I can promise that you haven’t seen this exact circuit configuration in some over-priced boutique pedal. What we have here is my wacko take on the classic Bazz Fuss, a mainstay DIY favorite owing to its low parts count and surprisingly amazing fuzz tone. The … Continue readingSmallBazz – Germanium Bazz Fuss
Picture of the Clusterfuzz Micro guitar pedal by Function f(x), LLC. Shot with Sony A7III and Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8. Pedal information from the vendor’s website: “The Clusterfuzz Micro is the smaller brother to our Clusterfuzz and Clusterfuzz Jr. pedals. It’s the same circuit under the … Continue readingClusterfuzz Micro – Sony A7III
Several people have asked me to repost my older layouts for the often copied (and frequently sold for big bucks) Electra Distortion circuit. This is a surprisingly good-sounding circuit for so few components. No fancy parts needed; just a fun little circuit that swings way … Continue readingElectra Distortion DIY Layouts
I have spent countless hours pouring over the circuits and notes that used to be hosted on a strange little website called Folk Urban (used to folkurban.com but it’s gone now). These so-called “circuit snippets” from a guy name Tim Escobedo (RIP) inspired so many … Continue readingTim Escobedo’s “Folk Urban” DIY Circuits
The Inline 8 is, in a nutshell, a stripped-down DIY Marshall Guv’nor * distortion pedal that was a hot item in the 1980s. The main difference is that instead of the three-band tonestack in the Guv’nor*, the Inline 8 has been reduced to a very … Continue readingInline 8 – Modified DIY Marshall Guv’nor
The Onesie project is my contribution (one of them, anyway) to the long and glorious history of a fantastic DIY fuzz circuit known as the Bazz Fuss. It’s super simple and sounds fantastic. This iteration of the Bazz Fuss stays true to the original, but … Continue readingOnesie — Bazz Fuss Project
This is a very basic PCB that clones the MXR Distortion+ or DOD 250 Overdrive. It’s a very old project of mine, but the layout is verified and the Eagle files can be used as a jumping-off point for a new project. Download the Plus-Dist … Continue readingMXR Distortion+ Clone
This is basically a Zen Drive clone with a few very minor tweaks. I mainly drew this up because people said, “You can’t do a Zen Drive clone!! It’s immoral!!” And then I said, “Oh, yeah? Hold my beer!” Keep in mind this was back … Continue readingBodhi — Zen Drive Clone
Thought I’d redraw the classic AstroTone circuit and tinker around a bit. With some mods, it sort of reminds me of a light-weight version of the Colorsound Overdriver. The schematic in the File Pack below has the vintage parts values (to the best of my … Continue readingAstroClone — Astrotone Fuzz Clone
The Game of Tones is a modified version of the often-cloned Marshall Bluesbreaker^ overdrive pedal. The main differences include: hard diode clipping to virtual ground (instead of feedback loop), a diode type toggle switch, and the addition of pot to control the high-end frequencies (Presence). … Continue readingGame of Tones: Bluesbreaker Clone