Tuesday 21 February 2017

Frequency Central Promiscuous Girlfriend

Another tube booster/overdrive created by frequency central over at FSB, schematic.

What does it do? Well it does clean boost with the Gain set at minimum, flick on the Dirt switch and you get some nice diode clipping too. Turn up the Gain and you'e into overdrive territory with diode clipping, flick the Dirt switch off and you get even more overdrive. All with some nice tonal variations courtesy of the tonestack, typical Big Muff Pie Tonestack. You can easily tweak the tonestack to taste.

You can also try different diodes for D5-D6, keep in mind when they are engaged you will loose some output, but there should be more then enough output with them engaged. What may be a nice tweak is to change the Dirt switch to a pot so you can control how much of the signal gets clipped by the diodes.

I opted to have the power on a separate board to help avoid issues with interference with the rest of the circuit. Make sure you are rated at least 50V due to the increased voltage from the doubling at the powerboard, which gives out approximately +35V. Also, on the power board you'll notice that I have 2 connections for the heater pins of the tubes, pins 3 & 6, but you can just run 1 wire to tube 1 then have a wire connects to the pins of tube 2.




ZHBoost

Another submini tube based booster/overdrive pedal created by himister over at FSB, schematic. Make sure you are rated at least 25V due to the increased voltage from the rectifier. An additional mod you can do is replace the trimmer with a 250k pot so you can control the distortion produced by the tube on the fly externally.

 A quick note about the power. In the schematic it states that the voltage is +9VAC, not +9VDC, but if you read through the thread himister states that he used +9VDC to test it and the pedal worked fine and correctly, which is why I put the voltage as +9VDC.


Modded with asymmetrical clipping diodes to provide some more distortion, and a gain pot that controls how much the diodes are in the circuit, similar to the Germanium Giant, as well as a basic tone control.


Modded with symmetrical clipping diodes to provide some more distortion, and a gain pot that controls how much the diodes are in the circuit, similar to the Germanium Giant, as well as a basic tone control.

Same layouts as above with the change to the power section. I decided to not include an onboard charge pump as it's just as easy to add one offboard with the available charge pump layouts on the site.

Non-modded layout:

Modded Layout with Asymmetrical Diodes:
 Modded Layout with Symmetrical Diodes:

Frequency Central Red Star Drive

A real nice booster/overdrive that's basically has a submini tube that replaced the transistor create by frequency central over at DIYSB, schematic. Make sure you are rated at least 25V due to the pedal running +12V.


Version 1: Symmetrical Clipping Diodes

 Version 2: Asymmetrical Clipping Diodes

Sunday 12 February 2017

Death By Audio Apocalypse - On-Hold

Original FSB thread and schematic available here.
Rotary Switch is 2P5T and they are not always numbered.
I've called the 2 poles A & C.
When the switch is on "A-1" position on the other side is on "C-1" position... and so on.
Original circuits' schematics use Ge diodes but the Apocalypse's one doesn't. Need to test.
-Layout updated to latest schematic!


Thursday 9 February 2017

Fuzzhugger Algal Bloom V2

From the Source 

The Algal Bloom is a harmonically rich, wide-range fuzz! From mellow to gritty overdrivey tones, to beautifully thick fuzz, to crunch, crust, and throaty fuzz roars! V2 adds an all-new Choke toggle that turns the Algal Bloom into a Harmful Algal Bloom, a raunchier mode that goes from dying to crusty, to crunchy, to whiplash! A new 3-way filter toggle lets you smooth clipping and highs for ultimate control.The Algal Bloom is known for its open tone and many chord-friendly settings, with fantastic definition and note-separation, even on high gain settings. The controls are uniquely interactive for incredible range. The pedal has a unique sound and circuit, but also expands on some classic tones that fuzz enthusiasts will love. A workhorse of a classicish, garagey, all-around capital F Fuzz. 


The Controls! 

Gain: Gain adjustment and clean-up! As you back it off, it cleans up your fuzz, also adding a hint of sputter and fizzle. Hard right is full-on!

Bloom (Fuzz): Expands and pushes your fuzz tone, adding gain, sustain, and definition. Hard right is maxed out...a unique, throaty, brash-yet-full tone! 12 o'clock is its "home setting," for thick fuzz tone!
 

Power: Controls the flow of power to the circuit, altering response, heft, and gain (slight scratch is normal, as circuit adjusts to voltage change)

.Level: Your master volume control.

 
• Choke / HAB Toggle: the V2's new Choke toggle, letting you dial in whiplash, crunch, crud, crust, dying, and dead. 

• Filter (3-way):
1) Middle: the unfiltered Algal Bloom you know.
2) Up: slightly smoothed highs, reducing clipping and fizz activity from the highs.
3) Down: smoothed and dampened.


 


Tuesday 7 February 2017

WEM Pepbox

   This was requested in the forum. There is a photo of the Beatles where you can see this pedal, so it should be a fun build for us Beatles fans!


   Here's the Ge version first:



   
Then the Si version:



And finally the Si version with the tone control mod like the Ghost Effects kit: