Thursday 23 December 2010

Dan Armstrong Green Ringer



Here's a more unusual effect.  Playing chords it has a ring mod-ish quality to it, but played higher up the fretboard and using the neck pick up with tone control down gives a very prominent octave effect which sounds great.  You'll notice I shared holes for the diodes and a couple of the resistors, this was just to keep the final width down so it will comfortably fit in a 1590B box.  It should be easy enough to do unless you're using components with very thick leads.  The resistors I used are Dale metal film and are quite thick but I still managed it fine in my build.  I'd recommend socketing the transistors and diodes because you can get slightly different sounds by swapping them, Q2 is the transistor to experiment with and try germanium and silicon diodes to see which you prefer.

It is recommended that for the clearest octave effect you match the diodes as closely as possible for forward voltage, and some people have suggested that it is also worth matching the 47nF caps and the 10K and 22K resistors, although if you use 1% metal film they're probably going to be extremely close anyway. 

The layout is verified.




Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!

Sunday 5 December 2010

Effector 13 / Devi Soda Meiser

Wednesday 17 November 2010

Clark Gainster - compact version

Here's a version of the Clark Gainster for those who don't want to use the massive paper-in-oil caps in the version posted previously.  I only put in the large axial 100u cap because there was a bit of space in the bottom right of the layout and I had some that size.  You can obviously use a smaller radial cap here but there's no scope to further compact the layout because of the other components around it.  Still this will easily fit in a 1590B and so gives an option for a "Small Box" Gainster.




Geiri's demo vid of his supercool build:





BUY A KIT 
Kit is the 3 knob version 

Saturday 13 November 2010

JFET Parallel Looper


This is one of those versatile builds that could be useful for a number of different tasks.  Effects and dry signal in parallel, 3 channel splitter/mixer, 1 input 3 outputs for using multiple amps, 3 inputs into one output to use multiple instruments, convert serial effects loop into parallel ... and so on.  I made it 3 channel so I could put two mono effects in parallel and then have the third channel to pass the dry signal via a patch lead if I was using digital effects and wanted them wet only, so as not to digitise the main dry signal.  It can be easily adapted for more or less channels depending on what would suit you.

Based on the AMZ splitter and a generic JFET mixer circuit.


Fuzz Face PNP negative ground with simple bipolar power supply

This one will let you continue to use the more consistent PNP germanium transistors, but the charge pump will provide a -9V supply, so the ground at 0V can be daisy chained with all your negative ground effects.  The same structure could be used with any circuit that is usually PNP like the Rangemaster or Tonebender.





Friday 22 October 2010

DAM Meathead

Info about the original:

The Meathead. Often imitated, never surpassed. Little box, big idea. Caveman style fuzz tones for killing dinosaurs. Crank it up and hit that switch. Ka-pow! The flavour is thick and raw with a throaty woody bark. Optimum clarity and saturation are delivered with a long syrupy sustain at mountainous volumes. The bass to treble response is perfectly balanced for a heavy but dynamic fuzz tone that will project as well as it can saturate. A most excellently low background noise is achieved through careful transistor selection and biasing which further enforces the Meathead's fluid and articulate sonic capabilities.

Control

Just the one. Even through the Meathead has only one control different tones can be achieved. As the Dirt control is increased the signal not only becomes louder but slightly more saturated. Unity with your clean tone will be reached around noon thus giving you a great deal of volume boosting and drive capabilities. Lowering the guitars volume control will make the overall tone fizzier and increase the treble response.
Start out the Dirt control set at noon and increase or decrease as necessary. The greater headroom your amplifier has the greater the amount of volume boost the Meathead will deal out. The Meathead will also respond well to dirty or driven amplifiers. Used like this the Meathead will increase in intensity as the Dirt control is increased.







More compact version:







BUY A KIT 
(kit is for the larger layout with an axial filter cap)

Thursday 30 September 2010

Fuzz Face PNP - Tagboard

It's been a while since I've done a tagboard layout and this was a startling omission that someone requested.

