modular fuzz posted 6 jan 2009

Insanity I tell ya! It could only be insanity.

optochopto tremolo posted 12/8/2008

The old Colorsound Inductor-less wah circuit is a fun and easy project. You don't need an inductor and it lends itself to all sorts of fun variations. In this project, we'll build the original in pedal form for a 'cocked wah' pedal, then add an LFO and Vactrol to create the optochopto wah-based tremolo, and finish it all off with a very simple and good-sounding booster.

tufnel distortion vid posted 12/3/2008

Got the tufnel done. Visit the media page for a vid clip.

What I learned:

1. Slamming one 386 into another is certainly over the top, and the two gain controls are fun, but it is still to raw. I think that a buffer at the input leading to a volume control before the first 386 would yield a more useful effect.

2. The output is just too hot for practical use. Drive any other pedal and it will clip the signal. I tried various voltage divider arrangements at the output but no real luck.

3. The output signal overpowers the "tone" control. Need to rethink that.

4. Epoxying metal letters on a box requires more patience than I have

5. This circuit really needs some type of high-pass filter at the front. Amplifying the full range of bass makes it muddy.

6. Having the "World's Loudest Stompbox" is certainly cool, until you realize that you can never turn it up past three.

meet the makers posted 11/20/2008

Do you ever wonder what those zany boutique pedal builders look like? Where do they work? Our new (and constantly growing)  Meet the Makers page attempts to demystify these solder fume-addled individuals.

tufnel distortion posted 11/18/2008

"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever."
- Nigel Tufnel

How would you honor such a philosophical/musical genius? You would create the loudest rudest distortion pedal possible. Here it is, the tufnel distortion. Warning, do not turn the volume control over three, even though it goes to 11.

larger human-readable version

Update: The box is pretty much done:

added a media page posted 11/14/2008

What do you do when you're sitting on a fetid mound of old stale content? You guessed it--you put it all on one page and pass it of as ass-fresh new "media"! Damn I miss the dotcom days. Click your mouse device up on the vidz/clipz link above.

How to fold, spindle, mutilate and debase a Malekko E600 delay posted 11/06/2008

This is a re-housed Malekko E600 delay. Wat? Did someone say nintendo power glove?

creative commons license posted 11/12/2008

I've futzed around with general copyright notices on my site and wrestled with the balance between making everything public domain and being restrictive and onerous. Finally, through the magic of Creative Commons, I think I've found a great solution. No bullshit legalese, just fair common-sense licensing. Check it out.

repairing frank zappa's delay posted 11/06/2008

Wherein I have the honor to fix a dead rack delay from the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen.

techpages restored posted 11/5/2008

Thanks to the super-ace support from my hosting provider (godaddy!) I have all the techpages back online. I think I've learned my lesson now--double redundant backups! Thanks for your patience while that part o' the site has been down.
 

test tube board proto done! posted 11/3/2008

We've been working for a while on a cool add-on for the beavis board--the idea is to make it easy to add low-voltage tubes to designs. The prototype is done and lookin' good. Should have pricing and availability info in the next week or so. Some more info here

devolts for sale posted 10/29/2008

Voltage sagging is fun. What?, you say? Perhaps you have heard pedal folklore about how certain pedals sound better with a dying battery. SRV favored a dying battery in his beloved tubescreamer, and fuzz fans in the know love to reduce the voltage on fuzz pedals for great lo-fi splatty fun. A couple of years ago I build Dying Battery Simulator that used a simple potentiometer circuit to simulate the decreased voltage and the increased series resistance of a dying battery. And the results were quite fun. Check it out here. Of course you can also build your own!

site updates posted 10/27/2008

Finally found some time to update the site. Now has an actual navbar on the top, a way to order things, and a (hopefully) cleaner look. I've also added a products and buy page to make it easier for folks to get things from the beavis empire. Also redid the CSS to hopefully make things more consistent. As I'm under the hood, you may notice things looking a little funky, but that should all be stabilized soon. If you do find  a missing pic or a broken link, please feel free to holler.

the beavis board posted 10/14/2008

The ultimate pedal hacker's piece of kit

looking for great effects kits? posted 10/15/2008

My buddy Mark runs Officially Licensed Circuits which provides some of the best and most unique stompbox kits available. If you are looking to build effects and want to try your hand at a kit, visit Mark today!

updated: dying battery simulator posted 10/02/2008

The first article I ever wrote on the beavis site was for a Dying Battery Simulator. As such it was woefully out of date. I've updated the article with a few new ideas. In honor of the voltage updates, here's the devolt:

bunch of updates posted 9/12/2008

Hello friends! Things have been very busy in my real job, so I haven't had as much time as I would like to keep the Beavis Empire running. But there has been forward movement on several fronts, so here's a bunch of updates.

