PCBPro
In the boxThree-knob overdrive
A TL072 op-amp overdrive with soft diode clipping, a treble-cut tone control and a volume, on a single 9 V supply with a 4.5 V bias. The board the tutorial builds.
Pedal › Open example: three-knob overdrive
Examples
11 boards to start from
Every example is placed, routed and passes its design rule check. Open one, run it, play through it, change anything and save it as your own. Hover a pedal to see it in its box.
In the box
In the boxTight Boost
An input buffer, a TIGHT low cut from 30 to 340 Hz and a Tube Screamer style stage with its 720 Hz mid hump. Drive down, level up, in front of a high-gain amp.
Amp › Metal pedals › Tight Boost
In the boxNoise Gate (4-cable)
Keyed from the guitar, gating the amp's effects loop: a precision envelope detector, a comparator with hysteresis and a J201 shunt gate that opens in under 1 ms. Works as a 2-jack gate too.
Amp › Metal pedals › Noise Gate (4-cable)
In the boxHigh-Gain Distortion
Two cascaded hard-clipping op-amp stages with a tight low-end pre-emphasis, an amp-style bass, middle and treble stack, and a recovery stage.
Amp › Metal pedals › High-Gain Distortion
Tweed Champ 5 W
The simplest tube amp there is: two gain stages into a single-ended 6V6 with cathode bias and a tube rectifier. Breaks up early and sweetly.
Amp › Open example amp › Tweed Champ 5 W single-ended
EL84 18 W push-pull
Two gain stages and a DC-coupled cathode follower into a Marshall-style tone stack, a cathodyne phase inverter and a cathode-biased EL84 pair.
Amp › Open example amp › EL84 18 W push-pull
Plexi crunch 50 W
Made with the Amp Designer: bright, punchy British crunch with a cathode follower, the Marshall tone stack, presence, a master volume and a fixed-bias EL34 pair.
Amp › Open example amp › Plexi crunch 50 W
Modern high gain 50 W
Made with the Amp Designer: a four-stage preamp with a cold clipper, a post-distortion tone stack, depth and presence, and a tube-buffered effects loop.
Amp › Open example amp › Modern high gain 50 W
Extreme high gain 100 W
Made with the Amp Designer: five cascaded stages, a deeply scooped EQ with a 10k middle control, a tight low end, DC heaters and four 6L6GCs.
Amp › Open example amp › Extreme high gain 100 W
LM3886 bass amp 50 W
A solid-state bass amp: a TL072 preamp with a Bassman-style tone stack and recovery stage, an impedance-balanced XLR DI, and an LM3886 on ±30 V rails into speakON.
Amp › Open example amp › LM3886 bass amp 50 W
555 LED flasher
An NE555 astable flashing a red LED at about 1.5 Hz, with a reset button. Press F5 and it blinks; double-click a net to watch it on the oscilloscope.
File › Open example: 555 LED flasher