I build this Distort-o-Matic XI a few months ago. It had a few problems. I got it out and tried to solve some of the issues. I’m working on a new PCB. I ordered the original PCBs from PCBWay.com. They have a special deal for prototyping, you get 5 or 10 boards for $5. Since…
The Box of Rock is a great Marshall sound in a pedal. It includes a boost section also. Box of Rock is pretty amazing and sounds great. J. Mascis likes it so much that he had Zvex put two in one enclosure. But what if you wanted something more like an Orange amp? Here’s an…
Super Fuzz is a circuit that has many variations. It’s one of the popular building blocks that has been used for decades. It’s built around a full wave rectifier that produces an octave fuzz sound. similar circuits that use the full wave rectifier: Super Fuzz Kay Fuzztone Univox Super Fuzz Honey Psychedelic Machine Third Man…
This is my second entry in the End of Days Fuzz Challenge! The idea was to build a circuit similar to the Proco Rat replacing the LM308 with the LM386. The LM308 is a single op-amp the LM386 is an audio amplifier. The chips are similar but also very different. LM386 The LM386 is similar…
The Sultan is my first entry to the End of Days Fuzz Challenge. Based on the fuzz Face with a Bass and Treble tone control similar to tone controls used on Orange and Matamp amps. The Fuzz Face is a classic circuit. There are many Fuzz Face variants out there that sound great. The classic…
End of Days Fuzz Challenge is a challenge to make develop new Fuzz circuits. Here’s a description from the web site: It is an open invitation for pedal builders/ companies of all levels. If you – or anyone you know – wants to join in, go for it! All you need to do is read…
Just built up a Bork Bork from Breakfast Audio. This is a clone of the Ibanez Wau Wau Fuzz. As far as I my “in depth” research can tell the Wau Wau Fuzz was originally a Fuzz and Wah in wah type enclosure. It had both a Fuzz and a Wah effect in the same…
Here is a kay Fuzztone clone. This is an octave-type fuzz that uses a full-wave rectifier. It is similar to the Super Fuzz and all its variants. The Kay Fuzz Tone uses fewer transistors than the Super Fuzz so you could think of it as a stripped-down and simpler version. The kay Fuzz Tone came…
Here are some new PCBs. I ordered these from PCBWay.com. The best deal there is ordering 10 boards 100 by 100mm. Since shipping can be high, ordering several designs brings shipping down to reasonable rates. This order with 6 designs came out to about $1 per board, very reasonable. In this batch I have a…
I got some of these knobs with these generic dials/scale disks. Might be good for something. These were $9.99 at amazon.
The CA3046 is a 14 pin DIP that contains 5 NPN transistors. CA3086 and CA3045 are the same chip with a different number and some other esoteric differences. There is also an LM3046 and LM3086, same chip different manufacturer. What is a transistor array? The CA3046 contains 5 NPN transistors in a single 14 pin…
Here’s another project from Nicholas Boscorelli’s Stomboxology newsletter: Going Discreet. Described by the author as: All-transistor distortion box with aggressive tone controls. Nicholas Boscorelli When I look at this I see a diode clipper similar to the Electra, DOD 250, MXR Distortion+, Proco Rat, and others, combined with a Super Fuzz octave Fuzz type octave…