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
As requested on the forum, this is the original version of The Dane based on schematics found on one of the effect PCB sites. A Drive only version was requested so I've done this on two separate boards for Drive and Boost, each with their own independant supply filtering and Vref components. If you want to build the whole thing you can either do it on two boards as shown, or it should be easy to adapt to a single board, and you could even potentially make them a bit smaller by removing the duplicated filtering and Vref parts.
I recall reading how most of the Mudhoney DIY builds were just not sounding right.. Recently re-traced on FSB by Kasper, from his V1.1 version of the pedal - there may have been a fault with the schematics that previously floated around the web. When i saw this, i thought "the switch shouldn't work like that".. But it seems like it really does, and with this configuration, instead of the Ruetz-style mods on the Rat, one may finally get that Mudhoney (err.. tuned Rat?) tone out from a stripboard. There are the BJT transistor buffers in place to keep the topology close to an idol, but obviously the electronic switching is removed to accomodate true bypass. The oldee PSG demo may look outdated today, but it does not sound bad. And hey! It starts with a Dinosaur Jr riff with the pedal!
..And there's been slight development. This V2 of the layout incorporates 47R CLR for power supply and a 10K pulldown at the output as on Kasper's later revision of the schem. Making this now verbatim with the original. I doubt it'll sound any different from the slightly smaller layout above. But for the sake of completeness.. Here's a layout again as revision 2.
Someone mentioned that the circuit in an earlier post would have possibly been an inspiration for this one. Not sure if i share the sentiment, since that 80's japanese design and this have basically, or in quite broad terms, just the gain pot method in common with each other.
Anyway. Quite a few people seem to lke this ultra-cheap OD. And what's not to like. There's a nice, loud clipping amp followed by tuned TS-style tone control. Not that complicated, but sure does sound nice.
Second post for today is the Overdrive from Manfred's trace (at FSB). This comes from the same series as it's distortion brother (see the earlier Vesta Fire Distortion post), but the design is slightly more obscure. Still, the inverting input filter path to ground gain pot method on a non-inverting gain stage is used. However, the clipping isn't your bog standard feedback loop diodes. The original diodes in series with 10K resistor are something that hasn't been identified (at least not yet), so i figured this would be a nice board to try on your stash of non-conventional diodes. Maybe some zeners? I'm fairly certain this circuit won't sound bad, no matter what diodes you put in there...
This one is kind of a take on a single opamp overdrive with hard clippers ala OD250/Dist+, but the gain control is placed on the feedback loop like in many standard overdrive designs. Nothing too speacial or different, but a nice addition to overdrive palette nevertheless. Snippet from the spiel: The BL-8 delivers a creamy yet clear overdrive the sounds like the
old tube amps of the 70's. Highly recommended for those who play Blues
and Country music.
Traced by GratefulEight, this overdrive seems like a circuit worth to try out.
From the source: The Earth Drive is the ultimate boost/overdrive pedal, designed to
retain your instrument's natural character while providing an organic,
full-bodied, yet transparent sound.
Use the Earth Drive as a
clean boost to add warmth and smoothing, or turn up the drive knob and
get a wide spectrum of overdrive harmonics and singing sustain. The
Earth Drive has a huge range of boost control with its volume knob,
while the tone knob helps you perfectly dial in the treble response.
Whether
you play bass, pedal-steel, electric piano, electric guitar, organ,
whatever, the Earth Drive is quite possibly the most useful and
versatile drive pedal you've ever heard.
There was a great post from Grey Bench on FSB, tracing this ten year old Stafford Maxon circuit that i found interesting back in a day, but couldn't source a schematic back then. This is per original, using only a half of a dual opamp and utilizing a 12x21 board.
Recently traced at FSB by VitaliiBobrov, i find this very interesting. Discrete opamp overdrive, that leaves a lot of room for tweaking and modding. Sounds pretty great even as it is.
There are never too many discrete opamp designs...
/edit - There was an error on the gain pot label. That's now fixed. Also, the telpod-brand pots on the origal unit use A for linear and B for log tapers. So you should use log pots for gain and tone. Anyway. This is verified.
Simble Overdrive has a natural organic tone, unsurpassable touch
sensitivity, sweet tube-like compression and built in inspiration. This
natural sounding pedal works as a clean boost, ”on the edge” crunch, or a
sweet singing overdrive, always retaining the tone of your prized
guitar.
