Frantone Cream Puff

Happy Fuzz Friday, everyone! Got a few requests for this one. It's a bit like a fuzz in the way a Big Muff is a fuzz–bridges the gap between fuzz and distortion. And it's somewhat similar to a Big Muff with two gain stages pushing a BMP tone stack. Schematic can be found over on FSB.

Fender Eric Clapton Active Mid-Boost

Got a request for this one. It's the active midrange boost (of up to 25dB at around 500Hz) found in Fender's Eric Clapton signature Stratocaster. Ended up not board mounting the pots for a smaller board for those building this into a guitar. Here's the schematic for reference.

MXR Commande Sustain

Here's one from MXR you probably haven't heard of before. It was apart of their Commande line of plastic boxed effects from the late 80s. They aren't highly regarded because of the plastic, but the circuits were pretty well designed. The circuit in question today is a better design than the DynaComp, offering less distortion and more sustain. It does have a little less compression range than the DynaComp, but also less noise. (And really, who needs that much squish? haha) Couldn't find a demo of this one, but the schematic and discussion can be found here on FSB.

Baja VH4

Another drive circuit from Bajaman. He's been on a tear lately! In his words...

Here is my latest build based on the frequency response characteristics of the Diezel VH4 tube head channels 3 and 4, but scaled down into a 9v dc pedal friendly format... I got a chance to try using it on Neil Young's "Keep on Rockin' in the Free World" and needless to say it sounded awesome on very low gain setting Channel 3 - just the right amount of searing crunch and in my view one of my best pedals to date!

It will fit in either a 125B with top mounted jacks, or a 1590B with side jacks. If you go 1590B, you'll either have to offboard the pots or use long leg pcb-mount pots and populate them on the component side. I've added extra pads for the JFETs so you can use either DGS or GSD pinout transistors. Schematic can be found here.

Os Mutantes Fuzz

Got a request for this one and thought it'd be a good Fuzz Friday layout. It's got a fair amount of treble and grit on tap and should fit pretty easily in a 1590a. Schematic here.

Lovepedal Jubilee

Here's Lovepedal's Jubilee–pretty close circuit-wise to the Purple Plexi and Black Magic. Should be a pretty quick build. Note, if it sounds too dark, replace the 47nF cap with a 4.7nF cap. Schematic here.

VooDoo Lab MicroVibe

Here's the Micro Vibe from VooDoo Lab—aka, welcome to jumper city. Always seems to happen with vibe circuits, but this one will fit in a 125B quite nicely. Pretty standard adpation of the old Univibe with speed and intensity controls. Set the trimmer to 250Ω (and be careful if you adjust it since there's no protection/limiting resistor). Schematic can be found here.

zVex '59 Sound

zVex's new '59 Sound looks to emulate an overdrive '59 Fender Bassman amp and is essentially a tweaked Box of Rock. I've left out the boost section (which is essentially a SHO after this circuit), but can be easily added with the old SHO layout here on the blog.

Also, there's another installment of the DIYLC tutorial up on YouTube today. I actually am not using DIYLC all that much in it... 

Jext Telez White Pedal

Here's a pretty cool one for Fuzz Friday–the Jext Telez White Pedal. It's a recreation of an onboard overdrive unit in a vintage Vox amp used by George Harrison in the late 60s. Schematic can be found here. Pots are board mounted and I've tweaked the Yoko switch to just be a toggle instead of a rotary like the originals, and it should fit nicely in a 125B.