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Sunday, 22 October 2017

Castledine Electronics The Wizard

From the source:

The Wizard is a new distortion pedal, inspired by Tony Iommi's guitar sound on the early Black Sabbath albums. It is well known that he used a modified Rangemaster to drive his amps, so the same principle was used for The Wizard. The first gain stage is essentially a Rangemaster, using a germanium transistor, but tweaked for a full range boost. That drives a distortion circuit which has been designed to give something of the tone and feel of a Laney Supergroup amp. Obviously, there is no substitute for a full stack at volume, but The Wizard has a similar distortion character and responds well to picking dynamics.





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24 comments:

  1. Dexter22 October 2017 at 04:18

    Thanks Zach/rocket88. This is the pinnacle of iommi tones from the average amp and I salute toy for the valiant effort

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dexter22 October 2017 at 04:19

    * you.


    Damn auto correct

    ReplyDelete
  3. Traktop23 October 2017 at 04:21

    This is great!
    We don´t need to worry about drain bias resistors here, right?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Zach23 October 2017 at 07:32

      Nope. The FETs are setup in a mu amp arrangement so no worries about biasing the drain of the FET.

      Delete
    2. Stymie1323 October 2017 at 15:18

      Thanks for the layout Zach. I built it and everything works but it doesn't seem quite right. Output volume is low just barely reaching unity fully cranked. I used a 130 Hfe MP38A Russian germ for Q1.

      Delete
    3. Hozy3124 October 2017 at 17:03

      The version i built from the forum also has low output volume. I did notice that seems to be the way it is from watching YT vids though.

      Delete
    4. Unknown2 November 2017 at 05:32

      That 470k resistor before Volume3 is asking for a downgrade then, I think...

      Delete
    5. Stymie134 November 2017 at 03:02

      Yep, swapping 470K to 100K made a very positive improvement for me. Thanks trapiak!

      Delete
  4. Traktop23 October 2017 at 20:50

    I ordered some 2n1308s.
    In the mean time, could I just drop a silicon npn there ...?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Unknown2 November 2017 at 07:40

    MP38 vs MP21A as replacement for germanium CV7351?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. mirosol2 November 2017 at 19:57

      MP38A is a solid device and usually comes in higher gain ranges than MP21A. I'd go with MP38A. Both are definitely better than the original when it comes to temperature changes.
      +m

      Delete
    2. Unknown12 November 2017 at 22:19

      Thanks so much ;)

      Delete
  6. Unknown19 November 2017 at 01:36

    Looking at the layout, I think we can skip the board J-12 cut.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Unknown9 June 2018 at 00:09

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  8. Unknown27 June 2018 at 00:28

    I'm up and running but getting a large amount of hum running from an ac adapter. Has anyone else experienced this?

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    Replies
    1. Dubious Maestro15 June 2020 at 23:15

      There should be a 47ohm resistor between the 100uf cap and the 9 volt pad.

      Delete
  9. Unknown2 December 2018 at 06:52

    Would love to build this pedal but can't seem to sort these transistors anywhere? I am somewhat a novice in the pedal building world so any help would be helpful!

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  10. Unknown1 July 2019 at 06:36

    I am also a newbie to this... I would appreciate anyone's advice on a few questions about the drawing:

    what are the red circles with the white dots? cuts in the copper trace?
    Are the 47nF caps connected to rows A and D? or B and C?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Elijah-Baley1 July 2019 at 08:33

    Those red circles are right the cuts in the copper trace.

    And the 47nF are probably connected in rows B and C. When you has these kind of doubts try to take a look at the schematic.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Quinn30127 October 2019 at 02:05

    This verified?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Elijah-Baley27 October 2019 at 08:07

      It should be, but I think you have to swap the 470k between the Treble 2 and the Volume 3 with a 100k to increase the output.
      I don't know if there something other mistake in this layout.

      Delete
  13. Andy8 February 2021 at 22:29

    hello !
    the Laney Black Country Customs TI Boost schematic was released, can you create a tagboard?
    https://www.pedalpcb.com/docs/DarkEsbat-PedalPCB.pdf
    thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Marc1 March 2021 at 09:28

      Hi Andy. That sure is interesting. If you could go to the forum, you will find a Request part. I'm sure a lot of people would be interested in drawing a layout for this if you'd post it there

      Delete