THE PEDALS SO FAR, PT2

Although there have been many projects since building the Fuzz Face mentioned in my previous post, the following pedals are the only ones I still use, and are both remarkably simple. Both housed in 1590a enclosures, the first is a clone of the Colorsound One Knob Fuzz and the second is a Beavis/Electra Overdrive.

Colorsound One Knob Fuzz Clone (COKF)

The only problem with that title is that mine has a switch, so maybe COKOSF would be more accurate. The circuit is on par with the original except for a slightly different resistor on the output to reduce the overall volume. I'll confirm any differences on the layout I'll upload. 


 
I found this pedal to be extremely loud, and the volume knob acted more like a voice control than anything, with a certain setting allowing the fully saturated fuzz to shine through with a different clarity not available throughout the rest of the pot's range. 

The aforementioned switch is a tone selector, switching between a 22nF and a 100nF capacitor. This gives me either a thick bass heavy fuzz, or a sharp crisp one with plenty of kick.

The Beavis/Electra OD I speak of is the Trotsky Overdrive built by Beavis Audio Research. If you haven't already seen Beavis Audio Research's website, now is the time to get lost in the masses of fun projects by them. I guarantee you'll find something you want to build.

http://www.beavisaudio.com

Unfortunately I haven't got around to putting knobs on this one, but the circuit is on par with the Trotsky except from the hard to source KT312 transistors. Although many others could be used, I opt for a 2N2222a. 









This pedal has quite a thick sound, but brightens on singular picked notes. I'd describe this as similar to a fuzz pedal set on a low gain setting, the sound is perfect for that Black Keys Rhythm tone and is sensitive to how hard you play. It also has a huge volume boost available making it perfect for overdriving cranked amps or other distortion pedals too.

In the coming days I'll be adding a page for schematics and stripboard layouts. Leave a comment and let me know what you think of these builds and any layouts you'd like to see.