Dano from Beavis Audio ran what could
be described as one of the holy texts of the DIY world. His
site—beavisaudio.com—was one of the digital outposts
for DIY guitar effects in an era when DIY gear wasn’t
nearly as en vogue as 2016. Dano provided fledgling
builders with a wealth of information—some inherently
useful, some very stream-of-consciousness—and many
guys in today’s business owe the man accolades upon
accolades.
In addition to many cool blog posts, such as the one
where he fixed a rackmount digital delay from Frank
Zappa’s the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen studio, Dano
provided a glimpse into the mind of a person who knew
what they were doing, having fun doing it, and writing for
an audience with his own interests as the guiding light.
In short, Dano’s writing made us not only want to build
some projects, but to become the kind of person who
could enjoy such projects with as much exuberance as he
appeared to project.
It wasn’t just a pedal blog (though he did sell three
products: the FKR, Devolt and Beavis Board, all of which
were pedal related). Dano’s site contained DIY projects
on how to build all of the products he offered, as well
as little circuit bits, some popular pedal schematics,
some noisemaking 40106-based synth boxes and some
hi-fi audio stuff. Some of Dano’s most popular circuits
include the Heterodyne Peyote Space Explorer, a wild
synth with many knobs and switches, the Trotsky Drive,
which has been duplicated in large quantities, and the
Noisy Cricket amp.
The Noisy Cricket is a half-watt solid-state amp based
on the LM386 power amp IC, with a wealth of options
available such as a bass boost, grit switch, switchable
headphone out and more. There’s a lot going on here,
and I have some news for you: You’re going to build one.
ToneReport.com
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