BJFe Universal Reverb V2 / Capitalist Death Cult Actual G*ddamned Springs

 Heavily modified revebr unit by BJFe, treated by Chris Stelloh.

 

A couple of the tweaks are from Björn - in particular, the 2k2 resistor from the source of Q1 to ground. Lowering that value fixes a volume drop that can happen when the 50k dwell pot is maxed. I replaced the second dwell pot with a 10 ohm fixed resistor, so that it is almost at maximum. I also added a flat-mids BMP tone control and BC337 recovery stage that sounds really great paired with this circuit. Using a PN3269a in Q2 can squeal with feedback (a GOOD thing in my world) so dialing in the 10k output trimpot is a necessary step. It is possible to set it so that it only howls when the dwell+mix are turned to maximum. The charge pump is something I redrew from an old tagboard layout. The 555 doubler puts out 30mA of current which this verb circuit needs most of (the schematic says it draws around 20mA, and that was before I added the extra transistor) no matter what voltage you are running it at.

 

Capitalist Death Cult Just. Give. Up. V2

 Another contribution by Chris. This time he made some improvements and addons on a rare and wild Death by Audio circuit. Tone houndz...stay away!

 Chris says:

I don't know if this warrants its own post but I wanted to show it to you anyway since I was the one who verified your purple card drawing.

Since I built that up I wasn't happy with the bleed through in bypass that sometimes happens with the LM567. So I used the old "millennium bypass" trick of adding a mosfet to handle the LED switching so that you can use only a DPDT for true bypass with an indicator light. THEN I used the now-vacant set of poles on a 3PDT to connect/disconnect the power supply to the LM567 when the circuit is bypassed. So NO NOISE! I also added the master volume, because if ANY circuit needs it, it is this loud beast. Then I put the frequency pot (which I cut down to 10k) on a switched expression jack so that you can get foot-controlled crazy pitch-wah sounds with a standard TRS expression pedal like an inexpensive m-audio or nektar controller. Anything more than 15-20k of resistance for the frequency control just takes you into slower and slower chopped/tremolo territory. And the 10k pot still allows for some of that in the toe up/CCW position and all of the pitch control as you turn the knob up/put the treadle down.

 

 I added a toggle to change the resistance on the frequency sweep - this allows for a low range and high range mode on the frequency. Since most expression pedals have 10k pots, I wanted to keep the frequency pot at 10k too so that the sweep matches whether you are using the knob or an exp pedal.

 

 

Capitalist Death Cult No One Wants To Work Anymore

 Taking a break from the Madbean bonanza since Chris Stelloh sent a layout and a schematic of one his creations. Some words from the man himself: And yes, this layout is verified.

Here is something I came up with recently that shakes the pillars of heaven, via WAY TOO MANY cuts and jumpers.

It is essentially the modded fuzz face circuit from the Apocalypse Audio H Fuzz with an input buffer (sacrelige, I know), followed by a 5 band gyrator EQ. I used the values from the Dunwich Left Hand Path modded HM-2 and added a 5th lower gyrator that centers at 60Hz, so that bassists can bring the buzzsaw, too. The gain squeals when maxed, but the gate will still clamp down on it nicely. The d311 germanium diode is most likely not necessary. Anything with a .3v volt drop will probably do the job. The 50k trimmer sets the treble content from the fuzz before it hits the EQ stage and sounds best (to me) at about 1 o'clock, but to each their own. This WILL fit in a 1590bb, but just barely!

 

 

 

 

 

Capitalist Death Cult Fx Mexicali Räkmacka

 Another layout and a dsign for those like it heavy by Chris at CDC Fx. No blurb from me, Chris does it better:

Things are rainy and depressing here in California. And also depressing in the world, in general. So I've been drawing more layouts.

I was inspired by both the Dead Air Sawzall, and the layout another Dirtbox user submitted to you under the name "Glass Jaw" - with a Bax EQ in the middle of the two LM386 stages of the Acapulco Gold.

So I came up with a modified Acapulco Gold circuit with a better gain control (instead of the common mod of a 1m pot on the input, this one adds up to 10k of resistance between pins 1 & 8 of the 1st LM386) and "sandwiched" (hence the name, hah) an HM-2-style EQ in the middle of the two stages. I'm also running this at just under 18v with the onboard charge pump. The result (I just built it, so it is verified!) is a a pretty versatile amp-in-a-box with Sunn tonality and a switchable 3 band EQ! Not at all "chainsaw" but really cool sounding nonetheless! The TO-92 18v regulator is probably unnecessary, since the TL082 can handle more than that easily, but the LM386-4 is rated to max 18v and I didn't want to risk damaging them.

 

 

Dead Air Sawzall

 Another contribution from Chris at CDC Fx! This layout is already VERIFIED and good to go.

Schematic is avaiable HERE and as you can see the drive section is a modified MXR Distortion+ derivate. You can yeasily tweak it to DOD 250 or countless other variations of the circuit.

Capitalist Death Cult Yukagir

 Another guest appearance with a verified layout by Chris at Capitalist Death Cult!

Here is what he has to say about this bass fuzz monster:

 

Capitali$t Death Cult Effect$

YUKAGIR Preserved Siberian Fuzz

The Yukagir (pronounced Yookahgeer) Preserved Siberian Fuzz is named after a 39K year old Wooly Mammoth fossil that was unearthed in Siberia in 2002. This effect was basically the distortion I needed to make use of the NOS Soviet military germanium transistors and diodes I've amassed a collection of.

Essentially - this is a "Green Ringer" style octave noisemaker with a jfet blend control that is followed by a burly PNP germanium fuzz+distortion that works equally well for bass or guitar. The germanium transistors are MP42B's, and the diodes are germanium D311's - both originally manufactured in the 1970s for the Soviet military.

The original inspiration for the fuzz came from the Apocalypse Audio H Fuzz - and it bears some tonal similarities to the Zvex Wooly Mammoth/Mastotron. I added a voltage inverter to the fuzz circuit so that it can function with a regular 9V/negative tip power supply like a One Spot.

The controls are as follows:

INPUT: fuzz gain - it will squeal when you max it.

TREBLE: tone control, that mostly adds high end definition as you turn it clockwise.

OUTPUT: master level

MIDS: a three way switch that is almost flat to the left, scooped in the middle, and boosted to the right

GATE: this knob is highly interactive with the mids switch and input knob - it will also filter some of the lows as you turn it clockwise.

RINGER: this is the octave blend control - this knob will also interact with the gate, as the level of octave will cause some velcro-ish sputtering of its own.

The footswitch on this unit is the Demedash Incandenza relay "soft click" design and will last WAY longer than a mechanical switch, and is super reliable. However - depending on your power supply and whether or not you daisy-chain others to that supply, the pedal will either default to powering up or down every time you disconnect it. Kind of like how Boss pedals are always on every time you power them up with a One Spot.

There are a lot of different tonal possibilities in this box - from gated and sputtering to roaring bass-heavy blare, as well as some FZ-2 style boosted+scooped octave fuzz tones, too.

All handbuilt and finished by just me (Chris) in my garage in central coast California!