This is a library of perfboard and single-sided PCB effect layouts for guitar and bass. I'm not an electrical engineer by any stretch of the imagination, just a DIY'er who likes drawing layouts. It is meant for the hobbyist (so commercial use of any of these layout is not allowed without permission) and as a way to give back to the online DIY community.

Monday, November 10, 2014

Lovepedal Woodrow

This is one of the many variations of the old Electra Distortion. Sounds like a cranked Tweed 5E3 amp. The original Lovepedal Woodrow has just a volume knob, but it's easy (and useful) to add a gain control. If you just want one knob, connect Gain 3 to Gain 2.


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24 comments:

  1. Rafael MorganApril 29, 2015 at 2:04 PM

    Hey brother,
    This is RMorgan, from the Telecaster Forum.
    Well, I'm a total noob, so I hope you don't mind if I ask some silly questions.
    First, I have no idea about the specification of the components. I mean, I know which one is a capacitor, a transistor, a resistor, a diode and so on, but I have no idea about their voltage, material, etc...
    I suppose the color and shape of each component is also a code for its specifications, but is there any table of reference I can consult to know exactly what is what?
    I don't want to buy wrong stuff...
    Anyway, you layouts are so neat that I'm going to learn how to etch my PC boards, brother. I want my new pedals to be flawless. :)
    Thanks for the help and congrats for the awesome website.
    Raf.

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  2. dtgehringApril 29, 2015 at 2:53 PM

    Thanks man. Noob questions are totally welcomed. Resistors are blue and are the size of typical 1/4 watt resistors. You can use whatever resistors you like–metal film, carbon comp, etc. Film capacitors are green and based off of size of common "green chicklet" capacitors, but other types can be used. Ceramic capacitors (typically only used for values less than 1n) are yellow, and polarized electrolytic capacitors are black. As far as voltages go for caps, as long as they're rated above the supply voltage (typically 9 volts) you should be fine. For power filter caps (a polarized electrolytic cap between voltage and ground) I generally use caps rated at 50v. I've seen people use lower voltage electros that blow, even with the low 9v supply.

    Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions, and good luck!

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    1. Rafael MorganMay 4, 2015 at 12:24 PM

      Thanks brother. :)

      I should be giving this one a try somewhere this week. I just need to order the components.

      Any other suggestion for a nice sounding overdrive that's easy enough to build for a noob like me? I'm really fond on Fender sounding drives.

      Cheers,

      Raf.

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    2. dtgehringMay 4, 2015 at 2:24 PM

      Don't know about how Fender-y these are, but they're fairly simple and different from the Woodrow (no sense in building a whole bunch of closely related effects).

      http://effectslayouts.blogspot.com/2015/02/dirty-boots-overdrive.html

      http://effectslayouts.blogspot.com/2014/11/fulltone-fat-boost-v1.html

      Delete
    3. Rafael MorganMay 4, 2015 at 7:04 PM

      OK! Thanks for the suggestions, my friend.

      I'll make sure to keep you updated. :)

      Delete
  3. ehss192June 23, 2016 at 6:26 PM

    Question about the PCB layout. I noticed that there is a hole missing on the 'in' trace for the 1meg resistor going to gain 1. Accident or intentional?

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  4. UnknownJanuary 9, 2017 at 10:48 PM

    Hello storyboardist,

    Please help me with a noob question, what is the function for the electrolytic capacitor between Gain 1 and Gain 2?

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    1. Effects LayoutsJanuary 10, 2017 at 9:23 AM

      Great question. That capacitor keeps the impedance between the emitter and ground low. The lower that impedance the more gain there will be. So that capacitor basically is responsible for a lot of the gain in the pedal. If you remove it you'll probably end up with more of a clean boost than a drive.

      Delete
  5. UnknownFebruary 12, 2018 at 10:52 AM

    Hi, I'm from Brazil and I also have some stupid questions / doubts ... Can I replace D1 and D2 with LEDs (of any available color)? If so, would they "blink" while I play? I think this is called a led flash, right? If not, could you tell me another layout that has this effect besides the volume and gain buttons? Thank you very much for any response. PS: I know almost nothing of electronics and also manufacturing pedals ...

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    1. Effects LayoutsFebruary 12, 2018 at 1:45 PM

      You could use LEDs, though in this circuit I don't think they would light up. One effect that you can use LEDs with and that will light up when it's played is the ProCo RAT (Turbo version).

      http://effectslayouts.blogspot.com/2015/11/proco-rat-project.html

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    2. UnknownFebruary 12, 2018 at 2:33 PM

      Hello there.
      As I said before, I do not understand almost anything about electronics ... So I would need one more little help: in the ProCo RAT (Turbo version) layout I can see D1, D2 and D3, and I would then need to know which diodes are usually used on this pedal and which one or which ones I could replace with LEDs. Very fond of your attention.

      Delete
    3. Effects LayoutsFebruary 12, 2018 at 3:16 PM

      Read the build doc for the RAT Project and it should explain the diodes. D3 is for polarity protection and doesn't need to be an LED. Just D1-2.

      Delete
  6. UnknownFebruary 12, 2018 at 10:57 AM

    Hi. Actually I meant "silly questions / doubts" ...

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  7. Bruno VianaMarch 6, 2018 at 3:51 PM

    What would be the difference if I used a 250kA potentiometer for volume?

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    1. Effects LayoutsMarch 6, 2018 at 4:39 PM

      Probably not much. Sweep might be a little weird. You could put a 330k resistor between lugs 3 and 2, and a 10k resistor between lugs 2 and 1. That in theory should turn an A250k pot into an A100k pot... I think. haha

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  8. UnknownApril 20, 2018 at 10:41 AM

    Hello guys.
    I built one of these and I have the following problems: the gain pot does not "gain" anything, that is, it is as if it did not even exist; the volume (when at most) is very low; and worst of all: what I get at the end is the clean sound of the guitar. I'm using a 2N5088 transistor, 1N4148 diodes, A500K volume pot and B1K gain pot. The rest of the components are exactly the same as the layout. Complementing my information I must say that what seems to be happening is that the signal at no time is "clipped". I have already changed the first trnasistor I used for a new one. Can someone help me? Thank you very much in advance.

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    1. vFxaudioFebruary 19, 2019 at 4:40 AM

      have u built it yet? coz mine wont work , im using 2n3904

      Delete
  9. UnknownApril 24, 2018 at 4:14 PM

    Well ... thanks for the "attention"!

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  10. AlexDecember 5, 2022 at 6:23 AM

    Hi there, I have built it ad it works. I find that the sound is too much muddy, mostly when I turn up the gain pot. About that I have noticed that the gain pot B1k doesn't change anything till I have reached the last quarter. Can I use an audio potentiometer to have more control on gain? Of what value?

    Thanks

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    1. Effects LayoutsJanuary 13, 2023 at 11:23 AM

      Make sure you've got the right value caps for the input and output caps (47n and 100n respectively). If those are correct experiment with lower value caps. For the gain control, a C1k would get you what you want.

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    2. AlexJanuary 26, 2023 at 5:52 AM

      Ok, thanks I'll check and then I'll let you know

      Delete
  11. AlexJanuary 26, 2023 at 5:51 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete

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