Tuesday 21 September 2010

Catalinbread Merkin Fuzz

Info about the original:

The Catalinbread Merkin is a fuzz pedal that's just 'rite' for classic sixties fuzz sounds and beyond! Extended and refined from a classic fuzz circuit, this 3 silicon transistor circuit is very textural, varying from blunt to ripping. It's controls are simple, a volume, and a texture knob with huge range, from cleanish blend counter-clockwise to full fuzz as you turn the knob clockwise.

When developing the Merkin, we chose components for sweet yet buzzing tone which still has a very touch sensitive response. The Merkin is also very responsive to your guitar's volume and tone controls so you can spend less time stooped over your pedalboard, and more time actually playing. Along with a slew of sixties fuzz sounds from the Ventures to the Stooges and many points in between, The Merkin Fuzz is able to do octave-up sounds by using your guitar's neck pickup with the tone rolled off. It works great for bass too.

The life-blood of a fuzz is its power supply and the Merkin is no different. Use a carbon battery for warm vintage tone and smooth response. Use an alkaline or 9 volt dc supply for a harder sound, or run on 18 volt DC supply for even more output and an aggressive sound! Volume unity for the Merkin resides around 9:00, which means there's lots of boost on tap.





Updated 20/3/14.  A slightly more compact version:



Tuesday 14 September 2010

Clark Gainster




This pedal originally used large Russian Paper-in-Oil capacitors, and so this layout has been done to accommodate those large caps.  If you intend to use smaller caps, then the layout can be easily reduced in size and 3 or 4 of the links can be removed.

Wednesday 11 August 2010

MXR Micro Amp


This one was done specifically for some components I wanted to use and it's sized appropriately, so if you're using smaller components you may be able to shift things round a bit to save some space.

Sunday 25 July 2010

ZVex Super Hard On


This is the newer version of the Super Hard on with a zener diode, and is based on Zach's published schematic.



REDDIT UPDATE: Nothing fishy about it, it was the schematic Zach published for the Inventobox and can be seen here: http://www.zvex.com/module_instructions.pdf

Tuesday 6 July 2010

Mosrite Fuzzrite

There's a few versions of this on here now, so just choose the one that best suits the components you're using.

Monday 5 July 2010

Harmonic Percolator


Mosrite Ge Fuzzrite

Rockett Blue Note OD

Eh? Vero layouts at Tagboard Effects?

Yes ok, I know. But I've been doing a lot of vero layouts recently so I may as well at least share some of them with everyone else. I may have to change the name of the blog! :o)

Pharaoh Class A Boost

Hey, it looks like a pyramid! :o)

Nick Greer Ghetto Stomp

DOD YJM308



Demo of Geiri's build:


DOD 250


MXR Dist +


Guitar and Bass Paralooper

From Moosapotamus:

The ParaLooper is something every effects-using Bass player should have, because it will 'Bassify' any bottom sucking, high-passing guitar pedal out there. And, it's pretty simple to build, too. Instead of just an effect loop pedal, this is actually a little mixer that blends your straight signal with whatever effect (or chain of effects) you plug into the send & return jacks. There are controls for wet/dry balance and overal output level (boost & cut).

Experimenting with parallel effects chains a snap, in mono or stereo. For example, you can plug whatever effect(s) you have connected to the send into a second amplifier or mixer/recorder channel. It can also be used just like a two-channel mixer itself by plugging a second source into the return jack. There is also a low-pass filter (capacitor to ground) on the clean signal that can be switched in for even more low end.

Pots are 100K lin for Blend and 100K log for Volume.

Full Range version


Bass version


Wednesday 14 April 2010

Landgraff Boost

The Landgraff Super Hard On:



Updated 24th December 2012

Mojo version for axial components and 1/2W carbon comps added



Sunday 21 March 2010

.. and a few more

9 to 18V (ish) converter



DAM 1966



LofoMofo




Rangemaster NPN


A few veros

OK so I don't want to use tagboard all the time so here's a few vero layouts I've done recently. I like axial caps so most have been done with those in mind.

Mosrite Fuzzrite


Landgraff Boost


Electro Harmonix LPB1


Fuzz Face PNP


Fuzz Face NPN