2 NEW VIDEOS! Amp in Box Pedals

I have been quite obsessed with what I believe to be the coolest tone shaping tools available to guitarists today.  These pedals work extremely well with any clean amp (fenders blackface or SF, roland jc120, even my little blackstar ht1 practice amp--- great amp btw!)  They work with other amps as well, but they really can turn your clean fender into another amp at the stomp of a foot.  the pedals I am referring to are collectively known as "amp in box pedals".  These circuits actually take the schematics- tone stacks, gain stages, bypass... etc- and scale them down into pedal sized proportions.  Instead of using tubes as gain stages, these pedals use JFETS.  now jfets have been around for a while, so nothing new there, but some men smarter than myself have figured out how to really use them well.  The jfets take the place of tubes in gain stages and they actually do a really good job of it.  It is best to run these pedals into a tube amp, so you can get the warmth and fatness of the tubes in your signal, but they do well with quality SS amps too.  I have built a fender tweed, ampeg v4/svt (kinda a general ampeg sound as they all used similar layouts- same with fender- the real difference in different models of fender and other amps was just output tubes, transformers and speaker cabs)

Anyways- these pedals have a number of uses-
-Master volume- these pedals get better realistic cranked amp tones at low volume than anything I have ever used... forget your master volume, yes even the london power scaling or the PPIMV's.  forget the attentuators those things do not sound natural to me at all.  These pedals sound great at every volume.  The videos I recorded here were with a 1 watt amp with an 8" speaker at very low volume.
- Getting a sound that you can use at any gig.  Let's face it- there's a sweet spot on your amp.  that area between breakup and clean.  You play at different venues, different sizes, different shapes, you're not going to be able to put your amp at the same volume everytime unless you're playing stadiums and can have whatever stage volume you want.  If you have a good loud clean amp you can use these pedals always on and get that perfect breakup sound at any volume.

- they take pedals like none other- each amp in box pedal will take all of your other boost and overdrive pedals like that amp (whatever particular amp in box pedal you have) would.  For example an ampeg gets super compressed when you hit the front end really hard when its cranked.  And fender's get that nasty cutting, biting top end with that squishy low end that has dirt for days... each amp in box pedal you have will maek all your other pedals sound and react uniqueley.  You place the amp in box (from now on AIB) at the end of your boost, fuzz, distortions and overdrives- and put your modulation and time based effects afterwards- this gives you an effects loop type effect- so your delays come after your main sources of breakup now that you're running your amp clean (you dont have to run your amp clean either btw)- you know how fuzz pedals sound so much better and get so much dirtier when you're running your tube amp cranked up and distorting on it's own already... these pedals give you that same effect.  You can really change the characteristics of your fuzz and other dirt pedals while keeping the exact same volume by working with the gain adn volume controls on the AIB pedals. 
-These pedals make your guitars onboard volume control work better.  The high input impedance and low output impedance of these pedals really makes your volume control useful for cleaning up the dirt.  Roll back and your sparkling clean, put it on 8 for some hair, to 10 for all out crunch.

- recording- besides the obvious noise and volume advantages- these pedals can be used to record completely silently- they work amazing going direct into a mixer, hard disk recorder or sound card.  also if you have an AIB pedal that is based on an amp that is known to work well for bass as well as guitar- it will definitely pull double duty as a bass pedal.  The ampeg in a box, blackface fender, and marshall superlead circuits sound bad ass on bass.  The ampeg can take a modern low beam bass sound and turn it into that round, bouncy and punchy clean motown bass sound- to slightly hairy stones punch all the way to HUGE stoner metal bass sounds.

