Build Your Own Clone Message Board

Hello.

I'm trying to put together a pedal that's basically a 60s-style transistor fuzz with a pickup simulator in front of it so that the pedal can be placed anywhere in the chain, even after a buffer. My research so far is based on two main things:

This web page: http://www.muzique.com/lab/pickups.htm
The schematic in this doc for an EQD Erupter clone: https://pcbguitarmania.com/wp-content/u ... g-Docs.pdf

Has anyone ever used this circuit from the muzique site? The pickup sim section of the EQD clone is similar and uses fixed values (which is appealing to me), but also has a JFET before it (which makes sense to me?) and the values for the resistor and capacitor are wildly different. Does anyone have thoughts on a starting place for this for my purposes? Maybe I'll completely rip off the EQD one up to what would be the input cap on the FuzzFace and just put my own fuzz behind it (I'm trying to do more of a Colorsound Fuzz Box thing than a FuzzFace).

I guess I should just breadboard it. You have no idea how many questions I write, get to the "I guess I should just breadboard it" phase, and then never post them. But my breadboard setup is pretty janky and before I pay another Mouser shipping fee, I'd like know if this is a dumb idea in general.

Sounds like no one has done this.

I'm going to do it anyway. Does anyone know about sticking a transformer on a PCB? It's way bigger than the usual things I solder to boards. I mean, it's not like the transformer in a tube amp...it's a little thing as transformers go, but it's much more massive than, say, the biggest electrolytic caps usually used in pedals. Just wondering if I need to do anything to secure it beyond soldering the leads.

I'm also curious if I need to make it stand off the board so that it doesn't touch other traces under it (it seems like the bottom is plastic, so I think it should be ok to mount it flush?) or if I need to insulate it in some way from the other things inside the pedal. I've only tried it on my breadboard, which is always noisy since everything is exposed.

I haven't tried it myself, but I remembered reading about the Aion FX Solaris having a switchable pickup simulator (and referring to both Jack Orman of AMZ and the EarthQuaker Devices Erupter in the documentation). This might provide another example of how it's been done before: Solaris PCB-Only build doc

Cool, thanks.