MXR Phase 90 - 4 / 8 Stage

I was going to just add this to the bottom of the Phase 90 post, but on reflection thought it better to start a new one to keep discussion about this build in one place.

A few people have requested a layout for the Phase 100 and I thought this could be a happy medium until I start on the circuits that are currently a low priority due to my preference for PCBs when it comes to larger circuits to keep the box dimensions down.

I was happy with the size of the Phase 90 layout and so I thought it would make sense to make this modular rather than using a large single board as it will then allow you to add more daughterboards if you want to, maybe two to make a 12 stage phaser if you like, or three for 16 stages.

The standard Phase 90 layout was used as an example in this layout, but you could do exactly the same thing with the modded version with the depth pot if you prefer.  This inserts the new stages in between stages 2 and 3 of the main Phase 90 board which means that all other components of the Phase 90 can remain exactly the same, making it easy to add this to an existing build if you want to.  All you need to do is add a cut and make the switch connections shown at the top of the Phase 90 layout and the daughterboard, daisy chain the supply and ground and link the sources and gates as shown.  Voila, you have a Phase 90 with 4 or 8 stages selected by the Stage Switch.

I haven't done this from a verified schematic and so it's all just theory at this stage, so it's definitely one for the experimenters out there.  And of course the people who don't mind matching at least 8 JFETs :o)

GoosoniqueWorx Seventheaven

While in the mood for amp sims I thought I'd add this one which I think sounds excellent in the demos.

Similar sort of vein as the Diefet, but this time based on the Bogner Ecstasy.  It's a 9V circuit, but I thought it would again be worth including a charge pump with this and so have added the small daughterboard to allow you to supply it with 18V (or either 9V or 18V if you want to add an extra toggle switch).

The boost switch is intended to be a second stomp and so you just need a SPST, but can use a double pole if you want LED indication.

Here's the vids:

and a comparison vid between the Goosoniqueworx Seventheaven and the Bogner Ecstasy Red

Diefet - Diezel VH4S Simulator

With 7 pots this was never going to be put in a 1590B anyway and so I wasn't so concerned about keeping the size down, although I bet it could fit in a 125B and would be very impressed if someone did it. :o)  I think most people will opt for a 1590BB though.

This is a project from techniguitare which has gone through a number of revisions over the years, with this version based on their 18V version of the circuit.  Use the trimmers along the middle of the board to bias each JFET drain to half the supply voltage.  The bottom right trimmer seems to alter the frequency of a high pass filter after Q3, and so will cut some low end.  This wasn't in earlier version of the schematic which instead just had a 100K to ground, but I can't speak French and so maybe someone could tell me the reason for its inclusion.

Basic Audio Scarab Deluxe

Info about this great sounding fuzz pedal from John Lyons of Basic Audio, and thanks to him for the information he shared about the circuit.  Check out this and his other pedals here:

A straight ahead refined vintage era fuzz along the lines of the Tonebender with lots of sustain and gain.
Tone control smooths out the high end but is very usable at all settings.
All gain and tone settings remain articulate and sweet throughout their range.
Full fuzz sound with the clarity of an overdrive.

This is a "Deluxe" version of the Scarab with more control over "feel" and adjustments in bias.
This version adds in a couple knobs over the 3 knob version.

BIAS:
Tonebender type circuits vary depending on the bias of the 3rd transistor. Gritty gated tones on one end of the dial, sustaining lead tones in the middle and sweet lower gain tones at the other end of the rotation. Bias affects tone and gain.

FAT:
The low end at the input of the circuit affects fuzz amount and saturation. The feel of the pedal can be adjusted from a saturated slower responding "fat fuzz" to a snappy, fast responding, slightly less gain fuzz that has the feel of a distortion or overdrive. This helps dial in a single coil to be fat or a humbucker to clear up a bit and be more sensitive to dynamic picking.

Skreddy ?Lady

I've wanted one of these for a while but they're total unobtainium so the only choice you have is build your own or pay a ridiculous amount of money.

The 2N5133's may be a little difficult to source (and as expensive as the ?Lady pro rata), so try every bi-polar NPN you've got in there and stick with the best results.  And please don't buy any 2N5133's off eBay unless they guarantee gain around 500-700 hfe.  These have already been cherry picked to death so you'll pay a lot of money for a transistor with nothing like enough gain to sound amazing in a muff.

Info from the Muff Master himself (that sounds sooooo wrong):

Skreddy Pedals™ ? Lady:
Thick and huge-sounding, this 1973-era-based fuzz is fat on chords and riffs and soars with infinite sustain on single-note runs.  Much more corpulent and "vintagey" sounding than a typical muff--it's got a bit of 60's flavor added in.
Has a wide useable tonal range with a rich midrange and an aggressive, fuzzy breakup..
Sounds like a vintage fuzz feeding a cranked up vintage amp, with as much output volume as you could ever want.