Montarbo Sinfhoton

Here's a unique fuzz box from Italy for #fuzzfriday. Long, warm sustain like a Big Muff, but with better articulation when strumming chords. There seems to be a couple different ways to build this (circuit is the same, just a few components vary), and it's ripe for modification. Using high gain silicon transistors like MPSA18 or 2N5089s and playing with the value of the resistors going to the collectors from the voltage rail is a good place to start. Check out the FSB thread on this effect for more info. Diodes weren't listed in the schematics I saw, but 1N4148s should do the trick.

JFET Overdrive

I could have sworn I posted this back when I started this blog, but apparently not (hence the 'old school' pcb). It's another of Nocentelli's designs and somewhat similar to the Marvel Drive. Original schematic can be found on the FSB thread.

Earthquaker Devices Hummingbird

Here's a cool variation of the Vox Repeat Percussion tremolo from EQD. It adds some extra controls to the original circuit for more versatility and control. I had a hard time tracking down a schematic for this one and ended up just tracing the vero layout from the Tagboard Effects blog. So here you go internet, the schem for the Hummingbird:

Run Off Groove 22/7

Here's something interesting to do with some of those 4049UB chips. It's a CMOS Big Muff (22/7 being the fractional equivalent of pi). Brian from ROG added a switch to the tone stack to allow for flat response and a super scooped response, in addition to the classic scooped mids. I've also drawn up a version without that switch if you don't want to mess with the extra wiring. Schematic and sound clips can be found on the ROG project page.

The Drivestortion Project

I really enjoyed making the Big Muff Project file a couple months ago and thought it would be fun to make a similar project based on the MXR Distortion +/DOD OD250 circuit (in an attempt to combine the 2 names I call this project the Drivestortion). This circuit was also cloned by other pedal manufacturers (apparently this was the Timmy of the 70s), so the project provides component values for a couple of these as well. Let's start with the schematic:

This is the basic circuit for several versions of the DOD OD250, the MXR Distortion +, the Ross Distortion, and the DeArmond Square Wave, just to name a few. The only difference between all these is differing component values (and sometimes not even that). The component names from the above schematic follow those in the layout drawing below.

For a full BOM for 6 different versions of this circuit, download the linked file below. In addition to the BOM, it contains scaled transfers for etching your own circuit board and a scaled drilling template for building the effect into a Hammond 1590B enclosure.

Effects Layouts' Drivestortion Project

Lovepedal Silicon Fuzz Master

For #fuzzfriday, here's an interesting take on the Fuzz Face circuit. It uses silicon PNP transistors, but is still a negative ground effect (so daisy chaining power supply is still ok). I guess Sean had a bunch of extra 2N3906s lying around. I took a few liberties with the power filtering and polarity protection, but nothing that will effect the original sound. The yellow/ceramic 100n cap going from 9v to ground is optional, as it's not all that necessary, but is in the original. It's setup for board mounted pots if you so desire.

You can find a 1590B drilling template for this effect here.

Run Off Groove Britannia

And improvement over the original English Channel project, the Run Off Groove Britannia is an adaption of the classic Vox AC-30 amp into stompbox form. Couldn't squeeze this one into a 1590B with onboard pots, but it's laid out for a 125B enclosure. Pots are right angle PCB mount type, mounted from the solder-side of the board. Check out the ROG project page for a full description, schematic, and sound clips of this circuit.

You can find a 125B drilling template for this here.

Mad Professor Amber Drive

The Amber Drive is a slightly tweaked Fire Red Fuzz. Not a whole lot of differences between the two other than some value changes, but it's enough to make this not as fuzzy as the FRF apparently.

Here's the drilling template for this one. It should also work for the Fire Red Fuzz.

JHS MiniBomb

Here's a simple clean boost circuit built by JHS. It's really just the Tim Escobedo Duente JFET boost with a fixed resistor instead of a trimmer. Because of that you probably want to socket that resistor (5.1k) and adjust to the J201 you use. Or you can just squeeze a 25k trimmer on there like Tim designed it. Should fit in a 1590a just fine.

Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal

The HM-2 is the godfather of all other heavy metal distortion stompboxes. While it was first introduced in the '80s, it's still a highly regarded circuit for metal applications with its high gain and crushing lows, especially if you live in Sweden. Said crushing lows are thanks to the gyrator tone stack (not something you see all that often). Original units only have high and low tone controls, but it's easy to add a mids control, and the layout below reflects that. If you don't want the Mids control, simply connect the Mids 2 pad to lug 2 of the Highs pot. It's a fairly big layout, but you should be able to fit it in a 125B without issue, and if you're really precise with your drilling you might able to squeeze it into a 1590B.

Update July 13, 2016: 

Updated the layout so that the ICs are getting full 9v. Tone stack pots may need to be reduced to 10k.

Zvex Mastotron

Happy #fuzzfriday, everybody. The Mastotron is a heavy silicon fuzz and a variation of the Wooly Mammoth. It can produce a wide sonic range from 8-bit sounds to complete wall-of-fuzz tones. I've drawn this up to fit in a 1590B more conventionally than the Zvex way. You can use PCB-mount right angle pots, mounted from the solder-side of the board. 

I'm going to try and start including drilling templates with layouts that have board mounted pots (or at least the right angle kind). As I have time, I'll be going back to previous layouts with board mounted pots and creating templates for them as well. You can find them in the new Drilling Templates tab at the top of the page. You can find a 1590B drilling template for this effect here.

