The first version of the Death By Audio Fuzz War is notoriously tricky to clone - this is the second version, which is a modded Jumbo Tone Bender with a tweaked tone stack. So, in other words, it's a modded Big Muff.
Schematic / build docs at PedalPCB
I'm sure others have done it; however, this is commonly known as the Voodoo Labs bypass. It's an interesting way of bypassing a pedal using a DPDT switch while including an LED indicator.
Before 3PDT switches became available, designers had to choose between not true bypass with a LED or true-bypass without an LED (until the millennium bypass appeared, but that's another story).
Here's how it works:
PEDAL ON
The LED in the photo FET turns on, and the resistance of the FET drops down to a few hundred ohms - signal flows into the effect circuit, and the effect circuit output is routed to the output jack.
PEDAL OFF
The LED in the photo FET is off - the resistance of the FET increases to a few hundred megohms, blocking the signal from reaching the circuit. The FET is also grounded. So the signal sees a very large resistor to ground instead of a circuit. The signal from the input jack is routed to the output jack.
Or an even better explanation by R.G. Keen can be found here
I did a point to point layout for this some time ago, which was actually my first post for this blog. Full description via the link above.
The Colorsound Tone Bender Distortion is more distortion than bender - there are zero similarities between a MKI, MKII or MKIII bender and this circuit.
After a couple of posts about workbench tools etc, I thought perhaps it's time for a guide on where to start, as the internet is a big place full of opinions (now including mine).
Sometimes it's hard to work out what one actually needs and why they are needed. The idea of saving money by building your own pedals might soon disappear.
You can't finish a build without these;
Now, this is where it gets more interesting. While the tools above will get a basic build done, if anything goes wrong, which it inevitably will at some stage, nothing there will help you test the circuit and find faults.
This becomes really apparent when staring at your first build, wondering why it doesn't work, and not having a clue where to begin.
Basic test equipment;
When asking for help on forums / social media, the first thing people usually want is photos, a schematic/build docs and voltages on semiconductors. And for a good reason too.
Either of these will tell you enough about your transistors to give you an idea of how they shape up. Nothing beats testing them in the circuit, as I have often found that the transistors that are supposedly the 'wrong' transistors actually work just fine and sound great.
By now, you probably realise that making pedals may not have actually been a cheaper option than buying them after all. So what next?
This is like the holy trinity of non-essential and potentially expensive tools. They make the experience of building pedals just that much better - I think they are worth it if you have the space, money and intention to build a lot of pedals.
A common question and this is really too much to even try and answer, but I will leave you with some simple advice.
This is my scruffy old analog signal generator that I picked up for $15 or $20. I was actually surprised it still worked, given the apparent age.
If you don't have a signal generator and you see one going cheap, I'd suggest buying it if you are going to be building a few FX pedals. While it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the new digital ones, it just sits there and kicks out a nice sine or the occasional square wave - I never actually turn it off.
There's something to be said for having a reliable reference signal that never changes when fault-finding or testing pedals. Given that I'm a big fan of oscilloscopes for testing pedals, it goes without saying that a good signal generator is a must-have (at least for me, anyway).
I always run it at 440hz, and 130mv TRMS. While 1kHz is usually considered a standard test wave, it annoys me after a while. As you probably realise, 440hz is actually the A string of a guitar.
I use sine waves for testing most things, except for filters or equalisation that actually need harmonic content to filter, which is where I use a square wave.
Sine waves are great for testing any kind of overdrive/fuzz/distortion, as you can actually see the harmonics generated by distorting the wave, as sine waves have no harmonics by definition, just the fundamental frequency.
I haven't done a point to point layout for a while, and I also remembered that I've been meaning to make a Zvex Fuzz Factory for some time, but have never quite gotten around to it. So here it is.
I tried a Fuzz Factory using a different layout as one of my first guitar effects builds on vero, and it didn't work well at all - so much so that it ended up in the bin. Maybe better luck this time with a bit more experience, and I have a couple of AC128s that could do with a home. Think I tried some dodgy AC125s for the build that didn't work well, it was some time ago, so who knows what I did.
This is my first layout for a PT2399 based delay. The Earthquaker Devices Disaster Transport Jr. It's a pretty cool delay, with some very usable sounds - the addition of the tone control certainly helps, especially if you like something a little lo-fi sounding, or just as a method to filter out noise on longer delay times.
This is a large layout compared to some others available - I've built a couple from other layouts, and they're always a bit cramped for my liking.
This is a simplified version of a Pete Cornish ST-2 (based on the Colorsound Overdriver). I did the full layout, and it it kind of large, and double buffers are not for everyone.
So no buffers, and the power supply filtering is simpler. I'm sure the proper Pete Cornish version is probably better, but if you prefer something smaller and simpler, this might be for you.
The full layout, including LTspice traces can be found here. Please note that this is not actually an overdrive, it's really just a bass / treble control for tone shaping.
The Pete Cornish ST-2 is a Colorsound Overdriver with a few mods. The ST-2 is intended to be a tone-shaper; it's not actually an overdrive. So if you are looking for dirt, you have come to the wrong place with this one. Although one can make a few tweaks to bring some dirt to this, but I'm not sure it would sound that great. Could also make it a little hotter on the output by adjusting the gain of the op-amp, if you really want to push some tubes over the edge.
It has the usual Cornish buffer (two in fact) and an additional buffered/boosted output via an op-amp. The power supply is a little over the top too. Several feeds for different sections of the circuit.
All of the extras make for quite a large vero layout, and after all it is really just a bass and treble control - I'll probably do a simplified layout at some stage with a single buffer, or maybe no buffer at all and a smaller power supply. It should cut down the size and complexity quite a bit.
The wiring is for buffered bypass, which I don't mind. It bothers some people...
Schematic and tracing details can be found here, at Aion FX. Instead of using this gigantic layout, maybe consider buying a board from Aion.
Like the very lengthy title below suggest, it's a Pete Cornish SS-2 with mods. After finishing the SS-3, they're almost the same, so I thought I would also do a SS-2 layout.
Changes
The Pete Cornish SS-3 is one of my favourite overdrives - so I thought I might make another one with a different layout and buffer.
Changes
The Grand Orbiter Phase Machine is a four-stage OTA phaser, with options for vibrato or phasing (a bit like a Univibe).
Not exactly a small board, but not too much to take on either. MLC caps might be a good idea for some of the 1uf caps to save space.
Currently unverified. I have reviewed the schematic a couple of times, and two errors have been found and corrected, but still... it's a huge board. What could go wrong, right?
A classic phaser from the mid-seventies - the Musitronics Mu-Tron Phasor II. It has the same six-stage phaser as the Bi-Phase, with less happening in the oscillator section.
This is the hardest layout I have ever done and took some time to finish and check... including some time wasted after I started using a layout with errors in the oscillator section, which was very annoying.
Being a six-stage phaser using DIY vactrols - what could possibly go wrong? Unverified at present / build at your peril.
This should just fit in a Hammond 1590BB enclosure (landscape), The dual rail power supply will need to be done on a separate board.
I have not wired as per the original, as it was not true-bypass, and it has a relatively low input impedance of 390k. If you really want to wire it up as the original, just check an old schematic, and you should be able to modify a layout to accomplish this.
Recommend that you check it against the schematic below if you plan to build this before I do. I'll post photos etc once I have it made, or at least a progress report from the bench.
The placement of the trimmer is a bit clumsy, but I think I will test some values and hopefully replace it with a standard resistor. The trimmer is R23 on the schematic - see note re value.
Once (if ever) working, I'll need a suitable funky enclosure to fully release the seventies vibe.
Perhaps not often talked about in the world of guitar pedal building, as they’re kind of boring as all hell - the humble bench power supply. So why am I bothering you with this?
Apart from being able to dial in most voltages that I need, a bench power supply is actually a handy tool in other ways. As soon as I turn it on and see the current fluctuating or pulling more current than it should be, I know I have a problem with the circuit.
They’re also safer than using a battery, as there’s actually potential for batteries to get really hot and explode if you have a short on the supply and leave them for some time.
So if you don't have one and are wondering what's the point when a wall-wart or a 9V battery will do for most things... well, maybe consider one if you see it going cheap.
The MXR M-103 Blue Box is a sub-octave fuzz (two octaves down). It's not a clean sub-octave either, pretty dirty really, well it's a fuzz... kind of synthy on some settings.
Might want to check how many 56k resistors you have before starting this.
If the other MS-20 filter is all too much, maybe this will be easier. It's Tim Escobedo's adaptation of an MS-20 style filter for guitar, just using the an LM13700 and running at 9v.
