EarthQuaker Devices Talons

The Talons is a great sounding overdrive pedal and is EQD's take on the Marshall Guv'nor. FSB member Zedsnotdead traced it and requested a layout with board-mounted 9mm pots to fit in a 1590B. As per usual, the pots should be mounted on the solder-side of the board. Watch out for the EQ pots as they are oriented 180º differently from the top row of pots. The in and out pads ended up in a bit of a weird spot, but shouldn't be an issue. (You'll just have to use a little more wire to get to the footswitch.)

EarthQuaker Devices White Light

The White Light is based on the MXR Distortion +/DOD 250 circuit, but with some modernization and improvements. There's an added tone control called "Weight" and the toggle switch adds compression by adding an extra germanium clipping stage. The board is laid out for solder-side mounted right angle PCB pots or you could use long leg right angle PCB pots and mount them from the component side of the board.

The Rocket

The Rocket is Aron Nelson's modified version of Gus Smalley's 3 Transistor Fuzz. Basically it's a Fuzz Face with an emitter follower in front of it. Just about any medium to high gain transistor will work. Not a bad idea to socket some of the capacitors and try different values (see Aron's schematic and notes for more info). The pots are meant to be mounted on board from the solder side with the board perpendicular to the bottom of the pots. Also, I tried something a little different with the PCB layout. I think it's a little more professional looking and should use less etchant, tho maybe a bit more printer toner.

AMZ Dr. Quack

The Dr. Quack is Jack Orman's improvement on the EHX Dr. Q envelope filter. Basically, there's an added input buffer to increase the input impedance (which is kinda low in the Dr. Q) and offers better range control. Check out Jack's blog post on the circuit for more information and a few mods.

Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay

The Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay is regarded as one of the best PT2399 based delays out there (with the price tag to match that reputation). It's a warm and natural sounding circuit with an analog direct signal path (aka, no buffers), and plays nice with distortion boxes as well. I've labeled IC1 as a TL072 as it's what you most likely have in your parts drawer, but the originals have either OP275 or AD712 for what it's worth. Pots can be board-mounted from the solder side of the board using right angle PCB mount pots.

AstroTone Fuzz/Sam Ash Fuzzz Boxx

Here's a quick one. Fairly simple silicon fuzz from the 60s. AstroTone marketed these under their own name, as well as making them for Sam Ash. I laid this one out so the board mounted pots are in a triangular layout. The Attack and Volume controls are mounted on the component side, while the Tone control is mounted on the solder side like this:

(photo credit: Fuzz Dog)

Dirty Boots Overdrive

Found the schematic for this over in the Aron Nelson Gallery. It's designed by Scott Frein. Uses a simple JFET buffer to help push the transistor-based drive section. Here's his description:

A pretty simple overdireve. The buffer on the front really brings it to life. Good AC/DC,ZZ Top crunch from this. Hit it with a booster and go from JCM 800 to Fuzz.

D*A*M FR-70 FuzzRong

This is DAM's take on the silicon FuzzRite. Loud, snarly, and nasty fuzz tones in this circuit. Q1 is a KSP42, which seems to be pretty similar (if not the same) to a MPSA42. I've read of MPSA18s working in that spot as well. Q2 is a 2N4401, which should be easier to track down, though a 2N3904 should work just fine there as well. As always, socket and experiment. The depth pot is listed at 470k, but a 500k will work just fine. I've added power filtering, polarity protection, and an LED resistor on board and the whole thing should fit nicely in a 1590a.

Jen HF Modulator

Jen was an Italian electronics company that produced a lot of OEM stuff for other companies (Vox, Gretsch, etc.) as well as marketing their own line of effects. For instance, the HF Modulator was the same effect as the Gretsch Playboy.

This effect is a ring modulator and sounds fantastic with a fuzz pushing it. The original unit used 2N5172 transistors (which have BCE pinout), but I've laid this out for more common 2N3904 or 2N5088 transistors (that have CBE pinout). I've also added pulldown resistors, polarity protection, and power filtering.

Here's the schematic if anyone needs it. Most of the ones online have the tone section wrong.

Run Off Groove Supreaux Deux

Often imitated by boutique builders, the ROG Supreaux Deux overdrive is an old Supro 16T in pedal form. The Deux is the 2nd go at this circuit and offers several improvements over the original design. It runs off 18v, so I've added an onboard charge pump converting +9v to just under +18v. You can use either a MAX1044 or ICL7660s. Remember to bias the drains of Q1-3 to around 12v.

From the ROG site:

The revisited circuit captures much of the amp's tone. The brilliant treble response is replicated, along with the Tone control range. A sweet overdrive even kicks in at nearly the same point in the Volume pot's rotation! If you are looking for an articulate blues or classic rock sound, this is a good place to start. Many sounds, from Albert King-type tones to a Led Zeppelin sonic blitzkrieg to sparkling clean can be produced with the Supreaux Deux. Be sure to work your guitar's volume knob and your pick attack when playing with this circuit, as it is very sensitive and dynamic. 

Edit: The bass switch is a SPST.

Edit 3/4/15: I noticed my original layout wasn't quite right in the charge pump section. I've updated the layout and was actually able to shave a column off it on the right side.

Electro Harmonix '77 OpAmp Big Muff

In the late 70s, Mike Matthews and EHX took the Big Muff on a detour from the traditional 4 transistor circuit in favor an IC-based circuit. It sounds very similar to the traditional Muffs, with the tone control being a little more flat than the traditional mid scoop. The circuit uses two favorite opamps from the 70s–the JRC4558 (used in the Ibanez Tube Screamer) and the LM741 (used in the Distortion +/OD250). The IC Big Muff would have probably faded into the background of Big Muff lore if it weren't for Smashing Pumpkins guitarist/frontman Billy Corgan. His use of a late 70s IC Muff on Siamese Dream has made the pedal highly sought after.