The Simble pedal is happy with either single coil pickups or
humbuckers and thanks to the pedals wide bandwidth also works great with
bass!
Catalinbread has released two versions of the Karma Suture, one germanium and one silicon based. Both at their hearts are simply a modified Harmonic Percolator. I think Catalinbread described it best on their site:
A bubbling cauldron of even-order harmonics!
The only change I made in the layout from the schematic is I added a 100uF cap from power to ground to assist in power filtering. Schematic can be found here. Enjoy my fellow fuzzheads.
I know, I know, it's been a long time since a new layout has been posted. We have not gone away, just time has a habit of getting away from you, especially with the current state of the pandemic. I've got a running list for more layouts to come, but I don't want to post them all too quickly. I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.
I want to start the year out with a new layout. This is one I've had waiting in the wings for awhile and finally had time to site and make a layout for it, so without further adieu.
The Monster Effects Mastortion was originally a limited edition pedal designed with Brent Hinds of Mastodon as a heavy OD/Distortion that's on the verge of fuzz. Not much info on it, as it was originally made in very low numbers. It's basically YATS with a set tonestack. The only changes I made was to the power section as the original has an interesting setup with bridge rectifiers and I don't feel it's necessary or adds anything to the pedal. Schematic can be found here.
An out of production EQD overdrive that's based on the Distortion+.
From the source:
The White Light Overdrive is based on vintage overdrives that defined the sounds of classic hard rock. This vintage voiced stompbox is similar to a vintage DOD 250 or MXR Distortion+, but don’t mistake it for a direct clone of these OD’s of yesteryear. The White Light gives total control over the voice of the dirt along with a modern presence that is both dynamic and responsive to your playing. The Weight control allows you to adjust the saturation and low end, giving you plenty of tonal shaping options. The White Light Overdrive doesn’t discriminate – it likes both humbuckers and single coils, and will add some real 70′s grit to your tone. The Compression switch lets you choose between an open voiced overdrive with more high-mids and bite, or more compression with less bit and flatter mid-range.
Controls
Gain: Controls the amount of distortion.
Weight: A multi-functional control, allows the level of saturation, bass response and the over all feel of the device to be altered.
Level: Controls the output.
Compression Switch: Less= Open w/ more high-mids and bite. More= Crunchy and compressed with a bit less bite and more flat mids.
Been awhile since a new post on the main site. Life can get in the way, but here's a new one. Keep an eye out for more, we still here and going strong.
From the Source:
Descended from the Honey Bee, this one is
capable of more dynamic dirt and quicker and thicker honey. If that’s
what you’re after, the Beest can help.
The Honey
Beest is an extension of the classic Honey Bee, adding saturation and
treble to a much loved design. The heart of the Beest is the addition of
a pregain booster controlled by the Pregain knob. The pregain booster
is not a simple linear booster, but has an intentional upper mid and
treble accent that lets you mix the two gain stages to get just the
right saturation and treble. The Nature and Pregain knobs make a
wide-ranging EQ section. The Drive
and Pregain knobs give full control of the distortion saturation and
compression. This also makes the “big bottom” part of the Nature control
more useful. Turning the Nature knob full left and the Pregain full
right creates a full range overdrive…sort of like if you’ve got a
50-watt 4×12 Supro.
In October 2003, Dan Coggins (formerly of Lovetone) released his first
commercial pedal under the Dinosaural brand, called the Tube Bender.
His design goal was to make something that was sort of a tonal hybrid of
the Tone Bender and Tube Screamer, hence the name. And honestly, having
listened to it, I’m not sure there’s a better way to describe it.
He only made around 140 of them between 2003 and 2007, but many of
them were snatched up by musicians and producers in the UK. So while
they’re exceedingly rare, you’ve most likely heard it.
I added a mod from the AION Wyvern Silicon Drive of a second position to the Tone Shift switch that’s in-between the flat and scoop modes. I've included the hfe readings from an original pedal as per Aion's trace, so you can try different transistors with similar gains.
It's so rare I couldn't find a demo of it, but I think you get the gist of what it should sound like.
Long story short, YATS. It's a nice sounding TS variant.
From the source:
Plumes is a unique, all-analog approach to a classic tube-like
overdrive circuit offering 3 different clipping voices, loads of
headroom and almost three-dimensional clarity that will push your amp
over the edge. The reimagined tone control is finely tuned to sculpt low
end, clear top end, and focus midrange with blooming sustain.
