Neither I, nor Tone
Report Weekly bears
any responsibility for
any kind of personal or
property damage that
may occur as a result of
the instructions provided
herein. Legal mumbojumbo aside, we ask
that readers be familiar
with a soldering iron
and its accompanying
safety procedures before
trying anything listed
here. Furthermore, if you
fire the pedal up and
it does not work, it will
need troubleshooting.
Assuming the
components are not
damaged, the pedal will
work. I built this very
unit according to these
instructions and it fired
up, first shot, so I know
the instructions are
correct.
34
TONE TALK //
The original circuit contains two capacitors with odd values
that are no longer made and tough to come by—one 50uF
and one 4uF. Instead, I decided to replicate these values
with parallel capacitors. With resistors, placing two in series
allows us to add the values. This is helpful when making a
strange resistor value that we may not have. For example,
some people may not have 51k resistors on hand, but
combining much more common values of 18k and 33k,
we can make one. When running resistors in parallel, the
formula is quite more difficult than simple addition.
That said, if you want to put 18k and 47k in parallel, it
comes out to 13k, which is a nonconventional value. Why
am I telling you this? Well, with capacitors, the formula
is the exact opposite. Placing them in parallel adds them
together, whereas series placement makes you go through
the math. To create the new capacitors of 50uF and 4uF, I
used 47uF and 2.2uF in parallel for 49.2uF and two 2.2uF
for 4.4uF. Close enough. Would 47uF and 4.7uF (common
values) be fine? Probably. I’m just a stickler for accuracy.
Journey with me down that path, won’t you? Extra caps
only cost a few cents.
On the subject of “extra caps,” the Axis has two capacitors
at the end of each stage. They’re relatively small—3.3nF—
which gives it its characteristic ‘60s bite. To add some
bass back in, simply enlarge the caps. You might prefer to
socket the capacitors to experiment. In the interest of mojo
preservation, I did not.
The Birth of a Legend: Build Your Own Electro-Harmonix Axis Fuzz