if you want to use TL071 or similar FET opamps for IC2.

Sam Ash Fuzztainer

MOARRRR FUZZ!! :o)

Here is the Sam Ash Fuzztainer.  It is slightly modded from the original, the transistors suggested are more modern 2N5088 instead of the original 2N5172, power filtering and polarity protection has been added, the bias trimmer has been taken external because of the different tones this will give you, and the output resistor was reduced from 68K to 1K.

These mods were suggested by Jon Patton (midwayfair on our usual forums) and here is his vid of what to me is a great sounding pedal:

Jen HF Modulator / Gretsch Playboy

Now get your irons out and build it. Place your favourite fuzz in front of it and get ready for some psychedelic brain melting action. The circuit is the same in both, Jen HF Modulator and Gretsch Playboy. For this layout, i've once again swapped the transistor pinout to match your everyday devices. Original has 2N5172 general amplifier transistors in it, but 2N5088, 2N3904 and many others are very close to those in their specs. If you want to use the original ones, just mind the pinout. I've also added series polarity protection diode and pulldown resistors for in and out to prevent your circuit from popping when switched on and off.

Here's a little dcemo clip of my build:

Mutron Micro V

As Javi liked the idea of the simplified controls I thought it would be worth adding a layout for the original pedal too.  It may seem strange with it being a "stripped down" Kraken, but it actually worked out a column wider using the Kraken layout as a template because removing the Attack pot means a resistor needs to go from the 3rd to the 15th row, but what can you do? :o)  Anyway the option is here if anyone wants to build this instead.

Madbean Kraken

We had a request to do the Mutron V or the Madbean Kraken so I decided to go with this one for the extra controls.  Info from Brian about his modification:

The Kraken is a modified Mutron Micro V™ envelope filter. The Mutron Micro V™ is the “little brother” of the more fully featured Mutron III™ having only a Range pot and a Hi/Low switch for the filtering. The Kraken expands the controls to include Attack and Decay for the envelope response. This is the only alteration to this classic and great sounding envelope!

Controls
Range: This controls the intensity of the envelope dynamics generated by your pick attack. Higher settings yield greater sensitivity, which in turn drives the intensity of the swept filter.
Attack: This control lets you dial in finer adjustments to the attack of the envelope. It is interactive with the Range pot.
Decay: This control determines how long it takes for the envelope to sweep the filter. Higher settings yield longer decay times.
Hi/Lo: This switch controls the range of the filter that is swept. Hi is thin and resonant. Lo is full and dark.

Mods
Try a pair of diodes with lower forward voltage for D1 and D2. This may improve sensitivity to picking dynamics. You can use 1n34a, BAT41 or BAT46.
Try a higher value pot for the Decay control for even longer decay times. Suggestions are 250kB or 500kB.


I can't find a vid of the Kraken and so here's the Mutron V.  I will swap this for a Kraken vid when someone here verifies this and posts one for me :o)

Ampeg A3 Overdrive

 
From UnofficialAmpeg.com: During MTI's ownership of Ampeg, everything was being built in Japan. Ampeg's most extensive line of pedals is no exception. In production during 1982 and 1983, the "A" series effects were housed in black steel boxes with brightly colored graphics in pinks, oranges, blues, yellows, etc., and included nine pedals and a "systems box".

From what i can tell from the prices i've seen - these are very collectible pedals. Might be a nice subject for building your own. The semiconductors are not mentioned (other than 4558 as opamp) on the schematic, but as the transistors are used as buffers, you should be fine with 2N3904, 2N5088 or similar. The clipper diodes are silicon, so 1N4148 should be very close to the original.

Monkee Music Satan Distortion

Been waiting a long time to post this one up. Yup. It is 1:1 with Rocktek DIR-01 Distortion. The schematic i found was missing a couple of values, so instead of guessing i got myself an original and checked them. My original just happens to be this beautiful japanese plastic thing. It doesn't quite reach the unity level, but there's one resistor determining the overall level. I marked that with an asterisk on the layout with a note, so you can swap it for something like 10K. This one is definitely nice platform for trying on some mods. Schematic is up at FSB.

While checking for additional info, i ran into this perfect demo video of later Rocktek unit. Priceless. Just Priceless.