Beavis Board: Holy crap have I been inundated with emails! The response to the beavis board has been way beyond my expectations. I'm currently backed up at 130 emails, so if I may beg your indulgence for a little while longer--I will get back to everybody who emailed, and the kits will be rolling out the door soon. I just made a huge parts order (the largest in Beavis history) and am working to get a helper to fulfill all the order requests. The exciting part to me is the sheer number of people out there who want to hack stompboxes, which is pretty much the whole mission of beavis. Thanks to all who have emailed, I'll holler back soon.

Tube Cricket: Perhaps the longest "perennially-almost-done" project in my history, last night I finally got time to build the first Tube Cricket using a production PCB. The result was even better than I hoped for, a growly grainy rude little amp that is all about overdrive and distortion. Update: My good buddy mark at olcircuits.com is now doing both kits and pre-built versions! Give him a holler.

Fuzzlab jr.: Finished debugging the PCB design, but still have some final work to move from prototype to final version. Need to do clips also.

Email: Way behind :( Please be patient, I'll try and get caught up as soon as possible.

Other projects: Not sure when these will be done, but I really want to finish the DSWF (and post some clips!), the Armageddon Processor, and finish up work on a new distortion pedal. Stay tuned. Oh yeah, I spent a few hours trying to add an RSS feed to the main page, but could never get it working. That has been a big request, so if anyone knows a simple way for me to post an XML feed file and make it actually work, drop me a line. Thanks!

Your evil friend,
teh beavis

the coolest thing I've seen all year posted june 2008

Pardon my french, but  this goddamn rocks! open source programmable dsp effects for the masses. this guy is a genius, a real bonafide stompbox Einstein for the common man. visit his site.

www.howleraudio.com
 

from stompbox to reality posted: a while ago

Here's a new article on how to read schematics, and turn them into working things. I talk about schematic symbols, power, how to translate them to a breadboard, then working with PCB, vero etc. Lots of pictures and ideas, so dig in.

new amp day! posted: a while ago

It's always great to get a new amp, even if you built it yourself. I've had the big rectangular enclosure and a cheap Chinese voltmeter sitting around for too long, so I decided to use them to build an amp. It's a clone of the smokey, but the gain is boosted to 200 and I can adjust to voltage.

getting started posted: a while ago

After answering the same questions over a thousand times via email, I thought that maybe it would be clever to create a page that talks about Getting Started. So I made the page. Work in progress, hopefully it will be a good clearinghouse page for all the things that you can stumble on when approaching the dynamic, fascinating, and chick-magnet hobby that is stompboxery.

Getting Started Page

something new: the fuzzlab junior posted: a while ago

A long time ago, I built a Fuzz Face that replaced pretty much all the resistors with pots. I called it the fuzzLab jr. It was fun, but in the end, it really didn't sound very good, nor was it terribly useful. I put it away and promptly forgot about it. Over the last few months, I've been working on the Armageddon Processor, and it has been exciting and frustrating all the same time. Exciting because it can make sounds I've never been able to obtain before. Frustrating because it is so complex.

So I decided (as I often do because I'm such a spazz) to start yet another new project in the midst of all the other stuff. This one is the fuzzLab Jr. as it should have been originally. Here it is: The fuzzLab Jr.

dual oscillator posted: a while ago

Here's a fun project, a dual oscillator built off a single 40106 schmitt trigger chip. Schematic and layout for a radio shack board included.

altoids guitar posted: a while ago

A couple of fellows have posted wonderful mini-guitars over on instructables.com, little gems built out of altoids tins and rulers. I decided to build one. A few hours later, I have a rockin' axe. The sound is incredible, as good as my ten top PRS private reserve bubinga with gold hardware.

Ok, in truth it sounds like crap. I used a Radio Shack piezo for the pickup which provides the bouzouki from hell tone, and it is almost impossible to tune. But what the heck, a fun project nonetheless. (And no, I don't own a PRS private reserve ten top or any similar fine furniture guitar:)

digital sequenced wah filter (aka precision ass tornado) posted: a while ago

While waiting on parts for the next stage in the Armageddon Processor, I took some time to work on an idea that has been itching around in the back of my mind for a while: using a microcontroller to create multi-state LFOs through PWM. Still not complete, but I have lots of info and pictures to share.

YA386A posted: a while ago

=Yet Another 386 Amp. This one runs two 386 N-4s at 18 volts for around two watts of rude tone.

read some older stuff >>

Looking for great customer service and prices when buying pedals? Look no further than Brad and his crew at tone factor. beavis-approved and recommnded.