Devi Ever/Dwarfcraft Devices Super Soda Meiser

This one was recently traced on FSB and as i have a soft spot for Devi & Dwarfcraft circuits alone and together, i had to draw it up.. A bit like original Soda Meiser, or at least some revisions of it, but this time with a Chaos switch and a Drone-knob.

Smart People Factory Red Threat V2

Happy holidays! We hope you have a good one! ...and there's number of unverified layouts for you to try out this holiday season! Like this one..

Dylan 159's Blendy Buffoon

Next up from Dylan159's Unreleased Circuits is the Blendy Buffoon. We've had a bunch of different blend/mix/loop designs up already, but this idea was still missing. Some may have stumbled upon an issue where you couldn't use a basic blend circuit with the likes of Marshall Bluesbreaker or MXR Dynacomp. That issue is due to those pedals (and loads of others) reversing the phase. Which resulted in minimal signal output as the dry signal is 180 degrees out of phase with the wet signal. Now this one cures this behavior - and you can flip the switch to use this with any pedals in the loop - may it be reversing the phase or not. I believe this may come in handy on various situations, like recording.

Dylan159's Troupple Boost

I'll be posting a few circuits from Dylan159's Unreleased Ciruits. There was the Fuzz Facelift posted earlier and i'll continue with more of these goodies. Next up:

Troupple boost. Gamers might get the reference. This came out from my wish for a simple, clean treble boost that could work from a variety of supply voltages to be even cleaner. The rangemaster's bias varies wildly to the point that barely works at 18v. This one features the same bass cutoff and the same input impedance, resulting in that small resonant peak and treble damping. You can try a 10n cap for a more tube screamer-like response.

Vesta Fire / Reagun / Nadine's Overdrive

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...

Vesta Fire / Reagun / Nadine's Distortion

Not that long ago, Manfred traced his Reagun Distortion unit and posted the results on FSB. These pedals were sold as Vesta Fire, Nadine's and Reagun brands around early to mid-eighties. All these were made by Shiino Vesta Fire Corporation (SVFC), which became Vestax back in 1987.

Designwise these are not bad at all. This one reminds me of OD250 with BMP style tone stack and a decent inverting amplifier as a recovery stage. Might be worth to try out. Sadly, i couldn't find any demos...

Exar MM-04 Moon Metal

 Next up from Vitalii's traces is Moon Metal from later Exar series. Youtube demo found isn't all that great, but there's very nice EQ section and gain range seems quite good as well. Not a small circuit, but i think this could be quite usable.

Caline CP-29 White Heat

 Boost with grit. Basic, but not exactly like all the others out there.

Biyang Tonefancier BL-8 Blue

 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.

Exar HR-03 Hammer

 Another one from Vitalii's traces. This one seems quite nice modern metal distortion with reasonable frequency characteristics. Should be enough gain too. The 47K at the top (horizontal one) may be a point to tweak for even more over the top gain. Like so many of these pedals of Polish origin, this one seems to have no demos available either..

Exar DS-02 Distortion

 VitaliiBobrov is doing an amazing job in tracing Exar pedals. This Polish brand has some decent tones and lots of room for tweaking and trying things out. Once again, try to tweak the values at the inverting input to ground. And try on a different pair of diodes for clippers, etc.

No demos around for this one either...

Lastgasp Art Laboratories Green Monster Septic Fuzz

 Found this circuit from the DEFX files and thought this to be quite interesting. Discontinued circuit with noise for days. From the source:

The GREEN MONSTER septic fuzz (GM2)is an effect
pedal to create a septic distortion.

Characterized by a dirty, broken and rotten sound. Bad handling!

GREEN MONSTER is back with four knobs! There is an easy to use sound which the first GREEN MONSTER (ultra fuzz) was never able to create, but the sound is still putrifying! Genuine septic sound can be found here!

First one is close to the original...

 

 ...and the latter is with DEFX mods - adding a gain switch for stock and other...
 

Barber Electronics Edge Hog Distortion

 Another damn nice trace that's up on FSB, by Joe from Grey Bench Electronics. This one seems to be a very limited run distortion from Barber, built around the time of the millennium madness.

FAL Treble Boosters

 Found these posted by the one and only pinkjimiphoton on the usual places. Both are very old and rare always on fixed treble boosters. Should be quick fun small builds. You can easily make them NPN by flipping the electrolytic caps, power and ground connections. I believe low gain transistors will work fine in them.

FAL Treble Booster 1967

FAL Treble Booster 1969

Monster Effects Mastortion

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.

Anta Fuzz

First post of the new year. This comes from a request posted in the forum. Not much I could find about this other than it's a Fuzz Face derivative made in the 70's in the USSR.

McSpunckle Gnomeratron VTF

This was a request.
You could use external pots instead of trimmers.
Schematic available here.

Bixonic Expandora

An old circuit that was missing from the main page.

There was a layout by Harald Sabro in the forum section but this one should be easier to build.

I've taken the "Bite" control from Codtone's Expandra.

You can remove it by adding a link between Bite 3 and 2.
I've also added two more layouts, one with "Forbidden" mod and "Edge" pot as suggested by Dino and one for the Expandora II.

Rostex Turbo Metal

I've heard that in 1991 former Lell engineer went on to form a new company called Rostex. At least that's the rumor and i have no other information about the brand or the pedal. You know anything about these (or have a demo clip/video), please do post it in the comment section.

For the layout, in addition to adding series polarity protection and input pulldown, i subbed the output buffer FET to common 2N7000 pinout.

4-knob version:

And the  3-knobbed version:

(Edit 25.5.2018 23:31: fixed a fault with low wiring and added the 3-knob layout
Edit 29.5.2018 20:35: Fixed 3-knob layout that had a misplaced cut on board image)

ProCo Solo

From the source:

The SOLO is the newest member of the Pro Co family of stomp boxes. Although it is housed in the same indestructible and road worthy steel enclosure that has come to be a trademark of Pro Co stomp boxes, the SOLO marks a departure from the RAT series of pedals in more ways than just the new cosmetics. With its enormous range of tones, 3 way selectable “hot, melt, & burn” modes, and highly interactive “scoop” and “tone” controls, the SOLO just might be the most versatile pedal in your arsenal.  

Don’t let the name fool you, the 100% analog SOLO is no one trick pony. It is equally at ease in both lead and rhythm capacities, and with a wide variety of amplifiers and guitars. Capable of going from vibey, chewy, warm low gain tones, to deliciously mean and crushing high gain tones, the Solo still remains remarkably true to the sound that matters most: The sound of you and your guitar. And speaking of staying true to the sound of your guitar, true-bypass switching ensures that when the pedal is off, there is no coloration of your sound.  

 Even in its highest gain settings, the SOLO remains extremely tube-like, articulate and touch sensitive. Complex chords ring out with clarity, leads sustain with ease. Roll back your volume knob and it cleans up, just like a good tube amp would.  The solo uses three pairs of carefully matched (or should we say, carefully mismatched) clipping diodes to produce asymmetrical clipping. The three pairs are accessible via the “hot, melt, burn” slider switch. This has the effect of making the SOLO clip very much like a tube amp going into natural power tube distortion.

You'll notice there's plenty of room to add 3 more clipping options if you want to use a 6 position rotary switch.