General Guitar Gadgets D-Verb

A nice simple reverb project that a few people have asked for, with this layout based around the BTDR-2H brick.  The short description from the GGG website:

This is a great sounding digital reverb project.  Based on the Belton Digital Reverb Brick.
This really is an excellent reverb and is also the base of some of the reverb units being built by Hermida Engineering, used by many big name guitarists.

I've left the original layout up, but this is one row smaller so thought it worth adding for anyone who wants to keep the size down:

EHX Axis / Guild Foxey Lady 2-knob

The circuit is exactly the same in Electro Harmonix Axis fuzz and Guild's 2-knobbed Foxey Lady. 2N5133 may and will be very hard and expensive to source, so i'd suggest trying out any low hFE NPN Si transistors. Or go wild and try on anything you like. The cap values of 50µ and 4µ is another issue. Go with 47µ and 4.7µ. Should be close enough. I've added polarity protection and pulldown resistor, but you could omit them and save a column in order to make it verbatim with the original.

Yerasov Gamma DS-1 Distortion

Old Yerasov Gamma series distortion. Box totally looks like a Boss rip off, but the insides are not.

ZVex Distortron

Don't bother asking for a schematic. One doesn't exist. This layout is based on FSB thread on the subject....  (yes, you'll need to log in to see it)
---
The thread at FSB got wind under its wings after this layout, so the questionable values are finally confirmed. Here's the final layout with updated values (56n -> 22n and 10n -> 100n).

Ibanez CR5 Crunchy Rhythm

As requested. I happen to have an original unit in metal enclosure, and to my ears this is definitely one of the greatest Ibanez overdrives. This layout is with your standard transistor pinout and with input buffer omitted. Reason for omitting the buffer is quite obvious... It is big, but should fit in B-box without an issue. Clipping diodes are placed so that one can easily add a switch for them. I would personally probably go with two red LEDs and two (or four) 1N60Ps.

Edit: There were a few errors on the layout (transistor labeling, vref via 1M to wrong input, HF tamer cap location and a vref via 100k to discrete opamp). All of those are now fixed and the current layout is verified. A/B'd this circuit with my original unit, and the differences between the two are minimal. Still one of the greatest Ibanez overdrives!

Ibanez BS10 Bass Stack

There you go John. We'll never have enough bass designs... This one is basically a Rat for bass.

Thanks to John, this one is now verified. Which also means that the LM7 and FC10 should be safe to build.

Ibanez LM7 L.A. Metal (layout v2)

Another redux drawn from Dirk's schematic..

Ibanez FC10 Fatcat (layout v2)

Ok. As the original layout for this circuit was originally drawn from a bad schematic and altered later, i thought it would be a good idea to redraw this from a trusted (Dirk Hendrik's) schematic with original buffering in tact. I also removed the old one from the archives... As this Rat adaptation shares the original board with LM7 and BS10, those are on their way too.

Info from the database:
A wide range of distortion sounds, a fat sound, and plenty of sustain characterize the Fat-Cat Distortion. Unlike typical overdrive units, when high gain settings are used, the fatness remains, allowing the FC10 to be equally effective on lead or rhythm guitar.

Like the TS10 and DS10, the FC10 gives extreme level boosts to incoming signals, creating an overdrive distortion effect. Enough gain is available to overdrive even weak signals, such as single-coil type guitars and low sustain/fest decay tones (bringing them up to a high sustain level).

To get the Fat-Cat "growling" distortion sound, turn the distortion control up high, while keeping the level control low enough to limit additional overdrive at the input of the amp. The tone control can be used to add harmonics for brightness and controlled feedback. High tone settings increase attack articulation, especially helpful on guitars with humbucking pickups.

DOD 555 Performer Distortion

The orginal unit uses two 9V batteries and electronic swithing. I removed the latter, but left the supply voltage wanting the 18V. With this, i also left the (possibly) destructive polarity protection method in tact. For the supply, one can use two batteries or add a small daughter board to pump the standard 9V voltage close to desired 18V. That pump would be something like this or this.

DOD Studio Bifet Preamp / 410

Without the pseudo-balanced output and adapted to work as a stompbox. Not really sure if this is worth a build as it is supposed to be not that loud. Simple design with low parts count, so it might be nice thing to experiment on... The pot tapers are not mentioned on the schematic i found, but i suspect that linear should work well enough for both.

