Schematics -- collection from 1997-1998

(note: Companies owning trademarked names such as "Boss", "Dunlop", "MXR", "Roger Mayer Octavia", and others have NO affiliation with this website. Information posted here is for educational/repair/home-use purposes only. To the best of my knowledge, none of the circuits posted here have any remaining patent rights -- in fact, just about every circuit if not all of these circuits were in pedals available to the public more than 20 years ago (thus, obviating any present-day U.S. patent rights). That is, everyone visiting this site should be legally able to manufacture their own pedals using such circuitry as a guide. However, if any person/company feels information contained at this site infringes any of their intellectual property, please contact me at J@Philpott.com, and upon proof of such ownership I will immediately remove any infringing information).

NOTE: all of the schematics at this website, unless otherwise indicated, are copyrighted by Justin Philpott, and are protected by U.S. Copyright law under, at least, 17 U.S.C. 106. It is illegal to COPY (either electronically or via new hand-drawn or computer-drawn images) any of these schematics, or to post any of such schematics on another site, or to link directly to these schematics from another website. Any links must be approved by Justin Philpott. All are welcome to link only to the homepage: http://www.j.philpott.com/effectronics/

fOXX tone machine - fuzz w/ octave capabilities, very "thick/tight/nasal" fuzz. Sound Sample

Fullclone - by John Greene. a clone of one of the more popular T.Screamer overdrives out there.

Ibanez TS-10 Tube Screamer donated and drawn by Ivan Nuvoi

MXR Phase 45 - a subtle vintage phaser, 45-degree shift. VERY similar to DOD's 201 Phasor.

Prescription Electronics' The Experience Pedal - Octave, Fuzz, and Swell capabilities. Go to the text file first, as it will tell you more about this circuit and its uncanny resemblance to another familiar pedal. Sound Sample

Roger Mayer Axis Fuzz - a fuzz that was designed to use readily available 2N3904 and 2N3906 silicon transistors. (ERRORS! (according to Joe Campagna, the following should be changed: 1) a 100k resistor needs to go from the base of the 2N3904 to ground. 2) the 2.2uf cap that feeds the volume wiper should have its negative side toward the pot. 3) the input caps should read .1uf (104k) & 470pf(471) 4) The cap from the drive wiper to ground should be 0.1uf not 1uf.) Thanks Joe!

Roger Mayer Classic Fuzz - R.M.'s version of the Fuzz Face. Thanks to Greg Brown for the schematic!

Roger Mayer Octavia - milder distortion octavia, with a greater attention towards the treble range.(Corrected: 1-23-99 by Carlo Virtucio). Sound Sample

Roger Mayer Voodoo-1 - haven't constructed one yet, looks cool though : ) uses an LM308N IC.

Swell Device - (Schematic has errors!) See RG Keen's site for explanation on these errors and info on what pedal (in addition to the foxx tone machine) Prescription Electronics copied to make up their Experience pedal.

Tychobrahe Octavia - very wild! w/ ring modulator-like drones and loud distortion capable of excessive feedback. My personal favorite octave pedal. It uses a coupling transformer (similar to Mouser's 42TU011). Note: use a 22uF capacitor for the 25uF shown, or wire a 22uF in parallel with a 3.3uF cap to yield 25.3uF. Sound Sample

Univox Super-Fuzz - In my opinion, the Superfuzz has a lot of treble to mid-range and has more fuzz (as opposed to distortion) than the R.M. Octavia. Also, there is much less sustain than the other octave pedals. Still, a good unique device, my two-word decription is "chewy octafuzz."

Voodoo Lab Overdrive - uses a TL072. Slightly similar to the MXR Distortion and DOD 250 OD.

Vox Treble Booster(modified) - sent by Jason Andersen.

Wahs

Crybaby Wah (original) - I re-drew this wah from another internet site (I think Jamie Heilman's site). This is the original 2 transistor crybaby. 80's version reissues (by Dunlop) also had the same circuit

Crybaby GCB-95 Wah (reissued by Dunlop) - this is Dunlop's "Original" Re-Issue. As you can see, it's slightly different from the old Crybaby, (note: this is the more recent version of the GCB-95. The GCB-95 made in the 80's resembles the "original" crybaby, without the buffering stage used w/ a SPDT switch. CORRECTED 1-19-99: first transistor (buffering stage) correctly noted by Paul Crowther to be MPSA-13, and NOT MPSA-18 like the other two transistors.

Dunlop JH-1 Jimi Hendrix Wah (drawn by Giovanna Contini)

Fatwah LF (by Paul Crowther of Crowther Audio, maker of "Hotcakes" and "Prunes and Custard" pedals) - a modified version of the GCB-95 crybaby wah.

Multi-Crybaby - shows the slight variations between wah models, drawn by Bruce Wahler.

VOX V847 Wah - Vox's wah reissue. IMO uses better-sounding components than new stock crybabys.

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Homebrew! -- custom/donations --

Beginner's Page- if you've never made an effect before and you're not sure where to start, I have provided what I believe to be a very thorough documentation on getting started. (Rev. June 1998).

Bypass Circuit - by Christopher Robins. very nice true bypass, pop-free wiring for DPDT and LED indication.

4-Transistor "Electra" Distortion - courtesy of Joe D.

Cookbook Circuits (all contributed by Matt) -- Fuzz -- Phase Shifter -- Tremolo

Differential Distortion (modified) - Originally from Popular Electronics Aug.95, I added a booster circuit (from another famous booster module; guess which one!) which changes the functionality of the Diff.Dist. This circuit is especially useful when driven by another loud distortion/overdrive

Electra Distortion Circuit (modified) - original can be found on other pages. Here is my modified version that, in my opinion, gives the best sounding distortion, (not bad for a single transistor circuit!). Circuit is redrawn by Goocher (www.goocher.com).

Gustav C. Smalley Circuits (GCS) (gussmalley "at" hotmail.com)

GCS Fuzz F.

GCS JH2 Fuzz Mod.

GCS Overdrive

GCS Ritefuzz