Here's a collection of vero (stripboard) and tagboard guitar and bass effect layouts that we have put together covering many classic and popular effects in growing numbers. Many of these have been posted on freestompboxes.org, so check that site out for great discussions on building your own effect pedals. Enjoy the builds and please also visit us on Facebook and Twitter
With 1000 verified layouts in site, I figured I'd throw in something small, simple, and usable.
From the Source:
The Signal Pad is a passive attenuator that allows you to instantly
switch to a different preset volume. It's like your guitar's volume
knob, with a fully-passive and color-free circuit. Leave your amp's
volume set high for overdrive, and use the Signal Pad to lower your
level for a clean sound -- then switch it off to kick in your amp's
natural overdrive. You can also experiment with the Signal Pad anywhere
in your effects chain -- you'll bring out new tonal combinations from
your favorite old pedals.
"The Knockout is a powerful two-filter combination that can make your Les
Paul sound like a Strat and your Strat sound like a Tele. Its
secret...the Knockout has a 7 pole filter for sculpting the low end of
your mids and a 6 pole filter to shape the top end of the mids. This
provides incredible tone shaping. Use after distortion to bring out the
heavy weight punch of the metal masters. The Knockout is also truly
amazing on Bass." Original FSB thread and schematic available here.
... and a layout with added Input & Output caps. (Will remove the one above later)
Here are two layouts for a classic Ring Modulator.
The first one is for a vintage version (schematic available here).
The DIP version of 1496 had a different pinout.
The second one is for the modern vesion and it could potentially fit in a 125B size box (there is no schematic but a PCB layout here).
Not sure if they have been verified.
You should be able to use Mark's Bipolar Voltage Converter.
Here is a layout for a classic pedal.
I've drawn 2 versions: Vintage and Modern.
There are 2 layouts for the Vintage: with and without output boost.
I've added a boost to the Modern layout to avoid volume loss.
You can find the original FSB thread here.
16/01/2017 Layout updated! I've changed the vintage layouts because there were some errors in the schematic.
Thanks to Barcley for pointing out the corrections that I needed to make!
Here is a layout for the older version of EH Black Finger.
You can find the original FSB thread here.
I've used Pedalgrinder slightly modified schematic on page 3.
Some suggested high gain, some low gain transistors.
Should test them both.
Here is a verified layout for a quite unknown slapback-echo EH pedal.
You can find the original FSB thread here.
I've added an output boost to cover volume loss.
I've found only one video around but didn't sound great.
Here's a layout for a big muff from a schematic from October 15, 1975. It's known as the mystery muff. Should be a nice addition to any muff collection.
The only deviation from the schematic is that I added the mids switch, I changed the 1uF caps to polys instead of electrolytics, and added a polarity protection diode. The transistors are unknown so I looked at the schematic for muffs of a similar vintage and they used BC239C's, but you can and may use more common Si transistors like 2N5088, 2N5089, etc. The diodes are also unmarked, as they were unknown from this vintage so I marked them as the common 1N914/1N4148's, but you can try other Si diodes.
Request. Everyone knows what it is so I'll leave the description to Mike Matthews:
The NYC original. Hendrix and Santana were among the first to get a piece of the Pi, and for over 40 years the Big Muff Pi has been defining the sound of rock guitar. Revered by contemporary guitarists and rock legends for its rich, creamy, violin-like sustain, from Pink Floyd to The White Stripes, everyone still wants a piece of the Pi!
Thanks to Miro for the excellent trace job he did on this.
Hope you're stocked up on 470nF caps. They were all polarised but I have shown poly for the caps with a 5mm pitch because I expect that is what most people will use. I have shown electrolytics for the two with only a 2.5mm pitch just so people know the polarity if anyone would like to build it with electrolytics, but again I expect most would use poly or maybe 2.5mm multilayer ceramics for them. Any PNP germanium can obviously be used an an alternative to the NKT275, and I suspect more people will have 2N3906's in stock than 2N5087's, so try those for Q2 and Q3.
Info about the original: Classic '60s Germanium transistor overdrive and more. In addition to a Gain control, the Electro-Harmonix Germanium OD allows the user to control Bias for attack and the circuit Volts for that sweet spot found when a battery's voltage dips. Dial up that slightly torn speaker sound OR dial in total Germanium "Satisfaction." Germanium is an element like carbon or gold. Germanium transistors were used extensively back in the 1950s and ‘60s. Eventually they were replaced by components that were considered “better.” The EHX Germanium OD and Germanium 4 Big Muff Pi use these old school transistors. They have a distinctive sound, some say smoother or “spongier.” You be the judge, hear the Germanium OD here.
and the schematic
Thanks to ξεναγός νεκρόπολης for verifying and providing the following working voltages.
Thanks to Miro for his great work with the trace for this one. This is more an adaptation than a verbatim clone, but will give you the same results. The original used a CD4066 quad bilateral switch to do the Tone Wicker switching which seems very much like an unnecessary inclusion when you consider all it is doing is bypassing the 470p base collector capacitors, so it seemed that instead of using a DPDT switch and CD4066 with the associated increase in required board space, it makes much more sense to simply use a 3PDT toggle for exactly the same results.
