A Followup on a Handmade Vintage Overdrive Pedal I purchased locally!

Such an odd design with some very rare parts! It was said to be done with the help of some people from Voodoo Labs.  I hesitated to purchase it but was surprised to have a nice very transparent OD that functions much like a fuzz.  It was told to me by Fool Audio Research that although the board design couldn't be identified, it contained the transistor from the Super Fuzz classic pedal.  Hmm... All I know is it doesn't overload with gain like a lot of modern boss/ibanez overdrives and works awesome with a well tubed amp!  The missing link in my setup, eSpecially if I am going to play live!

Cool new Pedal from Fool Audio Research

This is an Octave Fuzz done with a GGG schematic and a rare and larger Transformer to help create the effect.  I was in correspondence with the designer on facebook and I suggested he post it for sale and I went ahead and got it.  It was one of two different types.  The other was smaller and with a Mad Bean board he said.  He also powder coats the enclosures so they come out beautiful! Funny story, he did them in a tent with a mask in his yard!  I really liked the vintage knobs and green led.  I added this temporary TMNT tattoo as the decal.  I may clear coat it if I want to keep the decal.  A very interesting sound too.  The left knob is for Impedance/bias and the other are standard.  You can even get Octave without much fuzz too which I like.  I call it my tibetan chant pedal for melodies.  I'm still working on what I can do with it but I figure I may need a solid state amp to tear up with this bad boy, Its wild like the shredder on the sticker!

Cool Diy Fuzz Pedal I picked up at the local Music Trade Shop!

This is by far the cleanest OD I have ever heard.  No OpAmp and low enough gain to work well with my Hot Rod Amp.  It turns out the transistors in it are the ones used in the SuperFuzz Classic Pedal.  However it uses all vintage parts like a good Jimi Hendrix JHF-1 and was handmade with the help of some guys said to be from Voodoo Labs!  More pics later!  Worked great in a Jam or two this weekend.  Totally sweet to push the Tubes of your Amp at both low and high settings!

Cool Find at local Pawn!

This was my answer to the cheap Zoom! This one looks more solid than the Zoom and Boss is pretty cool with its Song Mode.  I laid it away! Not sure if I will keep it or give it away as a gift?

Zoom Boom Tat Machine

I got this little guy to fix from my cousin.  An interesting little drum machine.  Turns out it was mostly just the power adapter that needed replaced but I got to know an interesting new type of drum machine that was designed with drummers in mind.  Zoom not too good on this one again because it looks like it got overloaded with patterns too quick and the Song mode glitches out.  Not enough memory I assume.  I told him to restore it to defaults and try not to overload it.  Maybe overdub the rolls and syncopations?

Silvertone Amp repair

Cool gig replacing a potentiometer on a Silvertone Small Amp.  Very sturdy little guy with a decent design!  Only I got a guitar like knob style so Im confused what type of knob to match it with???

oh ya Im back!

Hey, I may be swamped with research but I have been stocking up on new electronic parts and designs this whole time! ;)

DIY Phaser by Mklec . . . sick!

http://blog.mklec.com/building-mxr-phase-45-clone-kit/

Really like the MXR Phase 45 I tried at a local guitar shop.  It was an old one and was a little dark and washy.  This one sounds pretty nice if you can swing the diy.

Building me a JFET buffer to make my Wah work with a Low Impedance FUZZ

Prototyping a JFET buffer Circuit

Prototyping a buffer circuit to put in between my true bypass wah and my good Fuzz pedals!
Instead of bread boarding I use several jumper wires that I was given as a gift.  It worked great!
This is a JFET buffer circuit I am testing here with a small Ibanez practice amp that is a great resource for so many tests around the house and at Pawn shops!

New Paint Job for BC108 Fuzzface Enclosure

Paint job for new BC108 Si Fuzz.
I already wired it up as well.  I just need to do the circuit and install it this week!
I put that interesting medallion as they unintentionally added a DC jack which I don't need
for a Fuzzface type circuit!  Old Batteries only!

Wait till you see how I cleaned this bad boy up!
This pic is with cinnamin spray paint can I found at Hobby Lobby.  I taped it off to spray paint the white parts.  I hand painted the text and Jester Hat by hand with enamel paint.  Took a few goes but I eventually clear coated it and touched it up and it looks great!  Stay posted for the photos!
T.

