This layout omits the in/out buffers and the transistors pinout is made to match your common transistors. Original has 2SC1815s in it, so you could use those too. Just mind the pinout. I would strongly suggest that you try on different transistors and different diodes for the clipping pair. Although this is really nice sounding circuit, i see no harm in modding it slightly to suit your preferences and/or needs.
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
Tuesday, 28 May 2013
Ibanez CM5 Classic Metal
Got the original yesterday and it didn't disappoint. Soundwise. The box is what you'd expect and the stompswitch is out of order, so no surprise there. Ibanez's old cheapo high gain distortion that is articulate and powerful without being mushy or too noisy. Well worth a second look.
This layout omits the in/out buffers and the transistors pinout is made to match your common transistors. Original has 2SC1815s in it, so you could use those too. Just mind the pinout. I would strongly suggest that you try on different transistors and different diodes for the clipping pair. Although this is really nice sounding circuit, i see no harm in modding it slightly to suit your preferences and/or needs.
This layout omits the in/out buffers and the transistors pinout is made to match your common transistors. Original has 2SC1815s in it, so you could use those too. Just mind the pinout. I would strongly suggest that you try on different transistors and different diodes for the clipping pair. Although this is really nice sounding circuit, i see no harm in modding it slightly to suit your preferences and/or needs.
Tags:
Distortion,
Ibanez,
Verified,
Vero
Friday, 24 May 2013
Boss FZ-3 Fuzz
I recently got a Behringer clone of this one in a trade for free and thought i'd check the schematic out. Turned out a little simpler than expected with a few nice, quite interesting things in its topology. There's basically a buffer driven by transistor, which drives something not completely unlike a fuzz face. After that there's one more gain stage that's driving the tone stack that's not completely unlike the usual BMP tone stack. Pretty simple, still there's something that isn't done in every fuzz.. Doesn't sound too great to my ears, but i think this'll be a nice addition.
This layout omits the electronic switching and in/out buffers. Omitting those also frees us from having vref on board, which isn't touching the effect itself. Original has 2SC2458 transistors, but i've drawn the layout to accomodate the usual supects, 2N3904, 2N5088, 2N2222, BC109, BC550 and so on. You can use the original ones or what ever you prefer - just mind the pinout. Use sockets to find the ones you like the most... The pinout/orientation on the layout matches 2N3904/2N5088. Original also has W-taper pot for tone control, but i suspect that linear will do the job without any issues.
This layout omits the electronic switching and in/out buffers. Omitting those also frees us from having vref on board, which isn't touching the effect itself. Original has 2SC2458 transistors, but i've drawn the layout to accomodate the usual supects, 2N3904, 2N5088, 2N2222, BC109, BC550 and so on. You can use the original ones or what ever you prefer - just mind the pinout. Use sockets to find the ones you like the most... The pinout/orientation on the layout matches 2N3904/2N5088. Original also has W-taper pot for tone control, but i suspect that linear will do the job without any issues.
Wednesday, 22 May 2013
Himmelstrutz Gramps
Modded slightly so the Treble/Presence pot is external (like the Gramps+), but you can always use an internal trimmer like the original if you prefer. Sw1 in the layout is the "Temperament" switch in their info, the gain and sag switches are both internal jumpers in the original. I'm not entirely sure how much difference the Sag switch will really make because all that does is put a 150R resistor in series with the supply.
Info about the original:
Jump on Gramps to daze and confuse. Which of course will make your band and audience gratefully amazed. Or use it on all guitar tracks on all your recordings for that not so shimmering, bowl movement provoking, beautiful sound.
Like the rest of the Himmelstrutz pedals Gramps will sound great at any volume. Just more crazy. And fuzzy. Of course it's also capable of generating lovely, magic distortion sounds which will transform your sleepy life into a creamy happy mess.
Info about the original:
Jump on Gramps to daze and confuse. Which of course will make your band and audience gratefully amazed. Or use it on all guitar tracks on all your recordings for that not so shimmering, bowl movement provoking, beautiful sound.
Like the rest of the Himmelstrutz pedals Gramps will sound great at any volume. Just more crazy. And fuzzy. Of course it's also capable of generating lovely, magic distortion sounds which will transform your sleepy life into a creamy happy mess.
Tags:
Distortion,
Fuzz,
Verified,
Vero
Sunday, 19 May 2013
Runoffgroove Matchbox
Here's one more from the ROG archives. Apparently amazing sounding OD/dist. Should be doable in 1590B, if you feel brave enough with the rotary :)
From ROG: Back in the mid-90s, the Matchless DC/30 became one of the first boutique amps to hit the market. It excelled at clean tones, as well as thick Vox-like overdriven lead sounds.
There is good reason for the similarity in sound to a Vox amp. The lead channel of the DC/30 appears to be a modified Vox AC30/4. The AC30/4 amp featured the EF86 pentode preamp tube, just as the Matchless design.
runoffgroove.com set out to capture the lead sound of the Matchless DC/30 amp, using the technique developed by Doug Hammond for his excellent Meteor circuit.
We opted for a MOSFET to replace the EF86 tube. The MOSFET has better gain and fidelity attributes than the JFETs we normally use. We used J201 JFETs for the remaining two stages.
We've named this circuit the Matchbox.
An item of interest in this circuit is the odd-looking Tone control. This is in some ways similar to the FAC control on old Orange amplifiers. The sound is "thinnest" on setting A, and gets thicker as you progress through the settings. The Cut control acts as a simple Low Pass Filter. As you turn it counter clockwise, it will roll off some of the treble frequencies. We departed from the schematic a bit here. We used a 10n cap where the amp used only a 2n2. The reason for our deviation is to achieve a more dramatic effect.
