Fuzzbox, Distortion, Phaser, Chorus, Echo and other Guitar Effects Info

The SSM2166 Compressor pcb is in stock. You can place your order for it here.

You can also view the schematic and parts list.

Stupidly Wonderful Tone Control 3 – A new spin on an old tone control from the 1970s

Read more in the AMZ Lab Notebook

Okay, maybe "good" is subjective, but they are FREE!

I have updated the band names page for the final time for 2012. Check it out!

AMZ Free Band Names Page

I encourage everyone to pronounced the names on the list out loud… especially if you are reading them in a public place!

At last! After a pcb layout error, and then the maker of the prototype pcbs dropping the ball on the revised boards, I have finally got the updated SSM2166 compressor soldered together and working.

(more…)

You may have seen my previous post about LM4562 precautions. In the 4 or 5 months since I posted that, I have used 2 of the LM4562. The first went into a Brickwall filter and worked just fine. The second one went into one of my opamp multi-purpose pc boards that I put together today as a direct box for my studio.

The project did not work with the LM4562. I checked the voltages and they were spot on. The audio signal was going in but nothing was coming out of the chip. I dropped in a 5532 and the direct box worked perfectly. Another LM4562 was bad.

I’m not sure what is causing the problem with these chips, but in this case, I am sure that the power supply was never connected backwards, nor any other fault was present. The 4562 just will not work, even though I handled it carefully, but the 5532 worked like a charm. I’m probably giving up on them at this point.

I have a new distribution agreement with Mammoth Electronics to supply complete effect pedal kits for the Mosfet Booster and Mini-Booster projects. These kits include all parts and the same high quality pc boards that I offer for sale.

The introductory price of $44 is a great deal, and includes everything you need to start building. Optionally available are painted boxes and a wide selection of knobs.

Check it out at http://www.mammothelectronics.com/category-s/162.htm

The CA3080, LM3080 and their equivalents are in short supply and there are many rejected devices on the market that do not perform up to standards. With short supply, comes higher prices.

However, there are two 3080s in each LM13600 or LM13700! Basically, National Semiconductor was cloning the 3080 and decided to make a dual version that included output buffers. The linearizing diodes were stuck in, almost as an afterthought.

It is an interesting story, told by Don Sauer, one of the engineers responsible for the chip. Check it out at http://www.idea2ic.com/LM13700.html

Also see Don’s ASCII text schematics at http://www.idea2ic.com/LM13600/LM13600.txt

Adafruit has a nice selection of soft touch potentiometers, bend sensors, ribbon controllers and other touch-variable resistors that could be used to control effects circuits or synth modules. You might be able to adapt some of them to foot control. Maybe a hinged pair of boards with another piece that would rest on the sensor, and when you pressed with your foot, the resistance would vary. Check it out!

The AMZ DPDT Switch pcb is a small (1″ by 1″) circuit board that contains an AVR microprocessor and a latching relay, which can be used with a soft-touch momentary switch to control options in a new effects build, or even retrofit into an existing pedal. It can be used as a replacement for a manual DPDT toggle switch, or can even be configured as a true bypass switch.

More info is available here

One of the most common questions I get is about how to wire the bypass switch. The diagram above shows one common method that can be used.

Note that the rectangular lugs of the foot switch go side-to-side. If you rotate the switch so that the long dimension of the metal lugs are vertical, it will not work properly.

On some effects projects, the output to the switch may be from a volume pot and not directly from the pcb. The mini-booster is a project that has a volume control on its output and the middle lug of the volume pot would go to the lug marked “from PCB Output”.