This summer I’ve finally found the resources to beautify my setup a bit. It’s mostly a cosmetic change but there have been some small changes effect-wise:

• Wah is now first in the chain
• FET boost clipping options are now none, soft clipping and hard clipping
• Fuzz is now selectable between Big Brown Beaver and Silicon Fuzz Face
• Distortion is now a Dr. Boogey, which can be switched from one channel (replacing the V-Amp’s ampsim) to both channels (also replacing Death Metal)
• Chorus is after boost and fuzz but before distortion
• True bypass has been replaced with electronic bypass (via CD4053).

Everything else is just a pretty box and some paint. Clicky for larger images.

OK, my setup is not very sexy but sure was cheap, around 100EUR! So let’s break it down (click for larger image—1600px):

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I’ve got the cure you’re thinking of!

This is the first production unit from Indefinite Pitch. Well, one could hardly call it a series since so far only three have been made and will be sold. It’s also strictly for the local market so I won’t bother you with details. This is Dr. Love in a nutshell:

• buffer/preamplifier/overdrive, chiefly for software ampsims (AmpliTube, ReValver etc.) and DI
• low-cost alternative to dedicated audio interfaces
• 9—12V power supply range

For reference’s sake, here’s a link to the Dr. Love User’s Manual (PDF, Romanian).

You can’t have “boutique” effects without fuzz, right? I actually made the furry enclosure about a year ago, I knew it just had to house some kind of fuzz but I only recently found a circuit that was “worthy”. So here it is, the Big Brown Beaver: a comparator fuzz with hyper-compressed, gated square wave output. Controls are sensitivity and output volume. Features bright blue LED for that extra bit of “boutiqueness”.

Audio sample (.mp3)

Also, as a bonus, a picture of another fuzz project I’ve worked on. It’s like a cross between a silicon Fuzz Face and a Fuzz Factory, just in case I ever need something more “classic” yet flexible.

For a couple of years now I’ve been searching for the single distortion unit that can embody the spirit of Indefinite Pitch: “over the top”. Today I give you the Demolator, a kind of Distortus Maximus with a dash of Nigel Tufnel. It can go from a light crunch to scare-your-neighbour’s-kids saturation but if anything, this thing is loud! In fact you could plug it straight into a cab, since it’s based on the LM386 Low Voltage Audio Power Amplifier, two of them actually. This also means it will probably start to feed back before the volume pot hits 12:00, but hey—that’s what it’s for. So in a nutshell:

• high-gain distortion (theoretically capable of 72dB)
• Gain and Volume controls
• 9V operation
• virtually guaranteed to destroy your amp