[ Ventilation ] | fuzmeister

fuzmeister: Muffs and Micros

So I recently ordered some parts from DigiKey. A co-worker of mine who is way better with a soldering iron than I am is going to modify two of my guitar pedals. I know one will be improved by the mod as it's a somewhat cosmetic (albeit functional) change. The other is questionable as I can't seem to find any results online of people who have attempted what we're trying to do.

The "cosmetic" modification is actually quite useful. The Electro-Harmonix Micro Synthesizer is a neat little box capable of generating all kinds of bleeps, creeps, and sweeps. However, the LED indicator is foolishly only used to indicate whether the AC adapter is powering the unit and not whether or not the effect is on or off. Using a bi-color LED (red and green), we hope to keep existing functionality, but also let the player know if the effect is on or off via the color.

The other mod is being done to the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi. This is a very powerful sounding distortion, but I noticed that a lot of players attempt to get the vintage Big Muffs over the new ones. Most of the circuit in the older models uses different components, but what I'm altering is the tone stack part of the circuit. This simple change controls the tone of the Muff ever so slightly, but I'm hoping it will affect it enough to give me the gain of the reissue circuit with the EQ of the "triangle" and "ramshead" versions (the highly sought after vintage models).

Anyway... we'll see how it goes... if nothing else, it will be interesting to hear the results.

Mood: Lethargic
Music: Peter Gabriel - The Family and The Fishing Net

Tags (beta): guitar, effects, electronics

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