This description is way too long. enjoy the videos- $90 recorder, MIM strat, and a 1watt $135 amp with an 8" speaker- all at nighttime bedroom apartment with paper thin walls volumes- i think it's sounding damn good considering

Sustain for days... Zen Drive + Keeley Compressor

This video got cut off.... but you can kinda get the idea.  This is a strat using single coils into a 35 watt fender pro reverb amp set to like 2 or 3 on the dial...  Keeley comp into zen drive=sustain and warmth for days.  The keeley comp cuts off some treble, and the zen drive isnt a very bright pedal... this is a dark tone using these two... but my camera mic is doing most of the high end cut off.  I'm working on mixing in a 57 with the room mic on the camera, but it's such a PITA to match up.  we'll see!  If you somewhat like what you hear, just come on over, bring your guitar and amp... or I can come to your place with my pedals and have a pressure free jam out on some high quality musical instruments!  no pressure to buy whatsoever!  ENJOY and watch at 480p


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Super Sick Fuzz Circuit- Roland Bee Baa Fuzz/Clean boost

Getting very deep into pedal circuits I always love finding out about awesome, lesser known vintage pedals.  Like the boss slow gear, the Pearl Octaver, and this... the Roland Bee Baa Fuzz.  This pedal actually doubles as a slightly "trebley" clean boost pedal.  It has a switch for more treble emphasis, and I added a toggle switch for making this thing get super freaking nasty by removing a smoothing capacitor off of one of the transistors.  Knobs for gain, tone, volume and the boost circuit has it's own controllable boost volume.  The sound of this pedal is HUGE.  reminds me of the DAM meathead pedal, but with way more options... somewhere between a very present big muff (tone control bypassed muff maybe) with a modded boss ds1 and a bit of silicon tone bender with the treble emphasis.... Very HUGE sounding, pretty versatile... and the black sparkle enclosure I used has blue, gold, white, silver and red sparkles in it... making it look like a starry night

however, this one sold already, within 2 days of building it actually.  But I can always build more of anything... and anything you can think of for that matter.  Big thanks to lvlark at tagboardeffects blog.  The most generous dude ever!

Timmy Overdrive and Ross Compressor (modified like a keeley)

Here's the famous paul cochrane timmy overdrive and a clone of the ross compressor, modified for more treble response, lower noise, etc etc.  more like a keeley than a ross.  i think these two sound great together!  you decide and let me know

apparently I cannot imbed vimeo on blogger, so here is a link to the vimeo video for these two pedals being demo'd by me and my half assed guitar skillz

https://vimeo.com/42898627

Ampeg Amp in a Box Pedal- and double silicon fuzz- with video demos

I have been loving these "amp in a box" circuits.  They are built using the same schematics as whatever tube amp they're modeled after, but they just use smaller parts, dont need transformers, and substitute jfets for the tubes.  They do a VERY good job of emulating the amp they're made after, and all you need is a clean (tube preferred) amp for them to run into.  I've been very happy with the marshall plexi, hiwatt, and vox versions I've built- but I am loving this ampeg circuit.  It sounds like a standard ampeg- I think on guitar it sounds like a v4 or vt22 and it even sounds killer with bass, doing a very convinving SVT, even with my little solid state practice amp.  These pedals are also AMAZING for getting cranked tones at low volumes- MUCH better than a master volume circuit or even a power soak or speaker attentuator.  I run these pedals after all of my dirt, boost and fuzz boxes, and before my delay and reverb pedals.  The amp in box pedals react spectacularly to guitar volume changes and overdrive and boost pedals- they even make fuzz pedals sound better.  Because you can get that on the edge of clean and overdrive sound at ANY volume and kick in the boost and you're in slammed ampeg heaven!  each pedal makes all my other pedals sound different!  now that's FUN!  if you already have a collection of overdrive and boost pedals that you're happy with, getting some of these amp in box pedals will really expand your tonal pallette, much more than buying another boutique overdrive would.  This is like adding amps to your board.  I cannot decide which ones I want to take off my board- they are all so unique and make my amp sound completely different.  they also all respond to different guitars like the actual amps would.  I cant believe I have just found out about these circuits.  Check it out for yourself...

