Category: Effects

Categories
DIY Effects Tonefiend DIY Club

Simple But Deadly Fuzz
(Tonefiend DIY Club Project #2)

I swear, it’s practically worth learning DIY electronics just to build this one insanely simple, insanely great fuzz circuit. What I’m going to call the Bulk Fuzz is a variant on a popular DIY project known as the Bazz Fuss. A really smart guy from Finland named Christian H. figured out how to generate the scuzziest of fuzz tones from a simple transistor/diode pair. It’s a great circuit for modding and custom-tuning, and you’ll have a chance to mix your perfect fuzz cocktail over the course of this fun project.

Incredibly, I don’t know of any commercial manufactures who have co-opted this design. Which means, like they used to say on TV, “Not available in stores!”

Here’s a demo clip. Forewarned is forearmed.

If this sounds like your cup of dirt, please read this great article about the circuit and its variants. (It’s from a cool DIY site, home-wrecker.com/.) Using the techniques introduced in Project #1, you should be able to breadboard any of these and hear how they sound. In the meantime, I’ll be posting a step-by-step project PDF in the coming days. Check back here, or follow tonefiend on Twitter. UPDATE, 11.04.11:The files are here.

Categories
Digital Effects Gigs guitar Technique

Let’s Talk Looping!

Here’s a little video I made yesterday using the looping setup I’ve been using live.

Any other looping geeks out there? I didn’t set out to be one—I just wanted to do a duo band with percussionist extraordinaire Dawn Richardson. Looping seemed, well, kind of ten years ago, but I got sucked in, and it turned out to be a cool format for a lot of the sound design I was doing in Apple’s MainStage software. So there.

As always in looping, it’s easy to build big textures, but difficult to break them down. That’s where I always choke.

FYI, Dawn and I made an album this way, and are working on a second. More info here.

Categories
DIY Effects Tonefiend DIY Club

Tonefiend DIY Club:
The Bad-Ass Distortion Has Arrived!

Warning: It’s fin-ished!

Here is the fourth and final part of the Tonefiend DIY Club’s first stompbox project: The Bad-Ass Distortion is a variation on the popular Electra circuit, beloved by many boutique builders. Once you box up the mess project, you too will be a boutique geek.

Here’s a sketchy little demo.

Categories
DIY Effects

Tonefiend DIY Club: Project 1, Part 3

Here are the instructions for Part 3 of our first DIY Club project: building a bad-ass distortion pedal.

In this installment, we transfer the circuit we customized in Part 2 from the breadboard to its permanent home on a piece of perfboard. Once you get the hang of this technique, you’ll find it easy to transform any simple schematic into a working circuit.

Also, just to keep things organized, I’ve created a new DIY Club Page that will always feature the latest versions of all projects, plus other helpful resources. You can access it by clicking the DIY Club image in the right sidebar.

Categories
DIY Effects Tonefiend DIY Club

Tonefiend DIY Club: Project 1, Part 2

"Me am play 'Rain Song' again, okay?"

Here are the instructions for Part 2 of our first DIY Club project: building a bad-ass distortion pedal.

Not to spoil any surprises, but in this installment, we take the loud, raw sound we arrived at in Project 1, Part 1:

Raw Distortion

…and refine it by adding diode distortion, and customizing it to taste. Here are four possible results:

Distortion with Diodes

We’ll also add a variable gain control:

Distortion with Gain Control

…plus a master volume. Along the way, you’ll encounter cool tricks, wicked sounds, boring theory, and a friendly but foul-smelling sasquatch who can play most of Led Zeppelin’s “Rain Song.” And only one of these statements is a lie!

Categories
Digital DIY Effects guitar Pickups Recording

Humbucker + P-90 = ?

It's not like these pickups NEED a hot tub disco light to be exciting, but it can't hurt.
It's not like these pickups NEED a hot tub disco light to be exciting, but hey, a little mood lighting never hurts.

I recently upgraded a beat-up old Les Paul with a pair of Seth Lover humbuckers, a journey detailed here and here.

While I was in a makeover frame of mind, I figured, what not try something I’d always been curious about: installing a P-90 and a humbucker on the same guitar. So I swapped the neck pickup for a Seymour Duncan Phat Cat, a vintage-sounding P-90 is a humbucker-sized housing.

Continue reading “Humbucker + P-90 = ?”
Categories
DIY Effects Tonefiend DIY Club

Tonefiend DIY Club: Project 1, Part 1

Okay, DIYers—get ready for Part 1 of our first project.

Warning: It ends with a bang!

Download the step-by-step instructions here. (You might want to print out a copy to use on your workbench.) Post any thoughts, questions, or curses in comments.

Categories
DIY Effects

DIY Club Update (and Meeting!)

UPDATE, Sunday, October 2nd: We had a nice little online meeting Friday eve. I’ll be posting a PDF with step-by-step instructions for Project 1 on Monday, the 3rd. Check back here!

Now that people have had a few days to assemble tools and parts, we’ll be diving into our first project after the weekend. Again, this will be basic stuff, suitable for absolute newbs. But I’ll be including info about mods and options that may be of interest to more experienced builders. Also, the projects themselves will sound seriously bad-ass, if I do say so myself. 🙂

Continue reading “DIY Club Update (and Meeting!)”
Categories
Bass DIY Effects guitar Pickups Tonefiend DIY Club

Tonefiend DIY Club:
Join and or Die!

I hereby call to order the first meeting of the Tonefiend DIY Club!

Our mission: To attain tonal mastery over our guitars, amps, and effects with the least possible damage to our gear, bodies, homes, and pets. When the smoke has cleared (and all the smoke alarms have been reset) you’ll be able to install pickups, customize your guitar’s electronics, mod and build stompboxes, repair cables, and brag about your technical prowess while waiting in line to file your insurance claims.

Take it from one of the laziest and clumsiest people ever to brandish a soldering iron: Anyone can learn these skills. They’re fun and creative, and they’re one of the best ways to “own you tone,” if I may borrow the Seymour Duncan motto.

As promised, this material will be suitable for absolute beginners. (Though I hope more experienced guitar hackers join in, because we’ll really need your help!)

Read on for lists of what you’ll need to build our first three projects, plus recommended reading while waiting for your stuff to arrive.

Continue reading “Tonefiend DIY Club:
Join and or Die!”
Categories
DIY Effects

A Question for YOU, Dear Readers . . .

"I can has BRAIN?"


UPDATE, Friday, September 23th: Attend the first Tonefiend DIY Club meeting here.

____________

Can if  I make like a zombie and eat pick your collective brain?

One of my key goals for this blog is to promote do-it-yourself experimentation. It’s a topic I approach with the passion of a recent convert, largely due to the influence of the Maker Faire,  the unspeakably cool DIY event that has sparked a worldwide movement. (Witness this video I shot at a 2011 Maker Faire, in which hundreds of little kids learn to solder.)

My question: Would anyone be interested in joining a guitar electronics “makers club” suitable for absolute beginners? I’m sure that many of you already have more workbench skills than I will acquire in several lifetimes, but I have a hunch there are at least as many who are curious about making and modding, but just haven’t taken the leap of faith. Am I right?

Continue reading “A Question for YOU, Dear Readers . . .”