I began to design pedals in my late years of secondary school. I decided then, that this is what I wanted to do with my life, and have remained dedicated ever since. This has grown to be my professional occupation.
Pedals provide me with a perfect balance of mental stimulation, as well as hand craft. It is my belief that the universe can be understood as an expression of rhythm and pattern. Building pleasant sounding effect circuits is my way of playing back with the universe, and it's a real trip. My design style might be thought of as a hybrid combination of vintage and modern technologies. I build each pedal myself, by hand, as I would for myself or for a close friend.
This is a one-person operation. I work from home, by humble means. The enclosures are drilled and powder coated in my garage. My name is Darron Thornbury, and I live in the outer south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia.
All pedals have a 10 year warranty.
Here are some of the common high quality parts which I use in most of my pedal designs:
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| BSIAB2 |
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| BIG FUZZ |
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| OPTICAL TREMOLO |
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| STEREO PANNING OPTICAL TREMOLO |
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| GERMANIUM AMPLIFIER |
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| PROFESSIONAL DRIVE |
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| LITTLE FETISH |
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BSIAB2 This circuit (Brown Sound in a Box 2) was by far my favourite distortion back in high school. It’s a little metal. It’s a little fuzzy. And the cool thing was, if you wanted one, you just have to build one or know somebody who could. The circuit was designed by Ed Guidry and was one of the highest recommended builds on the forums. Many would suggest that his design was the original precursor to many of the "high gain amp" pedals that came out in the 2000's. It's basically a Marshall stack tone faker. It has a tonne of gain, and a huge clean bottom end to fake a big amp. My build also has improved noise spec. Distortion is achieved by overdriving Fairchild field effect transistors (FETs), being the closest solid-state relative to vacuum tubes. No diodes are involved for clipping. There are three stacked gain stages. The first two are μAmp stages, which is a classic valve topology developed to achieve high gain performance from tubes. The final is a class a stage. Worldwide AUD$220. See returns policy.
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| FIRST TEST |
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BIG FUZZ The Big Fuzz is a muff circuit, which has been made to factor all of my favourite elements from the many various models. Further, some improvements have been made to improve user interaction. This includes increased bass, and improved bass clipping response, improved tone control functionality, and fine tuned top-end clipping response and smoothing. The classic design varied greatly over the years, being made in various locations to different schematics and ever-changing component values. One large reason I suspect some models are still higher favoured now, is for their amount of mid-scoop. This is a famous love-hate element of the circuit. However, having this second tone knob adjustment is incredibly helpful. There are two internal mod switches to independently change the gain stages. This goes from the Russian style lower gain, which is famously a bit smoother and proportionately warmer in the top-end, to the modern NYC high gain which is a bit more aggressive. Combing this with the mid knob means you can achieve tones alike to many releases. There is also an internal mod switch to transform the circuit to work as a Supa Fuzz (Marshal, Sola Sound). This has a huge bottom-end wrapping, and is the preferred mode for bass players. Worldwide AUD$220. See returns policy.
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| KFIRO | ||
| intheblues | ||
| brett kingman | ||
| SHAUN KLINGER (iphone) |
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OPTICAL TREMOLO Tremolos interest me as a good design has its own living pulse, which can sound lively like the instrument itself. By shining a fading light against a photo-sensitive device, this tremolo uses all analog photo-coupling to restrict and fluctuate the output volume. After a decade of development I've created this completely unique circuit, as my ideal tremolo sound. Always use a high quality regulated and isolated power supply for best operation. Daisy chain power cables may induce clock noise. A line level optimised version can be made on request. Worldwide AUD$199. See returns policy.
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| Mike Hermans | |
| James Ryan | |
| brett kingman | |
| InTheBlues |
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STEREO PANNING OPTICAL TREMOLO Tremolos interest me as a good design has its own living pulse, which can sound lively like the instrument itself. By shining a fading light against a photo-sensitive device, this tremolo uses all analog photo-coupling to restrict and fluctuate the output volume. After a decade of development I've created this completely unique circuit, as my ideal tremolo sound. This is a stereo variation of my smaller Optical Tremolo. It can take a stereo input, or split a mono guitar input between two amplifiers. The PAN switch changes the oscillator of each channel to be out of sync - so one comes up in volume while the other drops. This creates a strange swirling effect. All original analog circuitry and true bypass mechanical switching. Always use a high quality regulated and isolated power supply for best operation. Daisy chain power cables may induce clock noise. Please note: The current release model does not have a PAD or GND lift switch, as seen in previous demo videos. The PAD switch has been replaced with an internal voltage boost to constantly give the same amount of headroom expansion. Worldwide AUD$289. See returns policy.
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| Brett Kingman | ||
| James Ryan | ||
| Shaun Klinger |
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GERMANIUM AMPLIFIER The Germanium Amplifier is a Class A vintage voiced boost that can smash your amplifier hard in the face. It can be used for volume boost and shaping, or for additional drive pushing a gain stage. The Germanium Amplifier is constructed with a 'tin can' PNP germanium transistor. The germanium transistor has a rich history in musical effects for its round and life-like sounding properties. Germanium transistors were used before the introduction of silicon and have become increasingly difficult to find in acceptable condition with low leakage and suitable gain. I have been collecting germanium transistors in bulk supplies since I was in high school. Each transistor is selected for over-all excellence and will always have its own sound. Each circuit is individually biased and tailored to suit the characters of the transistor. The circuit squeezed maximum use out of the transistor and runs with a little bit of its round break up. Please note: This is not a circuit for the hifi junkies! The output is setup hot and dirty and has its own levels of distortion and grit. Noise levels on germanium were far from perfect, and they all flavour with their own voicing. This would be a booster best appreciated by fuzz players. If you are after a modern boost with a more precise output, then please consider the Little Fetish. All of the dual switch GE Amp+ models are now sold out here. Contact me though if you'd like help tracking one down with another merchant. Worldwide AUD$199. See returns policy.
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| Cranbourne Music | ||
| MIKE HERMANS |
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PROFESSIONAL DRIVE I had been reluctant to join the tube screamer cloners, but over the years I’d assisted in many custom overdrive designs and I feel it was time to settle this. Worldwide AUD$235. See returns policy.
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| INThEBlUES | ||
| CAPTAIN CHERRY'S |
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LITTLE FETISH The Little Fetish uses a classic valve-state topology, which was designed to squeeze maximum amplification performance from vacuum tubes. This has been adapted to use FETs (field-effect transistors) being the closest modern counter-part. The circuit runs with an internally increased voltage for best performance. The signal is only processed by discrete FETs, not a chip, and has very low noise figures. Top end frequencies maintain crystal clarity. Worldwide AUD$155. See returns policy.
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| INThEBlUES | ||
| 3 Minute Pedal Demos |
Email me at thornbury@gmail.com. I might be a little slow to respond sometimes, but am happy to help out wherever I can.
Please note that I am currently not taking any orders for completely custom builds, only variants on my existing circuits.
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Here are some legacy links from the previous website:
