Roland AF-60 BeeGee

Happy Fuzz Friday, all. Somehow in 10 years of laying out fuzzes, I've never done this one. Here's the  Roland (pre-Boss) AF-60 BeeGee fuzz. Originals use semiconductors you probably don't have in your parts stash, but nothing in mojo territory, so modern equivalents will work just as well. Fairly simple circuit with a couple transistor amplifiers, an opamp stage, hard clipping, and a BMP-style tone stack. Here's the schematic for reference. Easy fit in a 1590B. (Transfer image in the Boss folder)

Boss SG-1 Slow Gear

 The Slow Gear emulates a guitarist riding the volume pot or a volume pedal, creating a swell effect. This will fit comfortably in a 1590B or 125B, though with the 1590B you'll probably want to wire the pots off board or use long-leg right angle pots mounted on the component side. Here's the schematic for reference.

Boss FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz

Happy Fuzz Friday everyone! The Hyper Fuzz is Boss's take on the Univox Super Fuzz with a load of modifications. Schematic for reference here. Fits nicely in a 1590BB.

Boss FA-1 FET Amplifier

Originally a bit of a flop from Boss, the FET Amplifier was made famous by U2's The Edge. It features a 2-band Baxendall tone stack and the Volume control is more like a gain control. Originals use 2 single opamps that are pretty hard to come by these days, so they've been replaced by a dual opamp. Pots are board mounted and it should all fit in a 1590B.

Boss OD-1

This is the precursor to the SD-1 and the TS808. The OD-1 was built by Boss from 1977-1985 and made in 2 versions. Both version are very similar in circuit topology—buffer > gain/soft clipping stage > gain stage > buffer—but the early version used a quad opamp, while the later version used a dual opamp and transistors for the buffer stages. I laid out the later version a while back (and didn't know the quad version even existed at the time), but I wanted to lay the quad version out as most agree this version sounds better. Fits nicely in a 1590B. Schematic for reference.

Boss DS-1 with Keeley Ultra Mods

Got a request for the classic DS-1 with some Keeley mods and since my earlier DS-1 layout doesn't have board mounted pots, it seemed like a good idea. The flip-flop switching has been removed. Here's the schematic for reference.

Boss OD-1 Overdrive

Here's the Boss OD-1–the first of the tube screamer-type overdrives (yes, the first TS wasn't an Ibanez). It features asymmetrical clipping diodes (where a stock TS has symmetrical clipping) which gives it a thicker, more edgy sound. Initial versions of the circuit used a quad opamp, using 2 of the opamps as in the input/output buffers, but this was later replaced by the more common transistor buffers and a dual opamp to save cost and use more readily available parts back in the late 70s/early 80s.

Boss Blues Driver 2

I can't remember how many times I've been asked to do this one. I started laying it out ages ago, but got frustrated or interrupted and never went back to it. But here it is now, better late than never. The layout is for board mounted pots and it will fit in a 125B enclosure. Just couldn't seem to get it narrow enough for a 1590B. Schematic can be found here.

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.

Boss DS-1 Distortion

Here's the classic Boss DS-1 Distortion, used by many greats like Kurt Cobain, Joe Satriani, and Steve Vai, just to name a few. This one has been modified to eliminate the typical Boss flip-flop switching so it can be wired for true bypass, but it retains the input and output buffers.

Schematic can be found here.

Boss SD-1 SUPER OverDrive

Since the Zakk Wylde overdrive from last week was based on the SD-1, I figured I might as well go ahead and lay that circuit out as well. This doesn't have Boss switching so you can wire it up for true bypass. I've added some extra pads around D3 if you want to change that to a germanium (which seems to be a fairly common mod to this effect).