MOdern Guitarist Setup...

Yes I know.  It's not as classic as what I have been into, but lately what I have been experimenting with my cousin "The Drummer" has required me to come up with this combination of pedals!

 

The thing is I usually use a vintage tube amp with custom od's and wah and fuzz etc with a minimum of digital effects.  However, when I visited my cousin who is a pro drummer I had to improvise to create a setup that would work with his amp setup and my skills appropriately.  It went ok with some improvising with Analogman and Monte Allums pedals but I found this setup would get the Volume I would need with a smaller amp and wail over his Primus like drums!  The ibanez practice amp is all I need to emulate his for now as they react just the same and Ibanez really did a good job with these little amps!  Great Bassy tone with a nice Tubescreamer TS9 like grit!  (don't use the onboard dist tho!).

Stay posted for any possible recordings in the future! His girlfriend is a great singer as well! We had a great set!

Heres the Paintjob so far for the new hand-wired Fuzz faces!

 

The paintjob took some starts and stops and restarts but I really like how its coming along now! It's almost complete!  I will be selling these on my Reverb site when I got a couple completed!

You would be amazed how clean these hand wired circuits sound compared to modern factory made pedals! I mean the transistors were just stock on the last one and I could control it very well without any issues I usually get with Boss type pedals when its cranked!

 

New Fuzz face parts just in!

 

I got enough parts to complete two Fuzz Face clones that I am reverse engineering!

I already got it mapped out and ready to go!

Got a deal on 20 BC 108 transistors!

I got these BC 108 transistors online!  The dude on ebay said they all tested below 200 hfe too.  I'm hoping these will make my new Fuzz face clones sound as smooth as a JHF 1!  I got a pair from a Jimi Hendrix fuzz face that I got modded to compare them too!

New Pics for the Diy Fuzz Face I just finished!

DIY Tube Headphone Amp 12Volts!

Schematic:

Finally found a DIY headphone Amplifier!

http://electronics-diy.com/class-a-12au7-tube-headphone-amplifier.php

It's cool to see it works well with Grado Old School Audiophile Headphones!

Great board of the vintage Fuzz board replica I got.

http://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=11697

This is a breakdown of a nice Vintage Arbiter Fuzz with the original Circuit!

Great site to get authentic vintage guitar/pedal parts!

https://www.tubesandmore.com

Cool site with DIY diagrams and one with a Simple JFET buffer circuit!

http://147pedals.blogspot.com/2010_11_01_archive.html

Cool diagram of JFET Buffer

http://diyguitaramp.tistory.com/346

The data sheet for the CDIL BC108b Transistor from JHF 1 Silicon Fuzz Face

http://www.datasheetlib.com/datasheet/1415062/bc108b_cdil-continental-device-india-limited.html#datasheet

These were the stock transistors that got pulled from the board.  I had the pedal modded by Analogman to put the nice BC183 transitors and a trimpot put in.  It sounds great but I need a better amp to really try to get that vintage floyd sound they are known for :/ ...

A neat thread about adding a trimpot via a pot to your Sun, I mean fuzz face!

https://www.reddit.com/r/diypedals/comments/2o1v7w/converting_a_trim_pot_to_an_external_pot_with_a/

Cool Article about technical fuzz face circuit

http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/fuzzface/fftech.htm

how to add trimpots to bias fuzz face

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/can-somebody-link-me-to-a-fuzz-face-schematic-with-bias-control.1079457/

For descriptions of the posts check the comments to the blogs...

Opening up used pedals at the local music shop!

Some of my favorite Boutique/Modded Guitar Pedals

Above is the Analogman Peppermint Fuzz.  Next, there is a mod I did of the Super Overdrive and also a dualy modded Ts 9 tubescreamer to make a pair of great overdrives!

Now on to the fun stuff... wiring a npn silicon fuzzface!

Still hard at work getting this thing wired!  In a good way.  Soon I will have some good audio samples of a nice homemade Silicon Fuzz.  I have some bc 108 transistors I can swap in as well for the low noise ones that came with the kit!