I've drawn the layout to use right angle pcb mount pots, mounted on the solder-side of the board. Also, if 741 chips aren't to your liking, you can use something like a TL071 in its place. Just increase the 820k resistor between the power and pin 3 to 1M.

EarthQuaker Devices Monarch

This is a great sounding Orange amp emulator by EQD. The EQ controls allow you to boost those frequencies instead of just rolling them off. Lots of big burly Orange tone in this FET based circuit. I've laid it out so you can board-mount all 4 pots from the solder-side of the board using right angle PCB mount pots.

Alembic Stratoblaster

The Stratoblaster was originally built as an onboard preamp that could be mounted on a Strat in place of the normal output jack canoe. The gain was adjusted by a trim pot (so no external knob), but the circuit provided 3-14 dB of clean boost. It's a great simple circuit and can fit in a 1590a or you could build it into a guitar (for all you Grateful Dead fans out there).

Marshall Blues Breaker Mk.I

The Blues Breaker was designed to emulate the vintage 2x12 Marshall combo, and was introduced by Marshall in 1991. Great at pushing a clean amp into breakup and sounds great with single coils. There has since been a Bluesbreaker II, which many claim to be inferior to the original. This layout is for the original model with onboard pots and will fit in a 1590B.

Note that the PCB layout is half a row (0.05 in/1.27mm) taller than the perf layout.

Earthquaker Devices Speaker Cranker

Here's a simple one that should fit nicely in a 1590a. EQD's take on the Electra Distortion circuit. Instead of having a pot coming off the end of the circuit, the volume is controlled by a pot coming off the emitter of the 2N3904. It's really more of a gain control than volume and if you wanted to, you could add a master volume control coming off the output. Who doesn't love more knobs, right?

Ibanez TS808 Tube Screamer

Been meaning to do this one for a while. One of the most classic effects ever, the Tube Screamer has been used by just about everybody. This layout is for the original TS808 circuit, but you can also build the TS9 on it as well. Just swap the 100Ω resistor coming off the emitter of Q2 with a 470Ω, and swap the 10k from output to ground with a 100k. The 220nF capacitors on the original TS808 and TS9s were tantalum, but I've laid them out to be film for better response. The 220nF coming off lug 2 of the Tone pot can be decreased to 100nF to open up the range of the tone control. Also, if you feel like it, you could hard mount the Drive and Tone controls to the board if you want.

BearFoot FX HoneyBee Overdrive

Almost identical to the BearFoot BlueBerry Bass Overdrive, this version is tuned for guitar. A medium drive apparently inspired by old Supro amps, it delivers warm overdrive that's very sensitive to your pick attack.

Hollis Flatline Optical Compressor

Here's a good, subtle sounding compressor. It uses a LDR and LED to control the limiting done by the effect. You can go the home-brew route and put a LDR and LED in some shrink tubing or there should be enough space to use a VTL5C2 or a NSL-32 photocoupler. Diodes I've listed as 1N34s but any germanium diodes should work.

Heart Throb Tremolo

The Heart Throb is a Schaller Tremolo circuit modified by MarkM, and uses pretty standard parts that you probably have kicking around in your parts drawer(s). The SPDT switch controls the rate. I've added polarity protection and power filtering. The LED not only is an on/off indicator, but will pulse to the rate of the effect.

1590A Tone Bender Mk.II

Here's the mighty SolaSound Tone Bender Mk.II shrunk down to fit in a 1590a. I laid it out for NPN transistor, as I really wouldn't want to try and squeeze a charge pump in a 1590a along side the effect board. Like the larger layout I posted last year, you could build the Marshall SupaFuzz with this layout as well. See that post for info on the value changes.

Update 3/22/15: I was trying to build this one to verify it and realized I'd forgotten the feedback resistor that goes from the base of Q2 to the emitter of Q3. The layout above is updated and should be fine now.

Simple Clipper Distortion

I found this layout going through an old folder on my computer. Pretty simple IC-based dirt circuit and will fit in 1590a. Here's a sound sample.

Devi Ever Hyperion

This is a pretty cool distortion effect from Seattle based designer Devi Ever. In her own words:

The Hyperion is everything the Big Muff wishes it could be. It can cut through in a loud, live, band setting. It has a gorgeous sustain that full of harmonically rich tonal characteristics that doesn't require much tweaking of your amp, guitar, or pedal board to get just the right sound you are looking for.

If you want to make the Hyperion 2, simply use a B100k pot, connect the ground from the board to lug 2 and then ground lug 1. Be sure that no other ground connections are going to the board, or it won't work. This creates oscillation by limiting how much the effect is grounded.

EHX Big Muff - Triangle

I know, this is the 3rd different BMP layout I've done, but this is the one I'm the most happy with. It will easily fit in a 1590B, it has board mounted pots, and said pots aren't all in one row across the top. As with the other Big Muff layouts, you can build pretty much any version on this layout (just refer to the schematics), but the components listed here are for the '72 Triangle version. For the board-mounted pots, I drew this layout with these kind of pots in mind mounted on the solder-side of the board.

BearFoot FX BlueBerry Bass Overdrive

Here's a great bass drive from BearFoot FX in Sweden. Kind of similar to a RAT, but not really. It's a completely different beast. Q1 calls for a 2N5952, but other JFETs should work there too, just socket and mind the pinout.

Kay T-1 Tremolo

Here's a 1590A candidate. The Kay T-1 Tremolo originally came in a plastic housing with a treadle that controlled the speed. Apparently similar to the Vox Repeat Percussion tremolo, but a little smoother.