Pedal guru Jack Orman has an interesting article on true bypass. In contains actual measurements and facts. Normal this discussion is more mojo based.
Tag Archive for 'pedals'
Beavis Audio Research has always been a cool site for home brew pedals and small little 9 volt style amps. Now you can get yourself a Trotsky Drive. The is a regular version for $119 and the cool etched version pictured for $169. I am not sure how to go about purchasing them but I am sure if $uperpuma at puma at superpuma.net you could figure it out. You could always build it yourself but trying to find the KT312 might be the hardest part.
Just as a note because I am a history dork the Beavis site & a lot of other sites and people say Trotsky was killed with an ice pick but really it was a ice ax. It penetrated his skull and he still live for a day longer even being 60. Man, there have been some tough Russians.
The is my Orange Juice Boost. It is based on Jack Orman’s Mini-Booster. It Has been around a long time and deservedly so. And like many other great electronic circuit was adapted from an application note. And it is a great full range booster though I am thinking about adding a switch to switch caps to make it a top booster. Maybe. It is fat. Not a transparent clean boost but the change in tone is a good thing. Fatter but not overwhelming. I wanted to use this great box I had from Pedal Parts Plus that as you can kind of see in the picture has a rippled power coat that looks like the skin of an orange. I want to give that Orange Juice Boost name(I think name stuff is at least half the fun.) But the single knob would look really lonely. So, I added a simple tone control and input gain pots. They have these mods and more info at GGG. There are also more mods at Single Coil.
It really is a easy build and super useful. It would be a great beginners project if you have wanted to do something like this but have not this would be a good one. It also is easy to do on strip or perf board. I know DIY Fever has a layout for strip board if you download there handy free layout software. There probably is more layouts if you search. I used J201’s and they sound good. Socket them if you would like to try others.
Check out the lab notebook at AMZ. Orman has filled it with a bunch of great stuff.
I love pedals. It is no secret. Here are some links to smaller pedal makers that might by under the radar of most. Most are somewhat unique and all boutique. I can’t vouche for the quality of all of them but at the very least it some good gadget porn for all the other pedal & gadget lovers out there.
4ms has some cool pedal designs. In addition to the pedals they also sell kits. The best thing about this pedals is the level of customization of options and even will build with custom art work.
MG best looking pedals. Works of art. A filter paying tribute to Charles Bukowski awesome.
Death By Audio have pedals with a slight unusual slant and a great visual style.
Bug Brand some slight nutty(in a good way) designs that seem like good fun.
Trogotronic very unique stuff a must see.
Devi Ever has a large line up of cool pedals mostly with small footprint. They are good looking.
Schumann Electronics very industrial looking pedals.
Vintage FX you guess it they have clones of famous vintage pedals.
MI Audio Some nice pedals form Australia.
Homebrew Electronics good stuff.
Uncle Ernie’s has a bunch of drives.
Option 5 3 cool models.
Malekho Heavy Industries is new and only has one pedal and another in the works. But I expect good things with Paul Barker involved.
The Electric Guitar Review Weblog has an on going series on building the BYOC Tri Booster. The have had 4 of what looks to be 5 parts completed. The tribooster is a pretty cool design. 3 boosters in one is a nice idea. The price though I think is a little steep for the kit. If you always wanted to get into build your own pedals it could be a good way to start. You won’t have to worry about getting the right parts and you will have some directions. And a boost a versatile one at that is very practical addition to a pedal board. Having the Electric Guitar Review walk through will make it even easier. If you want a great chance at success to build confinadance and skill for other builds this might fit the bill but be careful it is addictive.
A while ago I finished up my DS-1 Star Wars Mod. The always seems to be alot of interest in modding this pedal. Most likely because it is so common and a lot of people have heard of the Kelly mods. It it really is a good pedal even unmodded. Anyway here is some video of the pedal in action.
GGG is one of my favorite pedal sites. I haven’t visited for a while and was pleasantly surprised to find it redesigned. It looks slick. It has good schematics for a lot of good projects and some general building info. Besides the schematics it has a quality layouts for their own boards. I have used a few boards from them for the higher part count projects I have built. The are great, ship quick, and with the online layout easy to build. I ordered a board one time and it apperantly got lost in the mail. Damn the USPS! I got a replacement quick with no questions asked. Good service. The clear layout and bill of material makes it perfect of a first timer. I think it is a good idea for most to use pcb’s for projects with many components. The is a much higher chance of it initially working. I use perf and strip board for small stuff but after a certain point it is a little much to deal with. For me that is worth the $10-15 bucks for a board to reduce the chance of the often frustrating experience for trouble shooting. You always could etch your own but if you are like me and do not consider using noxious chemicals and drilling millions of tiny holes fun this might be a the prefect site for you.
This is my newly modded Arion Tubulator. Changed a few thing besides the cosmetics. You might be wondering what is behind that window. That and more info and pics at kubton.com. If you have $12 it isn’t a bad pick up.
This is Klipton my DOD 250 or MXR Distortion + clone. They are super close to the same pedal if you did not know. The “distortion” in the name really is a not accurate. DOD calls is a “Overdrive Preamp” which is a lot closer to the truth. This a pedal that uses soft clipping which sounds different than the Tube Screamer family of OD that most guitarist think of when they hear the word “Overdrive.” If you want OD but want to something that is a little different this might be a good choice for you.
I chose LED’s once again for clipping diodes. Try different diodes and combinations and pick to taste. A lot of people seem to like add a third diode It is a cleaner sound non fizzy sound. The pedal cleans up nice normal when you roll off the volume on the guitar with the LED’s it almost becomes a clean boost. You can get a lot more volume with the LED’s as it does not clip as much. The other thing you might want to try is changing the input cap value. I stuck with the stock value but what sounds best really is dependant on your guitar and amp.
This pedals is great for bass players also. A lot of them and me dig it for bass.
It is a very simple build with only a few components.
I read about a million times in forums that someone tried this pedal on a whim and they love it. Its only $40 so I final decided to give it a try. Its not just the praise it has received but more the way it was describe and what it reportedly did. I found as other did it actual did pretty much what digitech claimed. I am completely on the band wagon now I really like this pedal. It is not just a matter of price either. It would be a good piece of gear at double the price. It is not amazing it is just an overdrive pedal. And a subtler one at that. It not over the top sound of a tube amp melting down but a some nice lower gain overdriven tube sound. Great for adding some nice tube amp hair when you have to play at low volumes(stupid neighbors) or to add that sound to a solid state. The high and low control really make this pedal excel. They real help you shape your tone to suit your needs. Its nice it is not trying to be a tube screamer clone with a some added bells and whistles or a swiss army knife does everything pedal. And it is not some expensive boutique pedal with some “magic” nos chip. It just does what it is supposed to…well. I had preconceived notions about digitech. I never imagined I would buy a pedal from them when I thought of them modeling metal pedals came to mind first. Something I don’t really like. Shows what preconceived notions are worth.