Archive for 2008
Tuesday, June 17th, 2008
The Deluxe Bazz Fuss from Home-Wrecker.com
The Bazz Fuss is one of the best beginner projects out there (it was maybe my second or third build). Maybe too simple to need a PCB layout, but hey, I had time on my hands. The layout is for the deluxe version from home-wrecker.com, including the transformer. The layout allows you to skip the transformer, if you don’t feel the need. Lood guck with it.
Wednesday, June 11th, 2008
Davisson’s JFET Vulcan
I happened to notice a thread on diystompboxes.com started by Aron about Joe Davisson’s JFET Vulcan. You can listen to some mp3 clips that Aron posted in that thread. I had a layout for the BJT Vulcan from several years back so I decided to update it and convert it to the JFET version. This layout has not been verified yet, but I am confident that it is correct. If you do verify it, please let me know. You should be able to fit it into a Hammond 1590B enclosure. … more …
Monday, June 2nd, 2008
1/4″ Phone Jacks and Plugs
Custom gaussmarkov mojo cables kick off this post about 1/4″ phone jacks commonly used in stompboxes. 😉 This tutorial supplements a recent post on wiring up a stompbox with off-board components.
Saturday, May 31st, 2008
Nordic’s Big Muff Pi Triangle Revision
Nordic sent us a revision of the gaussmarkov.net Big Muff Pi Triangle layout. He added his own artistic touches and created something that differs from most of our layouts in several ways. … more …
Friday, May 30th, 2008
G. Collier’s RunOffGroove Thor
A basic goal of gaussmarkov.net is to provide support for designing your own build. Not only can you get PCB images, but you can also get Eagle CAD files for those images that you can rework. Because the PCB design is already verified, you can be confident that your version is going to work also.
This post is the first of a series that will offer projects by others that are based in part on gaussmarkov.net projects. George Collier took the Thor circuit from runoffgroove.com, the Eagle files from gaussmarkov.net, and put in his own 3 band active tone control. … more …
Thursday, May 29th, 2008
Wiring Up a 1590B
Wiring up the off-board components, particularly a 3PDT switch, can be confusing. There are many good explanations of how to do it (see for example geofex.com, tonepad.com, and generalguitargadgets.com) and this one adds to the pile by breaking down the logic of one of the more elegant layouts with a series of detailed figures. I walk through the case where the audio jacks are not insulated from a metal enclosure, there is an LED to show when the circuit is on, and when the circuit is off there is simple by-passing with the circuit input grounded.
Thursday, May 1st, 2008
Creating a PCB Image using Export
If you want to etch a PCB with a layout in Eagle then you will need to create an image like this one to transfer your design. This brief tutorial explains how to set things up so that you can use the Eagle export command. … more …
Wednesday, April 9th, 2008
Slide Switch Tutorial
When building stomp boxes, slide switches have certain advantages over toggle switches. They are less expensive and more durable than toggle switches, which can easily get broken off by clumsy feet or by mishandling. But they can be trickier to fit, requiring a rectangular cavity to function correctly. Here’s a way to fit a slide switch, using only a couple of simple tools. … more …
Monday, February 25th, 2008
The Noomerang
The Noomerang is a wah pedal by B Tremblay of runoffgroove.com fame. It’s a variant of the Maestro Boomerang wah, which itself is a nice alternative to the usual Cry Baby clones, with some added goodies. … more …
Sunday, February 24th, 2008
The Hornby Skewes Zonk Machine
Yo. Here’s a layout I did for the Hornby Skewes Zonk Machine. I used the schematic from the Fuzz central website. I put an extra pad for the .47 cap since I couldn’t find a package big enough for the Xicon greenie .47. … more …
Friday, January 11th, 2008
Voodoo Lab Overdrive
I have various reasons for putting this one together. My interest was peaked when the Voodoo Lab Overdrive was associated recently with the Fulltone OCD. I was also looking for a relatively simple circuit with op-amps that I could use for an Eagle layout tutorial that I plan to write. In addition, I have been working up my understanding of op-amps through writing a series of tutorials and the divided negative feedback tools are really useful with this circuit.
There are a bunch of mods to consider with this circuit, all of which have been applied to other stompbox circuits over the years. And if the reports are accurate, similar mods appear in the OCD as well. … more …
Tuesday, January 8th, 2008
Op-Amps 4: Divided Negative Feedback
Simple negative feedback, connecting the output to the inverting input, makes an op-amp into a unity gain amplifier. In that setup, all of the output goes to the inverting input. If instead the amount of feedback is reduced, through a voltage divider, then the gain of the op-amp circuit becomes greater than one. This may be the most common way op-amps are used for amplification in stompbox circuits. In addition, by adding some capacitors to the voltage divider, the gain also gets some tonal character that is the foundation of dozens of famous distortion and overdrive pedals (think Boss, Fulltone, Ibanez, Marshall, Proco, Voodoo Labs, …). … more …