Sewer Pipes Ring-Verb

Here's a cool PT2399-based circuit designed by David Edgar (DIYSB member Earthscum). He describes it as, "kind of like playing in a sewer tunnel..." Here's a link to the original schematic and discussion over on DIYSB.

I noticed the schematic image in the DIYSB thread is now broken, so I've drawn up a new one for reference here.

Run Off Groove 3 Legged Dog

Got a bunch of CD4049UBE chips left over from building Red Llamas? Here's something else you can do with them. You might need to play with the the value of the 8.2k resistor going to the drain of the J201 to make sure you're getting to around 4.5v there. Also if you encounter squealing or unwanted noise, try increasing the power filter cap from 47µ up to 100-220µ. Sound clip and schematic can be found here.

4ms Tremulus Lune

The Tremulus Lune was designed by Dan Green from Commonsound and is a fantastic sounding optical tremolo. It's a very versatile trem, and has a very adjustable LFO section. The audio path goes through the TL072, and the LFO is created with the 4558. A VTL5C2 can be used, or you can make your own photocupler with an LED (3mm red) and LDR (5k/500k). The LED pads on the right side of the board is for an LFO speed indicator. This LED could easily be used as on/off indication as well. Wire the anode (+) to the board as indicated, and the cathode (-) to the footswitch (typically pin 4 or 7–refer to the General Layout Notes tab above). Then wire the footswitch (pin 5 or 8) to the LED - pad on the board.

Himmelstrutz Fetto

Here's an original design by Himmelstrutz Elektro Art, the Fetto. It's a heavy overdrive/distortion circuit using 3 JFETs (probably 2SK170GR, but the names were sanded off the original traced by SoulSonic). These have DGS pinouts, so they're not J201, 2N5457, etc. One of the unique things about this circuit is the number of removable jumpers on the circuit board. These can be removed to tweak the sound of the effect, along side several DIP switches and 2 trimmers. In the layout below, I've replaced the removable jumpers with DIP switches for easier tweaking. The only jumper that isn't on a switch (and I don't think it was removable on the originals) is the one in parallel with the 100nF output capacitor. Not sure why this one is there. You can check out the schematic here.

Mad Professor Fire Red Fuzz

Here's Bjorn's take on the classic Big Muff circuit. JFETs are used as clippers in the first clipping stage, and a JFET-based gain recovery stage is used instead of the traditional BJT one found in the original. You can use board mount pots from the solder side using right angle PCB mount pots.

Escobedo Idiot Wah

Here's a quicky designed by Tim Escobedo. It's an inductor-less wah, and you can use either a pot or an LDR to control the effect. It's small enough to fit in a 1590a if you want a fixed wah in a small package.

Resonance switch is a SPST.

Roger Mayer Octavia

Roger Mayer is one of the most influential effects makers of all time. Responsible for many great players fuzz tones, he's probably most famous for tweaking (or just rebuilding) Jimi Hendrix's Fuzz Faces. He also has his own line of pedals and this is his take on the classic Octavia (octave up) effect. This one doesn't use a transformer like the Tycobrahe Octavia, so it's a little easier to build (at least you don't have to order a transformer...). This layout follows Roger's original 2-knob Octavia,  housed in a spaceship looking enclosure.

Mosrite FuzzRite

Almost a year ago I laid out the silicon version of the classic FuzzRite. Lately though, I decided to redo it after some discussion with Gabriel Monteiro over the 22k resistor. To see that discussion check out the first layout page for this circuit. Our discussion (which in all honesty was mostly a bunch of breadboarding on his part, thanks buddy!) had nothing to do with redoing the layout, but it made me look at the old layout enough that I wanted to redo it, and when I couldn't find my original DIYLC file for it, I had the perfect excuse. So here's the FuzzRite again. This time much more orderly 1590a friendly.

I also redrew the schematic to get my head around it a little better and to also number the pot lugs (which is lacking in most schems and seemed to be a source of some confusion on my part when I originally drew the circuit up).

Analogman King of Tone

Here's Analogman's original version of the King of Tone, a highly regarded overdrive with a few "unobtanium" diodes. It's probably best to socket said diodes to play around with your favorite combinations. Switch A controls the 4-diode array in the feedback loop (much like a Tube Screamer), while Switch B controls shunted diodes (much like a RAT or Distortion +). Originally these were DIP switches, but it makes more sense to me to have these externally.

Red Fuzz

For #fuzzfriday, here's the Red Fuzz, designed by Robin Tomtlund. It's made up of 2 stages: the first is based around a single op amp with LEDs is the feedback loop creating clipping. The second is a simple FET-based boost/buffer. Much like a RAT, but with different clipping. The schematic and some sound samples can be found on the General Guitar Gadgets page. On the PCB, I added 2 pads that can be used to add a clipping switch. Just use a DPDT with the LEDs on one side and 1N4148s or whatever your preference is on the other (see the diagram below).

Ibanez/Maxon SD9 Sonic Distortion

Originally produced in the early 80s, the SD9 was the distortion brother of the classic TS9 Tube Screamer. It ranges from mild overdrive to fuzz territory without losing articulation. The easiest way to describe the SD9 circuit is to say it's half of a Tube Screamer, with a Big Muff tone stack. Original units only used half of the JRC4558 opamp (the other half was used to buffer the non-distorted stage to output). However, General Guitar Gadgets published a schematic with the 2nd half of the opamp used as a volume recovery stage right after the tone stack. (And the BMP tone stack is notorious for volume loss) Who doesn't want louder distortion, right? So instead of the stock circuit, the layout below reflects the mods from GGG. I've added polarity protection and power filtering. Pots can be board mounted from the solder-side using right angle PCB pots.