NOTES:
-Try using a different MOSFET for the first stage. A 2N7000 sounded a bit "tighter" than a BS170. BS170 had a nice "loose" sound.
-Any N-channel MOSFET can be used, but as always, pay close attention to the pinout.
-Try to use all metal film caps in this circuit. It really seems to add to the smoothness of the sound. Ceramic caps or "greenies" will work fine, but you will probably notice a bit more "grainy" sound.
-A 12v Zener diode can be used in place of the LED used for static protection of the MOSFET.
-Philip Miller Tate (a.k.a. Ge_Whiz) found the Cut control to be quite subtle when using the stock values. He reports that substituting a 47nF capacitor and 50k-B pot provided a much more effective control.
-You can use other JFETs, but be warned! The middle stage may not bias correctly or have enough gain to distort. Try other transistors at your own risk. PLEASE do not post on Aron's Stompbox Forum with a complaint about the circuit does not working or sounding good when you do not use the specified components. You can always purchase J201 FETs from our friend, Steve Daniels at www.smallbearelec.com, who will ship to anywhere in the world.
From ROG: Back in the mid-90s, the Matchless DC/30 became one of the first boutique amps to hit the market. It excelled at clean tones, as well as thick Vox-like overdriven lead sounds.
There is good reason for the similarity in sound to a Vox amp. The lead channel of the DC/30 appears to be a modified Vox AC30/4. The AC30/4 amp featured the EF86 pentode preamp tube, just as the Matchless design.
runoffgroove.com set out to capture the lead sound of the Matchless DC/30 amp, using the technique developed by Doug Hammond for his excellent Meteor circuit.
We opted for a MOSFET to replace the EF86 tube. The MOSFET has better gain and fidelity attributes than the JFETs we normally use. We used J201 JFETs for the remaining two stages.
We've named this circuit the Matchbox.
An item of interest in this circuit is the odd-looking Tone control. This is in some ways similar to the FAC control on old Orange amplifiers. The sound is "thinnest" on setting A, and gets thicker as you progress through the settings. The Cut control acts as a simple Low Pass Filter. As you turn it counter clockwise, it will roll off some of the treble frequencies. We departed from the schematic a bit here. We used a 10n cap where the amp used only a 2n2. The reason for our deviation is to achieve a more dramatic effect.
NOTES:
-Try using a different MOSFET for the first stage. A 2N7000 sounded a bit "tighter" than a BS170. BS170 had a nice "loose" sound.
-Any N-channel MOSFET can be used, but as always, pay close attention to the pinout.
-Try to use all metal film caps in this circuit. It really seems to add to the smoothness of the sound. Ceramic caps or "greenies" will work fine, but you will probably notice a bit more "grainy" sound.
-A 12v Zener diode can be used in place of the LED used for static protection of the MOSFET.
-Philip Miller Tate (a.k.a. Ge_Whiz) found the Cut control to be quite subtle when using the stock values. He reports that substituting a 47nF capacitor and 50k-B pot provided a much more effective control.
-You can use other JFETs, but be warned! The middle stage may not bias correctly or have enough gain to distort. Try other transistors at your own risk. PLEASE do not post on Aron's Stompbox Forum with a complaint about the circuit does not working or sounding good when you do not use the specified components. You can always purchase J201 FETs from our friend, Steve Daniels at www.smallbearelec.com, who will ship to anywhere in the world.
Tuesday, 14 May 2013
JHS Morning Glory
Modded Blues Breaker.. Personally i have pretty high hopes for the circuit...
There’s a lot of hype out there these days with overdrive pedals and the last thing we want to do is to add to the noise.
As you may already know, almost every boutique overdrive on the market is a modified Tubescreamer of some sort; we have decided to take a different approach.
The Morning Glory is a very transparent tone-shaping tool that is the result of several years of building, gigging, tweaking and improving on the original Marshal Bluesbreaker design. We improved vastly on the BB while maintaining what made it a great pedal in the first place. It now has around 4X more headroom, 2X the available gain, and a more useful tone control. The “Bright Cut” toggle allows the perfect level of EQ for your rig.
You will notice immediately how touch sensitive and dynamic the feel of this pedal is. The frequencies are perfectly balanced and the tone knob reacts as a high frequency roll off. The drive allows you a huge range of tones from “little wing-ish” chime to classic rock era bite. If you’re a Strat player, this pedal will bring you sounds that you may have thought impossible. If you like the Les Paul, get ready to discover a new pallet of sounds that you won’t be able to live without.
With enough clean headroom to be used as a boost as well as a hefty amount of drive, this may be your go-to pedal for good.
There’s a lot of hype out there these days with overdrive pedals and the last thing we want to do is to add to the noise.
As you may already know, almost every boutique overdrive on the market is a modified Tubescreamer of some sort; we have decided to take a different approach.
The Morning Glory is a very transparent tone-shaping tool that is the result of several years of building, gigging, tweaking and improving on the original Marshal Bluesbreaker design. We improved vastly on the BB while maintaining what made it a great pedal in the first place. It now has around 4X more headroom, 2X the available gain, and a more useful tone control. The “Bright Cut” toggle allows the perfect level of EQ for your rig.
You will notice immediately how touch sensitive and dynamic the feel of this pedal is. The frequencies are perfectly balanced and the tone knob reacts as a high frequency roll off. The drive allows you a huge range of tones from “little wing-ish” chime to classic rock era bite. If you’re a Strat player, this pedal will bring you sounds that you may have thought impossible. If you like the Les Paul, get ready to discover a new pallet of sounds that you won’t be able to live without.
With enough clean headroom to be used as a boost as well as a hefty amount of drive, this may be your go-to pedal for good.
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