Plumes is an overdrive based around that classically overdone tube-like circuit you all know, and amps crave. While this particular circuit has been done to death, we here at EarthQuaker Devices brand of special effects pedals think the Plumes offers an original take on the old, tired dead horse everyone loves to beat on. You can’t get enough of it, so we are giving you some more. Doctor’s orders and what not….
For starters, we’ve done away with the sacred 4558 IC and the classic BJT transistor buffers and replaced them with JFET operational amplifiers and raised the input impedance to nearly 10 megaohms! This offers lower noise, better signal integrity and more chime in the high end. We power this OpAmp by taking the 9v input and internally converting it to +/- 9v to give it more headroom. The end result is a more three-dimensional tone with added clarity that really pushes a nice tube amp over the edge. You might notice how those badass leads you’re always ripping will blast over those awful, no good cymbals your drummer is constantly bashing around on. It sounds like diamonds…a million f**king diamonds!
We’ve also added three different clipping options for your consideration. Mode 1 is symmetrical clipping utilizing a pair of light emitting diodes. This is the crunchiest setting the Plumes has to offer. When played through a clean amp, it’ll deliver a reasonable facsimile of that classic black and gold British valve amp tone. If you already set your amp dirty, using this mode will make it filthy. Mode 2 is clean boost mode. This eliminates the soft clipping diodes altogether and leaves you with straight OpAmp drive. This is perfect for pushing your clean tone out in front or driving the preamp of an already overdriven amp into tasteful breakup territory. Mode 3 is an asymmetrical silicon diode arrangement similar to the stock screamer but with more output and clean clarity; the tone some people describe as “transparent”. It’s almost as if your clean tone is blended in with a slightly less clean tone, ya know? Using this mode gives a warmer low-end response and lower output. It’s less hard on your amp and your ears. It’s a classic pleasant tone the whole band can enjoy.
Not enough for you? We’ve also improved the way the classic tone control operates while still leaving it familiar enough to keep you warm and comfortable. It’s still a safe space, no worries in here. It’s now useful through the whole range. The low end is big and clear, and the high end is bright and cutting without killing the mids. Just the right amount of tonal tickling to excite those ear drums yet still give that familiar mid-heavy drive.
Surprised this one hasn't been done. A nice small and quick build, and should have lots of boost on tap and fatten up your tone nicely. Could be a good platform to mod to taste. Seems to be on the rare side to boot. Only video I could find was a DIY build that has some mods, but you get the idea.
I haven't done a layout for a while and as this is a nice simple one I (as I like them) I thought I'd add this to the collection. After doing it I noticed that HamishR has added a layout to the forum and that one is verified. But I thought I'd still add this to the main blog. I did it with the components on the switches though to keep the board more simple though so you can just choose the one you prefer.
The Friedman Golden Pearl is a transparent, lower gain overdrive pedal designed to push already overdriven amps into seductive saturation. This versatile pedal can also be used into a clean amp to achieve that elusive semi-broken up tone. Designed to please the ultimate tone connoisseur, the responsive controls, along with the three position high-frequency cut switch, let you custom tailor the pedal to your amp. Even greater refinement is available via the tri-mode clipping mode switch, which provides LED, diode, or no clipping voice options. Built in the USA, and designed to withstand decades of abuse, the Golden Pearl is a must have pedal for any guitar player.
"The Dunes, like the Palisades, is a Tube Screamer variant. Yet it
goes a step further from the original, adding a few extra features that
go a long way to matching your guitar and pickups, to your amp. The
knobs are familiar—Tone, Gain and Volume. In addition, there are three
toggle switches that really make things interesting:
Voice: Gives you three tonal differences; MOSFET, Silicon and Normal.
These options give you different levels of compression when adding gain,
and really change the overall character a lot. The Normal setting has
little to no compression if that is desired.
Normal/Bright: Works great when using either darker humbuckers—switch
to Bright, or if using single coils, keep it normal. Using the master
tone control in conjunction with this switch gives you a lot of useful
variation.
Bandwidth: What a traditional Tube Screamer lacks—here, the Dunes gives
you the option of adding a lot of deep low end—great for single coils,
or switch it back to the more traditional screamer mode, accentuating
the midrange, with less emphasis on the bottom end."
PCB and schematic available on PedalPCB website here.
