This one was kind of a sleeper. No where near as popular as MXR's Distortion +, the Distortion II was quite a bit more complicated and ran off a 15v supply, complete with a built power cord . This layout is a bit modified from the original, and can be run off a normal pedal power supply (+9/18v). Originals also tend to be very bass heavy, so I've included a few mods to tame the low end. You might be able to fit in a 1590B, but a 125B will have a bit more room.
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MXR Distortion II
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MMR Fuzz
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Catalinbread Sagrado Poblano Picoso/AMZ MOSFET Booster
The Catalinbread Sagrado Poblano Picoso is a bass version of Jack Orman's (AMZ) MOSFET Booster. Really the only difference between the two are a couple cap values. So if you want to build the AMZ version, sub the 470µF cap with a 100µF and the 220nF with a 100nF. Should be a pretty easy fit in a 1590A.
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Castledine Electronics The Wizard
Here's another take on the cascaded JFET overdrive design. This has a similar goal to the Catalinbread Sabbra Cadabra in trying to sound like Tony Iommi with a treble booster feeding a tube emulator. The Wizard is...
A new distortion pedal, inspired by Tony Iommi's guitar sound on the early Black Sabbath albums. It is well known that he used a modified Rangemaster to drive his amps, so the same principle was used for The Wizard. The first gain stage is essentially a Rangemaster, using a germanium transistor, but tweaked for a full range boost. That drives a distortion circuit which has been designed to give something of the tone and feel of a Laney Supergroup amp. Obviously, there is no substitute for a full stack at volume, but The Wizard has a similar distortion character and responds well to picking dynamics.
I've laid this out specifically for a 125B enclosure with top mounted jacks.
A new distortion pedal, inspired by Tony Iommi's guitar sound on the early Black Sabbath albums. It is well known that he used a modified Rangemaster to drive his amps, so the same principle was used for The Wizard. The first gain stage is essentially a Rangemaster, using a germanium transistor, but tweaked for a full range boost. That drives a distortion circuit which has been designed to give something of the tone and feel of a Laney Supergroup amp. Obviously, there is no substitute for a full stack at volume, but The Wizard has a similar distortion character and responds well to picking dynamics.
I've laid this out specifically for a 125B enclosure with top mounted jacks.
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Glass Jaw
Fuzz Friday! Here's a cool one designed by Alec Breslow (check him out on Instagram) who was cool enough to share his schematic. It's based on the EQD Acapulco Gold with an added blend control and Baxandall EQ. Good for both bass and guitar. It's laid out for board mounted pots an will fit nicely in a 1590B.
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Rockett 10 Ton Hammer
This appears to be Rockett's take on the Marshall Guv'nor, but with a few modifications. The tone control of the Guv'nor has been replaced with a Baxandall EQ tone stack and the output is boosted with a JFET gain stage (much like Rockett Flex Drive). Should fit nicely in a 1590B with board mounted pots.
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Tiger Pre-Amp
If you're a Dead Head, you'll probably be interested in this one. It's the pre-amp from Jerry Garcia's Tiger guitar used from '79-'89 and built by Doug Irwin. It's a unity gain buffer to prevent signal loss with long cables. It can be built into a guitar like the original or into a 1590A. Other single op-amps can be used instead of the LF356N (TL071, NE5534, etc).
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Emanating Fist XB-70
The XB-70 is a clone of the Captain's personal '77(?) Guild Foxy Lady, which were built by Electro Harmonix and generally very similar to Ram's Head Big Muffs. In the Captain's own words, "It sounds like torn leather soaked in piss and salt smushed lovingly into ears... It is a brute of a pedal, has a really intense roar at full tilt, like any good Big Muff really." I used my old Ram's Head layout as the starting point, but altered the pot placement and it should be a nice fit in a 125B now.
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Keeler Push
Here's a recent trace from over on FSB. It reminds me of a Timmy with a fixed bass control and modified second op amp stage. Nice alternative to a Tube Screamer.
