So I just started on an Ontario/Quebec tour with my band so this may be a quick post. First build today is a Madbeanpedals Firebomb. It’s a high quality PCB that won’t break the bank. I have a feeling I’ll be ordering from them again sometime in the near future. One thing I really like about PCBs is that you don’t have to cut traces like you have to with Vero board. Anyways, here’s the completed gutshot.

You’ll notice that I chose not to add a battery jack to this build.  I found that I rarely use them, and with the added time/cost of installing a jack, as well as the environmental factors involved with batteries I’m simply opting to not install them. The only exception to this rule would be some fuzz circuits as a fuzz face simply sounds better with a cheap dollar store battery. It’s science, can’t argue with that.

I also switched up the way I wired the footswitches on this build. I used what I like to call the “Skreddy” way of wiring. To be honest I don’t know which method I prefer more. Anyways, much like the Zvex pedal that the Firebomb is modelled after, I chose a yellow LED for channel 1, and a red for channel 2. Oh yeah, for those of you who are unfamiliar with this pedal or the pedal it’s based off of, it’s a two channel boost pedal. Each channel has an available 25 db of gain for a whopping 50 db total gain boost (I feel bad for my amp). The first channel has just one knob with controls gain while the second channel has controls not only for gain but has a master volume as well.

It’s a pretty powerful pedal, and since I love the overdriven sounds of my amp this pedal is the perfect booster for it. It’s just not a apartment friendly pedal as it works best when you run your amp wide open.

Next up is a Gretsch Controfuzz. It’s a weird circuit as it combines a very high gain fuzz with your clean signal. It’s a very simple build with low parts count.

It was a quick and easy build. I used vero (my board of choice) and I was done the pedal in about 2 hours time. Here’s a gutshot. Once again you can see that I omitted the 9V battery snap and I used brown wire for teh mojo.It’s an interesting sounding circuit. At first I didn’t really like it with my guitar, but I find running an OD into it completely changes the nature of it. Even better was running my synth through it on an organ patch. I was able to get a nice dirty sound while still retaining the original tone of the patch.

Finally here’s the artwork I did for the pedals. Originally I meant to talk about waterslide decals in this post, but that will have to wait until next time. Enjoy!