Info about the original from Electro Harmonix: The Big Muff Pi with Tone Wicker taps into the sonic power of the legendary Big Muff Pi, but creates new tonal possibilities at the flick of a switch -- or two. Use the Wicker switch to open up three high-frequency filters for raspy, sustaining distortion with top-end bite, or flick on the Tone switch to bypass the tone control for unabated tonal slam. Want the original Big Muff sound? Just switch off the Wicker and turn on the Tone. The ability to create your own personal Big Muff sound is what truly makes this the Wicked Wicker.
Traced by our very own Miro (nice job buddy), and even though this is displaying an unusual lack of originality for EHX, I'm completely prepared to forgive Mike Matthews simply because it will upset Fulltone which is never a bad thing for me.
Info about this Voodoo Lab Overdrive derivative: Rich, overtone laden sound that doesn’t get muddy. Responsive controls that take you from sparkling, clean boost through brown crunch and all the way to thick, saturated hi-gain. Advanced features like Tone Shift and selectable 9 or 18V internal voltage for surgical sound sculpting. The new OD Glove delivers overdrive and distortion with impact, and the modern player in mind. “The OD Glove is unlike any of the overdrives we offer and great!” - Mike Matthews
Another one that was missing from the library. Original units call for 2M pot for the overdrive control, but as the demo below suggest, the middle position of that knob should be mild enough. So i see no harm in using 1M pot for that instead. That'll give you the latter half of the sweep.
...aaand i built one for myself. 1M lin pot for the drive works really well. At minimum setting the effect is slight overdrive with a nice tube sounding overdrive going on. When maxed it's a very high gain driver and sounds really nice. I think i may need to get myself an original nano version to compare them. But yes. This sounds very good. One more thing. I usually sub log volume pots for linear as i like the sweep better. On this one. Nope. You'll definitely want it to be logarithmic.
Modded to include a depth pot instead of the switch used in the original, giving you variable depth control rather than just two preset levels. Not the best looking layout with too many links and cuts, but it's a means to an end, and it's hard to avoid when you have 4 ICs, 3 transistors and lots of interconnections, so I'm just happy that I managed to keep the size down. 21 x 28 will be a squeeze to get in a 1590B, but with only two pots and no other switches it shouldn't be a problem for most people.
I didn't have enough room to fit in pulldown resistors on the input and output and can't bring myself to add extra columns just to do that, so if you get any popping just add them to the stomp switch, 1M between input board wire lug and ground lug, and 100K between output board wire lug and ground lug. I may actually do it with surface mount resistors on the copper side of the board (the entire second row is ground).
Anyway, you all know what it is so no need to describe further. Manufacturers info about the great sounding, and very well priced original.
The classic chorus! Analog chorus pedal popularized by Kurt Cobain. The finest analog chorus sounds: from clear, rich and dimensional to warm pulsating warbles, can be intensified with the Depth Control. Simple tweaks generate exciting doubling effects. Chiming 12-string tone, or Leslie-like warbles.
Request for this nice sounding chorus/vibe pedal. Thanks to Scruffie for his schematic. It will fit in a 1590B if you want the aggravation, but a 125B would probably be a better choice.
The effect needs a 15V supply so you can either use a standalone 15V adapter if you have one, or build the included power daughterboard which with double the supply and then uses a regulator to reduce it to a stable 15V.
The schematic was based on a mono version of the old MN3007 Clone Theory, but this is the manufacturers information about the current XO version:
This recreation of the original 1970's Clone Theory is re-known for its very edgy chorus. Stereo outputs provide lush chorus and vibrato with a sparkling wash and liquid elegance.
CLONE THEORY, one of the most lush, deep and warm CHORUS/VIBRATO ever made, now in stereo. The CLONE THEORY’s depth and rate controls swing from one extreme to the other, giving the user an entire realm of possibility for tone.
[20th May: re-jigged slightly reduced the number of links, no corrections were made so the first layout posted should still be good]
and here's the stereo daughterboard for those wanting the option
Hahafender on the forum sent some pictures of the guts of his Micro Pog and wondered how This1sMyne and JHS do their dual control mods, hoping to do similar, preferably like This1sMyne with external controls. We knew from gut shots of the mod that a 4PDT stomp is used, one pole of which is for the LED indication, and so only one pole is used for each pot.
After some probing we knew that lug 1 of all the pots connect to ground and that each control increases its own effect as the pot is rotated clockwise. The original used 5K linear pots for all the controls, and so if we use 10K for all the pots instead (also replacing the existing pots), keep lug 3 common and just switch the wipers, then we know that the entire value of the pot out of circuit will always be in parallel with the pot in circuit and so we get a predictable affect irrespective of the position of the out of circuit pot. 2 x 10K is the 5K used in the original. This will alter the taper and so reverse log will be the best choice [see discussion below].
For indication with the 4th pole I've shown a bi-colour LED with a common anode so that you will get a different colour for each "channel" selected. If you're not bothered about LED indication then of course a 3PDT stomp or switch could be used instead.
Note that the C7 and the D2-D3 are not present on the original pedal. There are holes ready for those components. Adding C7 as 4n7-100nF cap will increase bass response and adding diode clipping to the place of D2 & D3... Well. That will make this an different animal.
Ok. This has absolutely nothing in common with all the other 14 different versions of Big Muff Pi. As the effect has two individual sides, one for distortion and other for overdrive, i thought i'd draw the sides as a separate layouts. You can, of course, use one 16 x 31 board to have both effects on a single board. Or tweak one of them to your liking and fit it in 1590B. With eight pots and two stomp switches, i don't see even Javi fitting all of this in 1590B :)
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.
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.
