Roger Mayer Spitfire

For Fuzz Friday here's Roger Mayer's Spitfire. It's pretty similar to the Mongoose, but with a different transistor/IC pair and a few value changes. Apparently it sounds really good on chords and doesn't get too thick. Here's the schematic for reference.

Mr. Black BB-74x

This is Jack Deville's Marshall-in-a-box emulating a 1974X 18-watt combo amp. Tracing credit goes to Ralf Gottschalk, who has a nice little dual-layer board of this up on OshPark if you don't feel like etching or grabbing the perf for this one (build doc with schematic in the description).

DMB Stellar Drive

Here's the 3-knob version of the DMB Pedals Stellar Drive. It's RAT based, but with soft clipping instead of hard, and has pretty wide range of tones on tap. Here's the schematic for reference.

Maxon CP101 Compressor

Stumbled across the schematic for this compressor and couldn't find a layout for it. So I drew it up. This follows the original red box version, not the black box reissue. It's an optical compressor and apparently fairly subtle. I couldn't find any info on the vactrol used in the original–sockets are your friend. Should be an easy fit in a 1590B.

The Gruntbox

Got a request for this one and I'm always up for a bass effect. So this week's Fuzz Friday is Mark Hammer's Gruntbox. It's a pretty unique design and a lot of flexibility. More info here. Schematic and demo files can be downloaded here.

Valve Wizard Jenny Greenteeth

Here's a weird chorus from Valve Wizard based around a PT2399. In Merlin's own words...

Chorus is created by passing the signal through a very short delay line, somewhere between about 8ms and 25ms. The delay time is modulated and the delayed signal is mixed back with the original un-delayed signal. Some feedback ('repeats') is often applied too, to thicken the effect. The PT2399 has a minimum delay time of about 25ms, which is just short enough to do a thick chorus effect. The more subtle chorus effects that a 'proper' chorus pedal would do are not available as they require shorter delay times ( but I'm one of those people who only ever wants his chorus thick!). However, as well as getting chorus I soon found that various other unexpected effects could also be had for free, including pitch bend and a kind of ring modulation. That's why I've called it 'weird chorus'.

It will fit in a 125B with top mounted jacks easily, but it's narrow enough that it will fit in a 1590B, but probably without the pots board mounted. Here's the original build doc with the schematic and Merlin's original layout.

JHS Angry Charlie V3

Here's the newer version of the Angry Charlie with the 3-band EQ. Pretty much the Crunch Box with a 3-band Baxandall tone stack (similar to this) tacked onto the end. Pots are board mounted and it should squeeze nicely into a 1590B.

Nine Volt Nirvana Tape Measure

Found a bunch of Nine Volt Nirvana/Joe Gagan schematics on Fredd Brigg's blog. I'll probably do a few more of them, but first is the Tape Measure boost. Super simple and should easily fit in a 1590A. Original unit used a trimmer instead of an external volume control, but I figure most people will want the external control.

Feisty Little One Thermal Detonator

It's Fuzz Friday! This one got traced on FSB a while ago and I finally got around to drawing it up. It's a silicon Fuzz Face with bias control, sag control, and switchable feedback loop (oscillation). I laid it out like a zVex pedal (at least in control layout) and it should fit in a 1590B, either with the circuit board flat or standing vertically in the enclosure.

And here's a wiring diagram to make the offboard wiring a little clearer.