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Zombie Chorus
Got a request for this one. This was originally designed by John Hollis and has since been modified by various folks in the DIY community. Like the latest version of the Little Angel chorus, it has a switch to do either vibrato or chorus tones. And the Mode switch allows for different speeds (Leslie, Normal, and Clone). Here's the schematic for reference.
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Höfner Buzz Tone
Pretty unique fuzz box from Höfner for Fuzz Friday. Pretty straight forward 3-transistor design that should make for a pretty easy build. Board mounted pots for less off-board wiring and if you want a bit more gain, replace the 47uF input cap on the left side of the board with a 22uF cap. Here's the schematic for reference.
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AMZ Son of Screamer
Where would DIY pedal building be without Jack Orman? Got a request for his Son of Screamer, which is a pretty standard Tube Screamer but with the input and output buffers removed. Pots are board mounted and I added a extra diode in the feedback loop for asymmetrical clipping if you want to go that route. Original schematic and article can be found here.
If you want to have symmetrical clipping, populate the diodes like this:
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iRig Preamp
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Parasit Studios Eagle Claw
Fuzz Friday! Freppo over at Parasit Studios makes some insanely cool stuff. Here's his Eagle Claw octave fuzz. You can probably squeeze it into a 1590a if you're feeling adventurous. In his own words:
The Eagle Claw is simple yet brutal, noisy and glitchy sounding CMOS-based fuzz with a full wave rectifier to produce a strong octave up. This circuit works best with high output pickups. It is a gated circuit by nature of the CMOS logic. If you are using single coils and need more sustain, try a boost or compressor in front. To bring out the strongest octave up, use the neck pickup on your guitar with the tone rolled down. The octave is most intense around the 10th fret and higher.
The Eagle Claw is simple yet brutal, noisy and glitchy sounding CMOS-based fuzz with a full wave rectifier to produce a strong octave up. This circuit works best with high output pickups. It is a gated circuit by nature of the CMOS logic. If you are using single coils and need more sustain, try a boost or compressor in front. To bring out the strongest octave up, use the neck pickup on your guitar with the tone rolled down. The octave is most intense around the 10th fret and higher.
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Lovepedal Dover Drive
Here's a pretty interesting overdrive from Lovepedal (Hermida). The signal goes through a dual PNP silicon transistor stage (don't worry, it's still a negative ground effect), then into a op amp gain stage with soft clipping in the feedback loop, with a Rat-style tone control, followed by an output buffer. Schematic can be found on FSB for reference.
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Earthquaker Devices Chrysalis
Another oldie but goodie from EQD. The Chrysalis (now discontinued) is essentially a Speaker Cranker (with a pre-gain control instead of its normal gain control) into a Rat-style tone control, followed by a LPB-1 for gain recovery. Schematic can be found on FSB.
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Greaser Fuzz
Here's a cool little fuzz designed by Nocentelli over of FSB. It's based on the D*A*M GB-83, which is a silicon adaptation of the Tone Bender Mk. III (sans the tone control). Definitely worth building up. Here's the schematic for reference (you'll have to login to FSB to access).
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JHS Twin Twelve V1
Here's the original Twin Twelve from JHS. It's an emulator of the old Silvertone 1484 amp. Like a lot of amp emulators (including their Superbolt) it uses JFETs and an 18v charge pump. The schematic can be found here, and I added the charge pump from JHS's Superbolt. Set the trimmers to around 9v and the adjust as need be. Pots are board mounted as usual and it should fit in a 125B with top mounted jacks nicely.
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DeadAstronaut Chasm Reverb
Been a while since I did a reverb layout and this DeadAstronaut design does not disappoint. It's not a true-bypass effect, but uses some JFET switching so that tails are present when you turn the effect off. Coda Effects actually has a really good write up on the design. Ended up doing this one in Eagle and was able to squeeze it into a 125B. If you want a fabricated board, you can order some off OshPark.
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Keeler Kick
For Fuzz Friday we have another Keeler design. Nothing too complicated about it (and in my experience with fuzz simpler is better)–basically an Electra running into a Big Muff tone stack, into some germanium clipping, into a Fuzz Face. Schematic from FSB.
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