I recorded this video with my fender pro reverb set on volume "3"... which is quite low considering the circuit mods I've done to increase the gain and lower headroom with this amp.  3 is a lot lower volume than other blackface fender combos.  I usually run it on 6 to get the edge of breakup level.  I recorded it with a $90 Zoom Q3 portable video/audio recording, a great product, but nothing fancy at all.  I used a ross compressor clone first then into a zen drive clone then into the ampeg to show how it reacts with overdrives.  It even does the super squishy compression thing that ampeg's do when they get boosted really hard.  a very unique sound that's impossible to get with anything else.  These are bedroom volume levels... and listen to that sustain.  Unfortunately I gotta do some work on my guitar as the bridge pickup shorted out, so this is just with the neck and middle pickups of my strat!


This next video is a demo of a more customized pedal I built recently.  There are actually two completely independent fuzz circuits in one box here, they can be actuated completely seperately, or they can be run in series the right side circuit into the left.  The right side is an all out balls to the wall fuzz, the left side is pretty nasty itself, but has a nice vintage tone bendery tone and when you roll back the volume can do some nice silicon fuzz face tones... i'm really digging these silicon fuzz circuits much more than the germaniums i've built- the tonebender mk i and mk ii will always be the kings of fuzz in my book, but man these silicon fuzzes get some cool sounds and are so much more versatile.

If you'd like to check out more video demo's of some of my other pedals.  Check out my youtube account- goldenmonkeycolor

I've got some old stuff, and I'll be putting a lot of new stuff up there soon.  You need to listen to these demos with a sound system or something you can crank up the volume with- as I've been too lazy to edit these videos as my computer needs upgrading.  I actually wasnt aware until recently because my computer is hooked up to a sweet sound system that I can just crank up when needed.  You should try this method- it makes looking at guitar gear far more pleasurable

Pedal Porn!!! aka electronic gut shots

I've got a TON of new pedals in the making... circuits tested but not yet boxed into enclosures and ready to stomp... I've got 10 new pedals in the making... In the meantime I thought i'd post some updates.  A few months back I built a modified clone of the ross compressor with a circuit board purchased from guitarpcb.com.  while building I found some "gut shots" of keeleys compressor pedal (the circuit which this board is based on) and found that he used tanatulum capacitors for every large value cap >1uf except one 1 micro farad film cap.  The owner of the site told me that the tantulum caps wouldnt make a difference in tone and were just used for size... For some odd reason (i've normally been a huge fan of component quality and the sound of different metrial composition of electronic components- but these were not in series with the signal path- just a bunch of power filtering caps going to ground) Anyways, last night... after months of being unhappy with the tone of the supposed "keeley compressor" pedal I cloned.  I decided to do some work and remove all the aluminum electrolytics and replace them with the little yellow tanatulum capacitors.  When I plugged the pedal in... after months sitting on the sidelines because it didnt have "it" the "it" that the keeley compressor pedals have... i was blown away!!!  It finally had the sparkley top end response along with the thick syrupy squish that the ross comp is known for!!!! Sorry electrical engineers... your test equipment is antiquated and you dont play guitar.   We are the true knowledge base for tone!  The little things matter.  in other news...my buddy actually told me a tech recently told him that there was no difference between alnico and ceramic speakers- now that's a laugh!!!  Sorry to hate!  But yall misguided me for so long I started teaching myself audio electronics!

In other news, I recently completed a bad ass Germanium transistor, 5 knob, 2 switch, fuzz face clone.  I used all vintage style electronic components for extra mojo goodness!  because that shit matters!  and you'll agree when you hear this baby.  It has controls for pre gain volume, post gain volume, bass boost, mid range cut and boost control, and battery dying voltage sag simulation!  You can get every sound out of this thing and use it with every guitar you own... low output strats to raging EMG's!

check out the style!

Hope all is well for the people of Louisville after a Derby and Cinco de Mayo rolled into one day!!  Recovery day was interesting... so little work done... so much to do in 5 hours.  Good night!

