Randall RRED Overdrive

 ...and this one is for the Pantera and Dimebag fans...

Schematic avaiable at PedalPCB.

 

Blackhawk Amplifiers Gandalf Octave Fuzz

 Traced by evilarsen.

A great sounding octave up fuzz which has an op amp slamming a transformer and two diodes just like in an old Octavia. The transformer listed is 42TL022 but the more recent version has a different unknown part number which is supposed to work even better. A wild guess would be 42TL002?

More info at Blackhawk Amplifiers.

Subdecay Variac

 Based on schematic from PedalPCB.

Analogman Peppermint Fuzz

 The Sun Faces evil twin. Buzzy, raspy and no clean up at all!

The transistors part numbers remains unknown but the Hfe should be almost almost twice as high compared to the usual recommended germanium Fuzz Face gain.

More info HERE.

 

 

 

 

Analogman Sun Face

 Per request.

There are a few schematics to choose from so I decided to use the one from Fuzzdog which has an internal trimpot so you can fine tune the sweep of the Sun Dial control.

 

 

 

 

BenSpinks shared the values from his RCA Mid Gain Sun Face. They differs quite a bit so here we have an RCA layout as well. 

 

Runoffgroove 22/7

 A DIY classic by Runofgroove. It is a Big Muff but the transistors is replaced with hex inverters.

Schematic and more info HERE.

 

 

MXR Phase 45

 

WTF Big Enuff? - Violet Edition

 Another distortion unit designed by Pedro (WTFiCanBuildMyOwnPedals). Here is his own words on his creation.

"This one will destroy many amps and eardrums. It is nothing new, just a marriage between a Big Muff and the Booster from the FZ-2 (pedalPCB's version) which has a very powerful EQ... and it sounds exactly like I imagined it. Anders was very helpful, as always, in putting a layout together when this came in conversation and after some developing here it is. Earlier versions had less pots and was just a fuzz, but this is the ultimate version in my opinion: no need to waste a perfectly good booster and why not have lots of controls to shape the texture of the fuzz? 

The DPDT switch (which I like to have on a footswitch) activates or bypasses the three gain stages of the BMP (LEVEL, GAIN) before hitting the booster (MASTER; BOOST, HIGH, LOW). Everything interacts pretty much with everything to create diverse and loud textures of fuzz with crazy sustain. This one is loosely based on a Violet Ram's Head, which is one of my favourite Muffs, but every version should work (a Russian version for bass was also built and sounds great)."

 

 

Blackhawk Amplifiers Valhalla Fuzz V1

Here we have a layout for the first (I think!) handwired version of  Blackhawks take on a Fuzz Face. But it has a few interesting and useful extra things going on. 

First, a passive pickup simulator so you can have a buffer upfront or anywhere in the signal chain. Next comes the fuzz circuit itself which are closely related to a Meathead but with larger input and electrolytic "gain" caps. Next there is two quite large value output caps that are connected to the Bass Boost switch. At the end of the circuit there is a simple but very effective notch filter that gives a wide array of tones, from rumbling bass, scooped mids and sizzly high mids.. The notch filter Tone control can be bypassed with the tone bypass switch and will give a big volume boost with a thick grinding middy fuzz. 

Note that the Bass Boost switch only works when the notch filter is engaged. Also note that I couldn't read the marking on C9 but I'm pretty confident that the value is 220nF.

C9 is now confirmed, 220nF it is

 

Maestro Fuzz Phazzer FP2-3 - modified

 

This one belongs to the category " old, weird and forgotten". Maestro Fuzz Phazzer was an odd piece of gear, a gnarly fuzz based on Maestro FZ-1S Super fuzz followed by an optical discrete phaser circuit....without a LFO. The sweep was controlled by a foot treadle which also acted as a volume control in "bypass" mode.

I had to do some modernizations for this. First, true bypass. Second, get rid of that  dual gang 30k phase/volume potentiometer. I replaced it with a single 50k pot so you can use either a normal wah pot or a normal potentiometer. The volume function is lost but I added a master volume control at the end of the circuit.

There are some things that need to be tested as well; the LDRs and the mini lamp. I can't find any info on the stock parts but a good start might be socket some Univibe LDRs and a random mini lamp with solder leads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blackhawk Amplifiers Azoth Baxandall Boost

 A great sounding and flexible 2-band baxandall eq booster that can get quite gritty depending how you set the internal gain trimpot. The Mid control is not actually an active mid band control, it is a passive variable resistor that changes the overall mid slope.

Note that this seem to be an earlier version, the current version got a small revision with an external gain control and fixed mids. More info on that at Blackhawk Amplifiers.

Nobels ODR-B - Bass Overdrive

 Schematic avaiable HERE.

Blackhawk Amplifiers Morgul Boost

 Here is a heavy dirty booster that will melt your Orange, Green or Sunn amp head. And your one knob fuzz will love it.😈. The gain range goes from a fairly clean boost to a hairy and fuzzy overdrive. "Transparent" it is not...

It is a fairly simple circuit that boost the whole sound spectrum and relies on op amp clipping. The most common chip used seens to be the olde LM741 which works great for this application. LM308 and CA3130EZ is used as well, the former sounding pretty close to LM741 while the latter is more high gain and has more high end distortion qualities. Note that LM308 and CA3130EZ requires an external compensation cap (read the notes below the layout).

It has two internal trimpots, one for Gain and one for Tone. The Tone trimpot is quite subtle while the Gain trimpot is worth having as an external potentiometer IMHO.

This one is traced by evilarsen, thank you!

More info on the circuit at Blackhawk Amplifiers.

Nobels ODR-S - Special Overdrive

 Another overdrive from Nobels which shares a similar topology as ODR-1. But this one appears to a have a bit more gain on tap and a more flexible eq section. The mid control is powered by a transistor gyrator while the Lo and Hi controls are Bandaxall. And the hard clipping diodes are germaniums so you can choose your "magic fairytale" diodes in that spot.;-)

Schematic is avaiable HERE.

Univox CO-105 Uni-Comp

 A quite simple old japanese compressor by Univox. For part substitutions (since stock parts is long gone obsolete...) the transistor were a low gain NPN silicon so PN2222 or 2N3903 should work. MD234 were silicon signal diodes so 1N4148s is a near enough sub. The spec of the original vactrol remains unknown so socketing a LED/LDR combo seems to be a wise decision.

Schematic, gutshots and info at FSB.

VFE Red Wolf

A Rat variant with some added features; a Fat control and a variable diode control called Comp.

Sobbat DB-1 Drive Breaker

 Schematic avaiable at PedalPCB.

Note that this layout is sligtly modified. The buffer bypass switching is subbed for normal true bypass.

BJF Analog Reverb

 Schematic avaiable at Moody Sounds.

Nobels ODR-1

 An old german overdrive that has become almost a cult item. It has a very well designed circuit with lots of sensible filtering and a higly tweaked gyrator powered tone control called "Spectrum". Some "bouteek" pedal companies has started making their own variants of this circuit, the most noticable ones are Wampler Belle and Rockett The Dude.

I've included the Bass control found in the Aion Fx Andromeda project.

Factory schematic is avaiable HERE and Aion Andromeda project files is avaiable HERE.

 

 

 

 

ENGL Powerball Distortion

 Chug, chug, chug!

Based on schematic from PedalPCB.