Friday 26 July 2013

Rockett Pedals Animal

Info about the original:

The Animal is our creating of a 1968 Plexi Sound. The Animal is an extremely open and amp like sound that can get you from a stock plexi to a modified plexi with the flick of the snarl switch. The Animal can get very aggressive but it is by no means a distortion pedal, just think of a cranked plexi and how open and natural it sounds. We love this pedal!






Sunday 14 July 2013

Ibanez MSL Metal Screamer

I think we've done all the Ibanez Tubescreamers now :P This one is a mix between TS10 and TS808 with slightly bigger cap for fatter bass responce.

There was an issue with the output buffer's vref connection, but that's fixed now...



Ibanez ST9 Super Tubescreamer

Very close to STL Super Tube. Clipping amp and mids boost section are in different order, plus some slight changes to the buffers.




Bespeco Weeper Wah/Volume

Simple one transistor wah with even simpler volume pedal wiring. Assuming you have wah enclosures to spare.



Friday 12 July 2013

Keeler Kick

After the heads up from Miro, here's the sites 200th fuzz layout! :o)

The original has a 5K trimmer in between Texture 1 & 2 and the collector of Q3 which I have omitted to keep this 1590B friendly in terms of number of columns.  I think a trimmer there is largely unnecessary as it simply alters the upper and lower setting of the texture pot. It is very much a set and forget and nothing that you couldn't achieve in the single control by using a 15K texture pot (if you can get them, 20K if you can't :o)

If you aren't bothered about saving width and would prefer the same controls then just add a few columns and put the trimmer to the right of the board in a suitable position, or a free floating trimmer daughterboard elsewhere in the box if you prefer.

Info about the original:

The Keeler Designs Kick Fuzz is contemporary take on the classic fuzz tones you love. The Kick Fuzz is completely versatile, and delivers an array of classic fuzz tones in one stompbox. So now in one fuzz pedal, you can go from a spitting vintage fuzz tone to muffish and massive sustaining fuzz madness all with some creative tweaking of the Kick's knobs. The Volume control delivers a serious amount of gain for your signal, and the Fuzz control goes everywhere from gritty clean to massively saturated signals. The Kick Fuzz is an incredibly responsive pedal, and works dynamically with your guitar's volume and tone knobs - so back off the volume for some sweet gritty clean tones. The Texture control gives you a wild variety of fuzz tones, so dial in some spitty vintage tones or massive gain. The Tone control allows you to either boost bass or treble frequencies. The Keeler Designs Kick Fuzz will cover all the fuzz tones you need, and then some.

Keeler Designs Kick Fuzz

The Keeler Designs Kick Fuzz feels like a kick to the chest. This incredibly versatile and sweet fuzz will get you from 1967 all the way to 2010 with some sweeps of the texture control. Feedback nastiness, thick and dirty overdrive, and powerfully sustaining tones are all housed within the Keeler Designs Kick Fuzz. If you think you've heard everything a fuzz pedal can do, think again. The Keeler Designs Kick Fuzz pedal will give you some draw-dropping fuzz goodness.


Keeler Designs Kick Fuzz Features:

    Volume: Controls amount if signal
    Fuzz: Controls amount of fuzz, from dirty clean to saturated signal
    Texture: Controls the type of overdrive signal. Counterclockwise gives vintage tones, while clockwise dials in saturated and modern fuzz.
    Tone: Boosts either bass or treble signals







Thursday 11 July 2013

Ibanez TS7 Tubescreamer

200th Overdrive layout!
I seem to be on the streak with Tubescreamers. This one also marks a special moment. In addition to this being 200th OD layout, i finally deciphered the original schematic which is very annoying to read (all 7-series schematics are). This one is also our first layout for the this series of pedals. The funniest thing about this particular schematic is - The "Hot mode" is pretty much what you get when you mod your TS9 to one of the well known specs. Original is still pretty cheap pedal. You should be able to get used one in decent condition for around 35€/£30/$40. Oh. Switch pin 6 is not connected.

The Ibanez Tone-Lok Series TS7 Tubescreamer Pedal is the world-famous original Tube Screamer overdrive, with something extra. A boost switch has been added for extra saturation at the touch of a button. Adjust your sound with the drive, tone, and level controls on the Tubescreamer. 





