Initially I wasn't sure about doing a layout for the Boss FZ-3, as it isn't the most popular fuzz out there - then looking at the schematic, it appears to be quite tweakable, so I thought why not make a start, and see where this goes.
It has elements of a Tone Bender, a silicon Fuzz Face at its core, with a BMP type tone control. Boss when next level on power filtering with this one too.
I haven't posted in a while, as I've been selling a few things, and doing a bit of guitar shopping at the same time, which has taken up way more of my time than expected.
A Yamaha SL500 or an Aria Pro II Leopard were looking promising at one stage, as I was looking around for a vintage Japanese Les Paul, and then I saw a Tokai Love Rock from the premium range appear second-hand for a decent price... slight change of plan and budget.
It's a 59-spec Les Paul, and it feels and sounds great. I wasn't sure about the Seymour Duncan Phat Cat P90-style pickups the previous owner had installed, but they sound good. The previous owner was selling the Love Rock as he's a Fender guy and could never get used to the neck profile.
It's often difficult to describe sound, but I'll give it a go. Acoustically it sounds really nice - loud and clear, good note articulation - one of the best solid body electrics I've ever heard acoustically.
The neck pickup has a nice rounded tone, enough bass to make me happy but not enough to get muddy, and it's not too bright either. The bridge pickup has a good focused midrange bite, but it's not too hard on the ears. A bridge pickup that I can live with is usually a sign of a decent set of pickups to me, as I generally prefer the neck.
And of course, a 59 Les Paul is famous for sustain - who better to describe it than Nigel from Spinal Tap.
It's pretty much flawless, from what I can see. The action is low, and the fretwork is excellent.
The neck profile is on the slightly larger side of things compared to some modern necks, but still very comfortable. I like it.
Electronics and hardware are all great. The cavity is insulated.
It's one of the few guitars that I've bought where I don't feel like I need to change anything or tweak it for better playability.
The age-old question/debate for a high-end Japanese Les Paul - is it better than a Gibson? It's definitely better than a Gibson that I recently played, but I've never actually picked up a 1959 Les Paul. So better than some, yes, better than all, probably not. For the money I paid, there's no question that it's better value, as long as you're OK with a guitar called "Love Rock".
As much as I like a bit of vero (clearly), vero is not meant for commercial-scale production, at least in the modern sense. Unlike PCBs, where pots and switches can all be mounted on the board, thus providing a convenient way to hold the board in the enclosure, vero layouts are almost never designed this way. This brings us to the issue at hand - I've built it, now how do I make it stay put in the box, or how do I know this thing will be reliable?
Vero, or stripboard layouts are often laid out by folks like me, with small size often being the main driver of the layout, without any consideration for anything else. What is rarely seen on layouts is space for mounting points, or any indication of how it should be laid out in an enclosure with pots, jacks, switches etc. Sure, we all like to do our own thing, but it's kind of hard to work out when you're just starting out. I know when I was starting out, boards were jammed in enclosures in any way possible, usually with a lot of excess wire. As long as it worked and I could close the lid, I was happy.
Well, kind of obvious - secure the vero board to the enclosure properly. The board is literally full of things that you don’t want touching the enclosure, switches or any other conductors.
Standoffs
This is my preferred method. Self-adhesive plastic standoffs are pretty handy - but you will need to check if there's space on the layout for a few holes and that there is enough room in the enclosure once the pots and switches are in (which should happen first, in my opinion). If there isn't enough room, see if there's room to add a couple of rows or columns to the vero layout for mounting holes.
Standoffs come in many different shapes and sizes, usually with a plastic snap to lock them in place, or a small screw. Naturally, if you are using the metal screw type, make sure that the screw isn't shorting the conductive strips on the vero board. Of course, there is the bulletproof method, of screwing the standoff all the way through the enclosure, but this is a little harder to do and can limit space for graphics on the front.
Glue
Quite a few people use hot glue guns to secure boards, and it works, but good luck if it ever needs repair.
Tape & Velcro
Thick double-sided tape and velcro also does the job. At least with Velcro, you can remove it for repair, but something about velcro in a pedal bothers me.
