Joe Gagan's 'Tone Dog' pedal finished!

[PB Wilson]

When I first got interested in DIY effects about six months ago I started collecting schematics and ran across Joe Gagan's 'Tone Dog' pedal on the Ampage site. It's a simplified Brontoboost without the second silicon stage. I believe it was designed from Joe's modification of the Bronto to address the "hi-fi" sound and to tone down the treble a bit. A frequent poster on the Musictoyz forum named Tone Dog was the person who inspired the changes. (Joe, correct me if I am mistaken.)

Joe designed in two sets of sockets where a player can change the amount and character of highs in the pedal. By adding or subtracting resistors and capacitors in two different areas, the character of the pedal changes a bit to better suit a player's rig. I haven't spent much time swapping parts on mine because I want to get a feel for the pedal in stock form. After a while, I'll check them out and report back. Your mileage may vary given different amps and pickups.

I decided to build the 'Tone Dog' after hearing so much praise of the Brontoboost. It is an interesting and flexible pedal that offers sounds from crisp overdrive to pretty wild fuzz, all with a twist of the Tone knob. I am really enjoying the fuzzier side with the gain about 2/3 up and set in the middle of the fuzz range. It's a very welcome addition to my setup and I love the option of adjusting it internally to suit a different amp or guitar. The stock setting is bright and sounds great with the neck humbucker. It can really sizzle using the bridge pickup as well. I'll also check it out with my Fender Mustang once I clean up the 35 year old switches. Further changes can be made withdifferent combinations of diodes and with different transistors.

On the more technical side, I am using a 2N3906 transistor for Q1 and a Texas Instruments 2N2614 Germanium transistor for Q2. In a recent email from Joe, he mentioned that he loves this combo and I'd like to thank Steve at Smallbear for having some in stock. When Steve comes out from hibernation tomorrow (Hooray!) one might ask if he has more of these in stock. This design is a PNP transistor, positive ground design, but I successfully built it up with an LED and DC jack. It hasn't caused excess noise when used with other pedals, but if I decide to use a wall-wart, I'll have to get a different one.

Here's the bad news: I haven't been able to find the schematic online since the Ampage site seems to be down. I made a hard copy of the 'Tone Dog' schematic, but do not have a copy online to share. Joe said that he is planning on offering this pedal along with his other pedals in the future. If anyone else has this schematic, Joe said that he does not mind it being posted for DIY-ers to share. He is also planning on posting the schem once he gets a site up and running. I would be happy to snail-mail a copy of the schematic to someone who has an established site if Joe thinks that's allright. Overall it's a very worthwhile build, another great design from a talented designer and I'm proud to say that it was my third successful perf-board project!