BJFE / Bearfoot Model G

I was struggling to get this one 21 columns wide max, so Miro will have to forgive me for the placing the Nature pot wires at different sides of the board.  Sorry mate :o)

Info about the original:

The Model G captures the unique voice and response of an often overlooked brand of amps from the 50s/60s ~ the Gibsons that were right there at the beginning with Fender, Valco ,Vox and Marshall..

Somewhere near the tweeds and supros but with a stronger and clearer voice, and a particular upper mid sound and snarl.

The Model G is related to the Honey Bee the same way a Gibson Falcon or GA40 is related to a Supro … cousins with obvious similarities, but important differences.

The volume, drive and nature controls are on both models.

The C knob is a big part of the difference – it controls several things at once:  the upper mids eq and snarl and  slight speaker compression … like adjusting to different speaker choices and ages or even like moving a mic aimed at the speaker.

Pink Jimi Photon's Photonic Juergulator

Pink Jimi Photon's take on Interfax Harmonic Percolator and Escobedo's Jerkulator.

Read maestro Photon's complete description on FSB.

rock the f**k on!!   the vid/audeo is outta sync, too.....arrrrgh  who needs LSD?

MXR Custom Badass Modified O.D.

Next up in the MXR Custom Badass line is the Modified Overdrive—a classic overdrive circuit with modern modifications for improved performance and versatility.

For added flexibility, we’ve added a 100HZ cut and boost control that allows for a more focused EQ when cut, or a beefier tone when boosted. The Bump switch engages an alternate EQ voicing that boosts the lows and mids. Put it in front of the '78 Custom Badass Distortion for a slew of amp-like gain structures that won't mask your tone.

Experience overdrive nirvana courtesy of the MXR Custom Badass team.

“My tone has never been better, and I ain't just sayin that. That Badass Overdrive is THE BEST distortion tone I’ve ever had. Its amazing!” - Nashville session ace Chuck Ward.

Couple of the values may seem a bit off, so use the closest ones you have, like 27n for stated 28n and so on.

MXR Custom Badass '78 Distortion

The first in a line from the MXR Custom Badass design team, the MXR Custom Badass ’78 Distortion is a factory-modded pedal that roars with huge amp stack tones and old school tube amp-like distortion.
We took a classic distortion circuit and hot-rodded it to the next level for over-the-top soaring leads and rich, saturated rhythms. With only three knobs, dialing in Badass tone is a cinch. The CRUNCH button allows you to choose between two different modes of diode and LED clipping, boosting the harmonic content of the distortion.

The '78 Distortion's wide open amp-like sound sounds great whether it's in front of a clean amp, a slightly dirty amp, or a full on overdriven amp. Under the hood, this high performance machine features top notch circuitry and hardware meant for a lifetime of use.

Some of the cap values may seem a bit off. These are the measured values of the SMD components on the actual board. So i suggest you try on the values that are closest to the ones measured. Same thing with semiconductors.

Now this layout is also verified, thanks to Csaba and John for their footwork.

Plexi-Drive with Trimmers

Yup. Most of you who know me know that i've had more than enough trouble with JFET biasing on some fixed drain resistor designs... This one also has the input cap and pulldown resistor at the input. Already verified by me. I found the best gain to be with drains at ~5V, but now you can tweak them to the voltage you want. Used 20K pot for tone. 50K should be fine too.

Nobels FU-Z Fuzz

Happened to spot one on ebay for mere 250 usd. A bargain. For this layout, i omitted the buffers and electronic switching. 30K pot value may be hard to  source, so one could try 50k pots for all of them. Original unit has 2SC2240BL transistors which are low noise devices with BCE pinout and hFE range of 200-700. I think 2N5088, 2N5089, BC549 or BC550 with gains at 400-500 should do just fine. The transistor image is for 2N* devices, so mind the pinout and experiment.

Arion MTE1 Tubulator

Arion's take on TS808/9.

BJFE / Bearfoot Pink Purple Fuzz

To keep the collection complete this is the second recently reversed BJFE/Bearfoot pedal, drawn up by mmolteratx, thanks again Matt.  Again this one sounds great to me.

Info about the original:

The Bearfoot FX Pink Purple Fuzz blurs the lines. Is it pink or purple? Is it fuzz, overdrive, or distortion? In terms of the color—can’t it be both? In terms of the tone? It’s all three, depending on how you dial it in. The Pink Purple is very high gain, while remaining very low-noise, housing all your daily fuzztones (no crazy octaves or gated fuzz here) and blurring the lines between fuzz, distortion, and overdrive—with a versatile mid-EQ knob that takes you through a range of useful fuzztones.