5 knob fuzz face with russian nos germanium transistors

5 knob guts- big old school mojo'riffic components- orange drops, mallory 150, bc 'lytics, vishay 2.2uf film cap, carbon films, all dat funky old stuff... from back when they just made 'em better.

keeley comp guts,  those tanatulum caps are where its at.  on the way-a NOS rca metal can ca3080 opamp

My Fender Pro Reverb Amp's Rebirth

I have an old fender silverface pro reverb.  It's a non master volume model.  I loved the amp when I first got it several years ago.  Such great reverb, loud enough to stay clean with my hard hitting drummer at the time.  As time goes on we always find things that we don't like or things that need improvement.  I had done the blackface mod to the amp a while back, and while that was a huge improvement, I decided that I needed more.  I mean I have two channels, one of which NEVER got used.  There really isnt much point to having two identical amp channels that are out of phase with each other, especially when the normal channel doesnt have reverb.  I decided I wanted to make one channel different, and keep one the same.  I am in the process of putting reverb and tremolo on both channels.  I made the currrent reverb channel my modded channel and kept the normal channel mostly the same.  I also completely overhauled the amp- So far I have...

1.) replaced all the coupling caps and tone caps with Orange Drop 225 Polyester film caps- these are kind of like the mallory 150m's, different than the overly harsh orange drop 715's.  The coupling caps drift over time and my fender didnt have the revered "blue molded" caps... they are blue though.  This made a ridiculously huge improvement in the response and clarity of my amp.  This alone made the breakup sound much better

2.) I then took a cue from jerry garcia's modified twin reverb preamp that he used over the years and replaced all of the cathode bypass capacitors and resistors in parallel with them to some NOS sprague 150d Tanatulum caps, I used PRP modern american made military spec metal film resistors in paralell.  This really changed the 'quickness' of the amp, sounds like I have less "sag".  It's more responsive and touch sensitive with these caps.  I think they may be adding noise though (the parts experiments are not done though- These are all my first choices) I also have a solid state rectifier to replace the tube rectifier in the pro reverb on the way.

3.) replaced all plate resistors with PRP metal film resistors- these are high quality low noise resistors, made for audio.  These really brought down the noise in the amp.  really bumped up the clarity in doing so.  These really do sound different from the carbon comps.  More HiFI, brighter maybe, cleaner, but not sterile at all.  These resistors are the modern version of the Dale rn65 or RN70 series.  Non inductive, non magnetic, and super precise.

4.) the values of the tone caps- I changed bass cap to .022uf and the mid cap to .022uf and the treble cap to a sivler mica 390pf.  This is for the lead  channel- it really brought up the mids in the normally bass and treble heavy fender amp.  I also increased the plate resistors using takman hi fidelity carbon film resistors.  audiophile stuff.  this increase to 150k caused a nice gain increase in that channel.  it starts to break up around 5 on the dial- where as it used to be about 7-8.  Very nice sounding.  the takman carbon films warmed up the overdrive instead of the metal film PRP's

5.) Changed grid resistors on power tubes to 2 watt non flammable ones.

6.) the pro doesnt have a mid range knob- I am in the process of adding one

7.) also adding a negative feedback knob... this will allow the amp to go from stock to sounding much meaner and aggressive.

8.) new reverb tank- reverb tanks wear out- mine just stopped sounding good, got noisier and metallic sounding.  I tried messing with the reverb circuit components, and it helped, but not enough.  The new accutronics tank sounds absolutely amazing!  classic fender

I am also waiting on parts to change out the filter caps.  And I may end up putting some nicer heyboer transformers in the amp eventually.  Some other easy modifcations included using 12ax7 tube in the phase inverter position and a 12at7 in v1 of my preamp.  This gives the amp more power tube gain and saturation and less preamp breakup.  The 12at7 sounds bettter when breaking up too.  Fender amps are not made for preamp distortion so I really try to keep that down.  I did a number of component value changes that minorly tweak the amp here and there.  It's a lot like cooking. You dont wanna go in there and use a ton of one ingredient- a little dash of lime to even out the sugar, a little salt to bring it out, but not too much.  Everyday I am changing values of parts- trying different types of parts- different material compositions.  trying to tune this amp perfectly to my dream amp.  I will be adding external bias testing points.  Maybe add tone and dwell knobs for my reverb.  I'm even contemplating adding a tube effects loop.  These silverface pro reverbs can still be had for realtively inexpensive prices.  I bought mine for $700- thats $700 for a 45 watt, hand wired, 2x12 tube amp that will last longer than you will!  Put a little elbow grease in them, and you have a boutique amp for under a grand!  Really amazing what you can do with these things.  You can even really get them to distort heavily- I may try a "Mesa Mark IIc" mod for the normal channel I've found by another fellow experimenter.  These ideas are just the tip of the iceberg, I havent even gotten into adding a tone stack bypass, or extra tube gain stages.  I think going too far has its problems- the best way is to do minor tasteful tweaks, using high quality parts, and you can get these things sounding better than the best blackface amps. I'll post soundclips soon!

