Colorsound Supa Tone Bender

[Travis]

Yo!

I've got this one on my breadboard right now and it sounds really sweet. I was planning on just changing a few things on the '73 Rams Head layout to build this but I thought this would be a good one to add to the main site as well

Check the schematic (second from the bottom) it's only a few swaps away from the '73 Rams Head http://www.bigmuffpage.com/Big_Muff_Pi_versions_schematics_part1.html

Playing with it right now, it's 70s rock bliss. A very tasty and somewhat unique Muff

If nobody bites, I'll probably just do the layout based on Mark's and post it

[rocket88]

should be pretty easy to do, especially by modifying the existing big muff layout. i can do it, it might take me a day or so.

[Travis]

Word. To be honest I don't even need the layout because it's so easy to change the Rams Head to Supa Tone Bender specs but I thought it's a worthy addition to the site for anyone else looking to build it

If all else fails I'd be happy to do it myself, though I won't get a chance for a few days. I'm going to see Deerhoof tomorrow night after work. That should be pretty amazing :D http://youtu.be/YLTR4GwKUek

[rocket88]

awesome. i've heard of them before. should be a good show. i missed them the last time they were NYC, hopefully i'll get to see them next time they come around. i just saw Diakaiju at a local bar like an hour away from me in NJ down the shore.

live vid


and recording of my favorite songs by them


one of the best, and craziest shows i've been too, and one of the best. the guys are super nice and really good musicians too. they're like psychedelic surf punk.

but, i digress. i'll take care of the layout, as it would be nice to have, so no worries.

[Travis]

I'm not big on reggae based music but I enjoyed that. Thanks for sharing :D

That was some pretty kick ass guitar playing. Really made me wanna jam along

Do you ever make gear for your favorite musicians when you go to see them? I haven't but I've always thought it would be a neat way to meet some of my favorite artists. Plus how cool would it be if they make it a staple on their pedalboard :0

I think Joey Santiago has been using some DIY fuzz forever that somebody gave him. I gave one of my buds in our studio building a Haunting Mids V3 clone and it puts a huge smile on my face when I hear it in the recordings

[rocket88]

I haven't yet, but when I've met some people I talk to them about it, so there is some things in the works for that. Like Brent Hinds from mastodon was talking to me about building something for him, but I have build for a bunch of local bands. I usually find some way of meeting bands, but I figure I should make cards or something so I seem more legit. Lol

[alex.s]

I could scan my hand written modified layout off Mark's archive?

All jokes apart, there are only a few values changed, plus the lack of clipping diodes in the first gain stage. You could make those switchable and have a Rams head-ish muff cum supa tone bender.

Been meaning to build one for a while since a friend pointed me to it (he initially wanted one made for him before deciding on the very different Fingerprint instead...?!), seems liek a very intersting option to have. Also the tone stack values were slightly different if I recall correctly, which meant the mids scoop was around a different frequency (1.2kHz instead of around 700Hz perhaps?).

[Travis]

The removal of the clipping diodes (and of course the 100n clipping cap) is the main difference, but the collector resistors are also different

To go from Mark's '73 Rams Head to Supa Tone Bender change:

Q1 collector resistor from 12K to 15K
Change 7K5 coupling resistors to 8K2
Change Q2 collector resistor from 12K to 10K
Change 150n at sustain 2 to 100n
Change Q3 collector resistor from 12K to 15K
Change 4n in tone stack to 4n7
Change Q4 collector resistor from 12K to 10K
Change Q4 emitter resistor from 3K3 to 2K7
Change PS filter cap from 100u to 33u

Oh yeah and of course remove the clipping diodes and 100n from Q2 feedback loop :P

Give it a try guys! It's a great muff!

[Travis]

Oh and by the way. The Deerhoof show was awesome! Definitely go see them if you get a chance! They're really fun live

Also I didn't realize that Crystal Skulls were opening. That was a nice surprise! They really blew me away, and their guitarist had a sick Rickenbacker :D

[Travis]

I ended up making one based on Mark's layout of course. Lemme know if you see any errors/oversights

Sorry that the quality got really degraded when I uploaded this..