Bearfoot FX is the brainchild of Bjorn Juhl of BJF Design and Donner Rusk of Donnerbox. Every pedal is handpainted and no two are exactly alike. The pedals now ship with a plain, unpainted bottom plate to help ensure the most secure contact with adhesive Velcro for use on pedalboards. Bearfoot FX pedals are handmade in St. Louis, Missouri, USA.

Ibanez OD855 Overdrive II

Now. This is per the factory schematic, so it should (finally) be ok - don't go looking for the old defunct layout, as it is gone for good. Transistors are used for buffers, so i swapped the pinouts for your everyday devices. Tone pot is G-tapered 20K in the original, but linear should work fine in its place. Turned out pretty neat and still quite compact.

Thanks to Norwichbadger - this one is now verified.

Ibanez Overdrive II / Dirt Box

 

This layout is for the original Overdrive II, not OD-855. The same circuit has been sold as "The Dirt Box" too. More interesting details of the design at Tonemachines blog.

BJFE / Bearfoot Arctic White Fuzz

Back from holiday and thought I'd do a new layout to try to cheer myself up after feeling the difference in temperature :o)

The BJFE/Bearfoot Arctic White Fuzz is YAFF but certainly has been souped up and sounds great to me.  I'm sure it will be as popular as Bjorn's other effects.  Thanks to Matt for the schematic.

Info about the original:

Another favorite from the BJFe research program .... The Arctic White fuzz purrrs like a snow leopard at lower levels and attacks with full vintage growl when pushed ...... this is the most straight forward of the BearFoot fuzzes .... vintage in sound and feel with its own voice and personality.... and its a great recording fuzz as Bjorn wiped out the backround noise found in most fuzzes... 8-18v ... Volume Level - Fuzz Level and Tone control with just the right amount of treble control to match the Arctic to your little piece of the tundra .....and your Honey Bees new best friend.

Morley MOD-D1B Distortion One

This one seems to be quite rare thing. You can score one for >$200 at ebay. It is Morley's vision of the MXR Dist+/DOD OD250, with some noticeable changes. Might be worth a build...
Picture from Effects database.

Boss OD-3 SubClone

Found this floating around the interweb some time ago. It is OD-3, with tone control, buffering and switching components removed. The original design would be crazy big and undoable (at least for me) on vero. So this WGTP's simplification of schematic supplied by J. Luja more than 10 years ago should suffice. According to DIYSB thread, it should sound very close to the original. Like the name suggests, it's not a clone, but a SubClone. Offering what makes up the OD-3 sound but in a lot smaller circuit footprint.

Here's a Boss Soundcheck clip of the original:

BMP Tonestack w/ LPB1

I've noticed a recurring request on how to add tone control to layout x (where x = any layout without tone control). So i thought that i'd draw up a simple addon board for simple Big Muff Pi tone control, so that anyone can take it after any board's output. But as many of the designs (older ones in particular), have quite low output, adding BMP tonestack would do a number on the maximum level. Probably even render some moderate/low output circuits unusable. So i just added your average LPB1 booster after the tone control to act as make up gain stage. You could easily swap the trimmer for "master volume" control if you wanted to - which could be a sligth overkill in many situations.

So. Take your fuzz/od, take the output from there to this circuit's input and use the output from this as your new output. Simple but effective tone control for any design.

Needless to say, this may not be too great project by itself with missing input cap and some other small details that really want a circuit before it.

Rockett Pedals Animal

Info about the original:

The Animal is our creating of a 1968 Plexi Sound. The Animal is an extremely open and amp like sound that can get you from a stock plexi to a modified plexi with the flick of the snarl switch. The Animal can get very aggressive but it is by no means a distortion pedal, just think of a cranked plexi and how open and natural it sounds. We love this pedal!

Ibanez MSL Metal Screamer

I think we've done all the Ibanez Tubescreamers now :P This one is a mix between TS10 and TS808 with slightly bigger cap for fatter bass responce.

There was an issue with the output buffer's vref connection, but that's fixed now...

Ibanez ST9 Super Tubescreamer

Very close to STL Super Tube. Clipping amp and mids boost section are in different order, plus some slight changes to the buffers.