Orange Drops (big orange things) PRP resistors (small red tubular things) NOS sprague 150d caps (silver tubulars) and silver mica cap (the little brown thing) Having new quality parts really brings the amp back to spec.  how it was meant to sound before all those old components got dried up, burnt out and out of tolerance.  it's crazy how good I can now make these amps sound!

Zen Drive Clone - this is one amazing sounding circuit.
I built it to see what the fuss was about...
And wow!  I have their tube version of the pedal on order.  This pedal even makes my
little practice amp sound like its a finely tuned Class A tube circuit running HOT!
This is a very original design (unlike so many modern boutique pedals on the market)
Very cool circuits from Hermida Audio!

Ampeg Scrambler Clone- a super rare pedal- probably because it's a merchant
of death.  This thing will rip your face off.  Cuts through the mix with its
piercing octave ring mod mix.  Or delivers a nasty bright crunch.
built this with the original old school 2n5306 transistors (nescessary to use these actually)
 and  I used the NOS 1n456 diodes. 

Classic Tremolo Circuit- EA tremolo- Rate, Depth, and Level Controls.
You can actually get a lot of boost out of this.  If you turn down
the tremolo and turn up the level this thing makes
a great sounding boost/buffer!

Modified Ross Compressor Clone- Very similar to the Keeley Compressor.  Top notch

Great bass response and high end clarity.  3 way switch for different attack speeds.

Slow speed gets an insane amount of sustain for the epic David Gilmour solods

Fast is reactive and squishy, but doesnt take away the spank on your

lightning fast chick'n pick'n riffs

Custom One Knob Silicon Fuzz Face
BC109 and BC108 transistors
 (can be built into teeny tiny 1590a enclosure, but
 this customer wanted ability to use a battery)

Group Shot (Clockwise from top middle)
EA Trem -I put a level control on this pedal, because it has a
great sounding buffer, sometimes I use this trem as a boost into my amp
Analog Octave Pedal (Clean- Oct Up- Oct Down- -2 Oct Down...Madbeanpedals.com PCB) -
 the Electro Harmonix POG is digital, fyi, and doesnt hold a candle compared to this
Demeter Mid boost/fat control Clone (Madbean PCB- thanks! super sick pedal)- amazing for pushing blackface/SF fenders

Here are some examples of pedals I've built (these are ones I currently have... I've built dozens and dozens more)  I usually build people pedals aren't easily available anymore (and that includes ones that arent the same as they used to be... ehm ehm... fuzz face, boss pedals, ibanez, anything vintage, and anything terribly overpriced) But I really can do just about anything.  I really dig the simple modern vintage style I've got goin here, but I can do custom graphics (I'm just perfecting the art currently- who knew I'd have to learn a graphics program to build pedals?)  Basically I'll be able to offer your choice of graphics on a pedal... Have a cool image, photo, gif, screen print, sports logo, Masonic Lodge Emblem... you want on a pedal?  I'll print it onto an overhead transparency, slap it on the pedal and coat it with clear coat.  How do I remember what these all these unlabeled knobs do?  Some only use one setting, and the others I love so much I could never forget!  I can use whatever color enclosure you want and your choice of knobs

Hello my name is Clay.  I am starting this blog to try to promote my long time hobby of building and modding pedals.  I started doing work for friends a couple years ago, and after much compliments, asking for more, suggestive innuendo, and direct demands.  I have begun offering my service to the public and with much success.  I am opening this blog to spread the word even further and allow people to check out some of my work.