Wednesday 10 July 2013

Ibanez TS9DX Turbo Tube Screamer

This puppy is basically another TS9, but it has clipping and gain options on "mode" switch. Modes are TS9, +, Hot and Turbo. Latter one acts as a diode lift, but adds a lot of gain. The switch is 2P4T rotary. Original unit has 250K dual gang pot for gain, and for some reason it is wired in series. So the 500K pot in its place makes this slightly simpler and the end result should be exactly the same. This sized board with a rotary switch will make it quite challenging to fit it in 1590B..

I scream, you scream, we all scream for the Tube Screamer. Pedals just don't get more legendary than this one, they don't. And if you're a fan of that classic overdriven tone used by... oh, well, just about EVERYONE who matters... there should be one mainstay in your pedalboard: this green-clad baby. The TS9DX gives you all the overdriven crunch, tube vibe, and smooth sustain that your tone has been asking for. And, in fact, with the TS9DX you have even more tonal options than the original. That's because the TS9DX is a special Tube Screamer reissue, loaded up with extra low-end crunch as well as "+", "Hot", and "Turbo" modes. It's like giving your guitar tone a swift kick in the face. A good kick in the face. The kind that makes you want more, and more, and more. 



Ibanez TS5 Tube Screamer


Hehee! Couldn't help myself. It is in reality a TS9 :) If you want it 1:1, then use TA75558 and 2SC1815 transistors (mind the pinout!). You could of course build it with JRC4558D and check the output resistors to make it 808.. I still thought we needed at least one more Soundtank to our library.

The same basic circuitry as the famed TS9 Tube Screamer in a more economical format (the TS9 has a more expensive housing and its handwiring makes it more labor intensive to build than the TS5). Most people can't hear the difference between the our affordable Soundtank Tubescreamer and the more expensive originals. Are you one of the few who can?-why not find out for yourself.



NPN Si Tonebender MKII

This one's for those who had trouble with the Ge layouts. It adds Orman's and Tremblay's mods to the classic and it is supposed to sound like the real thing. If you want, you could swap the 5K6 resistor for 10 trimmer or even take it off board to act as a bias control. Transistors are supposed to be very low hFE Si devices, so you should be golden with 2N2369 or 2N3903.

Already verified by Rudeez. He also suggests that 2K lin pot for attack will work a lot better than 1K.


Monday 1 July 2013

Mindbender Fuzz - Mojo layout

Really useful mods for the all-time classic, the Tone Bender MKII Professional. Mods add more volume and a trimmer for accurate biasing the germs among other things...

From Fuzzcentral:
Here is my modified version of the ToneBender MKII Professional, the MindBender. I decided to use NPN Germanium transistors for mine so that I'll be able to use a negative ground arrangement, which allows use of modern power supplies. You can use 2N388A, SK3861, AC127, and a few other part numbers. I made a few more changes to the circuit to enhance it's overall performance:
  • First off, I added a 1M pulldown resistor to the input of the circuit, which will prevent "pops" when using true bypass switching.
  • The second change that I made was to replace the 100K resistor on the collector of Q2 with a 47K resistor. This helps tighten up the sound a bit, making it less "farty", and it helps to increase sustain.
  • Third, I changed the 470-ohm resistor that's in series with the output capacitor with a 1K2 resistor. This helps to boost the output of the pedal so that I don't have to crank up the volume control so much.
  • Fourth, I changed the 1KB "attack" pot to 2KB. This change doesn't really have any effect on the tone of the pedal, but it does help to prevent Q3 from becoming saturated.
  • The Fifth change was to replace the 8K2 resistor on the emitter of Q3 with a 20K trimpot so that the collector voltage of Q3 can be adjusted to exactly 4.5V-5V.
  • The sixth and final change that I made to the circuit is the addition of a 1N4001 reverse polarity protection diode. This isn't necessary but it helps to protect the circuit components in case the power supply is accidentally reversed or if the battery is touched to the battery snap backwards. 
Here's the Mojoed layout. 21 colums, so you'll fit this nicely in B-box and you still have big axial caps on board.


Mindbender Fuzz - Compact layout

Same as the Mojo version, but with smaller board, made to accomodate your standard components. Description on the Mojo version post.


EHX Pulsar

Here's the original '79 two knob version of the EHX Tremolo....



Here's a modded layout that may cure the reported LFO clock bleed. Note that the semi-transparent 47µ cap is there just as an example. You should probably try different values there to find out what works the best. Also the 470R resistor should be tweaked for perfect value. Both of these are there to tame the LFO clock from bleeding back to mixer opamp supply.