Univox Superfuzz clone for Ollie. 2sc828 Silicon transistors, and 1n34a Germanium diodes used. PCB made by the venerable John Lyons. Features an external bias control for the octave section of the circuit, 9v DC input or battery power, and red l.e.d. indicator. Great sounding pedal!
A Chandler Tone-X Circuit/Control (basically a preset wah-wah control) mounted in a box for Steve.
Ampeg Scrambler for Sean. 3 x 2n5306 and 1 x 2n3904 transistors used in this clone of the legendary Fuzz/Octave up/Ring Modulation pedal.
Another Buzzaround clip, another set of transistors! Nice sound with this combination. This DI recording demonstrates the Sustain and the Timbre controls in action.
Here is a Tube Booster made for Edgar in London. Have not posted a lot on the blog recently as last weekend my second child was born, a daughter called Alice! ; )
Matt from the states wanted some soundclips of the Buzzaround using different transistors, so here we go with the Buzzaround shootout!
Guitar Amp based on the Ruby/Little Gem schematics. Uses a LM386 chip to amplify the signal, has volume and gain controls, red l.e.d. power indicator, and a built in voltage regulator. Power from 12v dc adaptor only. I have used it with my 8ohm speaker, it will apparently work with 4ohm and 16ohm speakers as well. For a 1/2 watt amp its surprisingly loud with a nice crunchy overdrive using the gain control.
Bass Fuzz Face. Larger value capacitors than stock, and socketed NTK-274 germanium transistors with adjustable bias resistors.
Mosrite Fuzzrite clone, an agressive sounding Silicon Fuzz pedal, controls are Volume and Depth. Soundclip here.
Simple volume pedal for Steve. Allows you to drop the guitars volume level to a preset level when switched in.
A vero layout I made for the classic Mosrite Fuzzrite. The BC-108 transistors can be substituted for similar Silicon NPN transistors (the emitters are orientated towards the bottom of the board), for example I tried 2n3904s which sounded a bit harsher than the BC-108s. Will post a pic of one I have made later.
Another Tube Booster, this time in a Hammond style case, sanded then clear coated. This has a Zaerix ECC82 tube, extra large MXR style knobs, Blue l.e.d. and Mullard input capacitor. Listen here.
Thanks to Damion for giving me this ex local college signal generator, just need to fit a new mains cable to get it up and running. Anybody got a spare oscilloscope they don't want? ; )
Custom order for Steve, a 'varitone' pedal. The control is a 6 position rotary switch, each position introduces a capacitor into the circuit (and an inductor) which shapes the tone. These are usually built into electric guitars, this is a good solution if you don't want to mess up your treasured guitar or just want to use the varitone with different guitars. The pedal is passive but a battery is used to power the red l.e.d.
Another Tube pedal based on the Valvecaster, this time using a Brimar 12au7 Tube. This is just the modded circuit on its own with Volume and Drive controls. Runs at 12v and has a built in voltage regulator so it can be used with any old unregulated 12v power adaptor. Also features a red l.e.d. 'on' indicator, and Mullard tropical fish input capacitor for added mojo ; ) Has a warm sound which can be driven into mild distortion. Listen here.
A Kay tremolo clone with lpb booster circuit added. Custom job for Phil. Listen here.
Tube overdrive based on the Valvecaster circuit, using a Mullard ECC82 Tube. I tweaked the original circuit a bit (slightly different component values, no tone control), and added a silicon booster circuit before the Tube Booster. You have control over the volume of the Si booster, then control over the drive and volume of the Tube booster. Turn the Si booster right up with the Tube booster low and the pedal starts to get very fuzzy indeed! Back off the Si booster and turn up the Tube booster for more of the warm Tube sound and less distortion. Runs off a regulated 9v power supply only. Soundclip soon ; )
Great new project from Capsule. "Home of Metal is a brand new project aimed at creating the first digital archive of metal music, memorabilia and fans stories, to tell the story of this unique moment of Midlands’ musical heritage. Launching at Wolverhampton Art Gallery on Saturday 25 October, 10am - 4.30pm, the project coincides with the 40th anniversary of when the term ‘heavy metal’ was coined by music journalist Lester Bangs when describing Black Sabbath."
Matt from Booger Red recently bought a Fuzz Face with Mayer/Hendrix mods, input bias mod, and ac-128 transistors. Check out their music if you like 60s Psychedelia influenced music. Matt also played guitar recently with Malcolm Mooney and Damo Suzuki from Can! I think Matt is the chap on the right of the picture.
I haven't done a lot of circuit bending the last 2 weeks, been doing pedal orders and circuits ready for wiring up. Pictured from left to right - 2 Buzzarounds, 2 'mojo' Fuzz Faces, 1 'normal' Fuzz no Wah, and 1 'mojo' Fuzz no Wah. The mojo circuits have Mullard tropical fish capacitors!
Latest classic Fuzz Face board with socketed ac-128 transistors, preset pots instead of the 33k and 8k2 resistors for biasing the transistors, 1k resistor instead of the usual 330r-470r, and mullard 0.01uf output capacitor.
A 1969 original Silicon Fuzz Face, some great shots of the innards here. Over a grand? hmmm ; )
Wah at start of chain, Fuzz last
Fuzz at start of chain, Wah last
Here is the finished pedal! Sounds great on rhythm guitar and playing chords, responsive on solos but not loads of sustain, I would class the sound as distortion rather than Fuzz. Used it tonight for a Windscale rehearsal for rhythm overdrive, very responsive to playing dynamics, I am definitely keeping a Sam Ash in my setup. Had my huge Burns Buzzaround (photos soon!) plugged in after it for solo work. Soundclip soon.
Here is the vero layout I made for the Sam Ash Fuzz (also known as the Astrotone). I have omitted the Tone control and the last resistor is 1k2 instead of 1k8 as that's all I had to hand! Good sounding Silicon distortion with a diode clipping stage. I tried a few different Silicon Transistors on the breadboard, with bc109c sounding the best to my ears. Will post a pic and soundclip of the finished pedal soon.
Burns Buzzaround clone with NKT214 Germanium transistors. Sold within 3 hours of being put on Ebay! Audio here (Mic recording).
3 knob Hing Hon EK-001 'Vortex', listen here. click here to check out all the other 'Vortex' keyboards I have made.
Circuit Bent Yamaha PSS-6, features Starve pot, Loop switch, and 2 Glitch buttons, plus a 1/4 inch output round the back. Quite similar to the famous casio sa-2/sa-5 Aleatrons but with a lot more control over the sound and less crashing. Probably one of the craziest sounding keyboards I have done ; ) Mentalism here.
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