I do low priced work for the musician.  I care about your sound and I love spending tons of time finding out exactly what people want to do with their rigs.  I do a number of things for guitarists and other electric or acoustic string players...
*Build custom effects pedals, clones of vintage and modern boutique pedals, you pick the colors, graphics, knobs, switches to add, knobs to add or subtract, more bass, less bass- anything you want.
There is really no limit to what I can build.  I don't build some stuff based on principals.  I really like building unique twists on classic vintage pedals (Like fuzz faces with extra controls, rangemasters with treble/high mid/mid/low mid boosts , or stuff that is discontinued and/or outrageously priced, I have no respect for some of these companies that think they can slap a $300 price tag on an overdrive pedal.  These companies don't even use the quality of parts that I use in most cases.  They don't have near the costs or labor that I have, and still demand ridiculous profit margins.  I don't get it. 
*I modify effects pedals- I can do custom mods, many of the "famous" guys mods, and we can even create your own special mod.  This includes upgrading components (pimping your cheap pedal), changing the eq, clipping section, adding switches, making the pedal better useable for different instruments like synth and bass or using pedals in a mixer. 
*I love working on guitars- I do
---Fretwork- Complete-professional fret leveling, crowning and polishing- this with a complete setup is the single best thing you can do to a guitar- even new fender americans and other nice guitars- to improve playability.  having properly leveled and crowned frets with greatly improve intonation- you can put your action as high or low as you want- I also polish the frets to a mirror finish.  its like bending on glass frets.  I can make mexican fenders easily outplay their american counterparts.  I make americans play better.  I use professional tools that I paid a lot of money for.  Do not believe in those ebay fret leveling kit scams.  There is some serious time, measurement, and efforts that go into this.  I have some guitars that I have worked on at my shop that you can play to check out the benefits.  If you're having any buzzing on any frets, want lower action, better intonation, or just a guitar that plays like the frets are made out of glass, come to me.  I will even re-polish your frets for you every couple months for next to nothing, or I can teach you how to maintain the polish yourself!
--- Setups- complete- using proper technique- saddle to fretboard radius matching- nut height to first fret- pickup height- truss rod adjustments- tremolo adjustments- I can make your guitar play better than new.
--- Electronic mods and installs (pickups, pots, switching mods etc)
--- I do a killer strat setup- I can install new bridges, make your floating strat trem stay in tune, install new nuts, adjust old ones, everyithing you can think of.
--- I can do a lot of stuff, but my luthier work is somewhat limited from major renovations such as acoustic neck resets and other expensive acoustic work- at this point at least
*I also work on amps.  Everything from repairs to modifications to tube bias adjustments for very reasonable prices.  The best price in town guaranteed, and work done by a guy that actually gives a shit about YOU and what YOU want.  I do...

---Cap jobs, component upgrades, tube installs and bias (I can even let you demo some of my preamp tube stock, fender 'normal' channel hot rodding, blackfacing, blues jr mods, blues deville mods, reissue mods, etc... etc...marshall mods, orange tiny terror mods, class 5 mods, tons of fender dual channel mods, I love replacing tone and coupling caps- I use film and foil caps (or whatever you want- paper in oil etc) I do a test to figure out which lead connects to the outer foil- then install the capacitor the 'correct' way in the amp.  This is something that is nescessary in the audiophile world, but has been forgotten as of recent in the guitar amp world- and sometimes never done.  This technique seperates those old 'super mojo magic' amps from the 'good ones', I do bigger projects like the SRV super reverb and vibro mods, Jerry Garcia Twin mods.
-I also like to help people put together parts guitars from parts making companies like warmoth, allparts, USACG and musikraft.  I can help you buy hardware and components that will work and fit with your body and neck, as well as help get you better prices and build a guitar that will sound good as a system!

Just email me for more info on how I can help you.  I can do much more than listed here.  I do this in support of my own chasing of the tone.  I am not operating a huge business.  Just wanna help my friends and other local musicians out with quality work for less!