Gum
No not that type of gum. This is a suggestion from a comment left on the post (thanks Brain). There's a sticky gum/gel specifically designed for sticking down boards, but you can still remove them later (with a bit of effort).
https://guitarpcb.com/product/gum-wadz-pcb-mount/
I normally look at the vero layout, pots, switches and enclosure size before starting the build. This way I can get a feeling for how I might finish, before I start. Kind of frustrating to have something in mind, only to find that it was never going to fit after building the circuit. I learnt this the hard way, maybe more times than I care to admit.
After I've built and tested the circuit (with ample wiring already on the board), I double-check that everything fits, by first adding the jacks, switches and pots to the finished enclosure. Then drop the board in, to confirm the initial plans are still valid.
I usually wire up the jacks, stomp switch and LED first - then I attach the circuit to the enclosure, and cut the cable to size, and solder connections as required.
Another method I sometimes use is to create a cardboard wiring jig, and do most of the work there, before transferring to the proper enclosure. This just provides a bit more room to move, as some enclosures can be a little cramped to work in, and it works out about the same in terms of final product.
Now I think I've done nearly all of these things at one stage - so no judgement if you have too.
Try not to:
Another CMOS based distortion, this time from Mad Professor - the Stone Grey Distortion. Details available on Aion FX, including schematic.
Not that the original uses JFETS acting as diodes for clipping, which means very little if any difference when compared to a regular diode. If you want to use JFETS, details are in the Aion build documentation - and there's room for it on the layout. I initially started with JFETS on the layout, but if a 1N914 does the same thing...
This is the CMOS version of the Electro-Harmonix Hot Tubes from the late seventies. I used the Aion FX schematic, which has some minor differences to the original. Smaller Drive pot, as it's difficult to source pots over 1meg, and some improved power protection and filtering.
I followed a vaguely similar layout to the one pictured at the bottom of the post for the Pete Cornish TB-83 Treble Booster.
This is a straight treble boost using a silicon transistor - it's going to sound horrible into anything apart from a cranked valve amp, or maybe a valve based pedal. Given this was in Brian May's rig, think normal channel of a cranked AC30, with this hitting it. Well maybe you aren't running nine AC30s at once, all running so hard the border on catching fire, but you get the idea.
The layout is from the Guild Brian May Box schematic, which is marked as designed by Pete Cornish, but he has disputed this at one stage.
There's a massive write up here on Fryer Guitars, including photos of inside Brian May's Pete Cornish built pedal board, and inside a pretty vintage looking Pete Cornish treble boost, which also happens to contain a buffer. Given that Fryer rebuilt AC30's for Brian May, I think the man knows a thing or two.
Either way it's a buffered treble boost. You can either wire this up as buffered, or true bypass, whatever you prefer.
I just bought this rather beat-up Vox BM1 Escort practice amp from the seventies, or maybe early eighties today. I'm thinking seventies, as it doesn't have an IEC power connector, and the grill cloth is the red/brown colour.
The back panel looks different to the one on Vox showroom and other photos that I've seen, so not sure what’s going on here - maybe it’s from a different production run or regional difference? The rotary battery/power selector switch has been replaced with a standard toggle switch, and the volume pot doesn’t look original; apart from that, all working as it should.
My first thought on this one - it's a little monster. Way louder than I thought it would be, and the driven sound is cool. I really punished my ears testing this... slightly regretting it now. It seems to like running somewhere between half and three-quarters volume, with the tone in a similar position depending on the input used. It's also pretty happy with the volume on full - it really fires off some attitude. I think it would be interesting to record this little thing running hot.
Clean sounds? Can't say I spent much time in this area of the amp.
The batteries are large, expensive and are reported to not last long, which I believe is why Vox created this version with the option to run off mains power. As a busking amp, you would want to make money petty fast, as you would need to make $20 just to break even with the cost of the battery.
Details of this project can be found here - as I started with a modded Pete Cornish SS-2 using the Joe Davvisson diode-compression op-amp, and then moved on to this. Essentially the same as the SS-2, but with the addition of a lo-cut.
After a bit of testing, I’d suggest a C50k for the sustain pot, followed by B50k, and A50k if you have none of the previous.
Since I've been on a bit of a Harmonic Percolator thing lately, I thought I might do some 0.15" mojo layouts using Albini / Mad Bean Pepper Spray values.
Here's one built by Sean of Spiller Instruments. Looks great, as do his other builds.
