Its always great to hear some product out there getting use and sounding great. This clip came to me from the good Dr Justin James and his excellent band The Explorers Club. The song is titled “No Good” and Justin is showing you how it’s done using one of my custom fuzzes for the solo after the second chorus. Dig it!
The fuzz in question is a silicon-version of the classic (and SO crucial) Vox Tone Bender circuit, as detailed here: https://ballseffects.com/wrinkly-balls/
Its again time to clear out the shelves here at Balls Industries. Some of these are custom builds that were never picked up. Some are extras I built along the way while I was making something similar for a customer. Others are ones I just made for my own curiosity. The point is….i’ve got a lot of stuff kicking around over here and every once in a while I need to sell it off and make room for more goodies. The list is below. Standard shipping for one pedal is $10 in the continental US, and $5 for each additional. If you’re outside the continental US just email me and i’ll let you know what it’ll cost. Most are in perfect shape, a few have an occasional scratch or ding. Feel free to email me with any questions you have! thedoctor@ballseffects.com
SOLD! Standard One-Knob Fuzz ($100)- silicon transistors. compare to: Fulltone 70, DAM Meathead. https://ballseffects.com/baldow-son/
Digital Delay ($130) – Analog styled delay using digital circuitry, similar to what most modern manufacturers are making. Great sounding delay. Single version of the delay in this post: https://ballseffects.com/yuengling-malmsteen/
OCD Overdrive ($110) – Direct clone of the version 3 Fullton OCD overdrive.
SOLD! One-Knob Basic Fuzz ($60) – My version of a classic, ultra simple fuzz circuit that has been a favorite of the DIY community for some time. Very Muff-like fuzz that sounds great with guitar and sounds SUPERGREAT with bass. https://ballseffects.com/the-basic-fuzz/
Unidrive Variant ($100) – My take on the old Univox Unidrive circuit with variable gain and volume control. Nasty boost and distortion.
Boost #1 ($60) – Standard clean style boost. Compare to ZVEX Super Hard On.
Boost #2 ($60) – Another clean boost, this one a bit brighter and with more gain than the previous.
SOLD! Big Muff J. Mascis Style ($130)- silicon transistors. built to in the style of what is purported to be J’s favorite muff. compare to: V3 Big Muff, Ram’s Head Big Muff.
SOLD! Germanium Fuzzrite ($140) – Spot on clone of the original Mosrite Fuzzrite using old stock Soviet germanium transistors. https://ballseffects.com/boners-that-shoot-darts-out-of-them/
Vintage Tremolo ($110) – Designed to sound like the built in tremolo from vintage amps. Compare to Demeter Tremulator.
SOLD! Modern Tremolo ($130) – Incredible and extremely versatile tremolo modeled after the 4MS Tremulus Lune. Coarse and fine rate control, boost, chop control, smoothness control….this one does it all.
Slow Gear ($130) – Clone of the rare Boss SG-1 pedal. This is a swell pedal that swells notes in after you pick them. Incredible for synth-type tones out of a guitar.
SOLD! Double Digital Delay ($170) – Just like the version for sale above except its two delays instead of one. Great for having two delay settings that you alternate between, or cascading delays for serious space. https://ballseffects.com/yuengling-malmsteen/
Listen….there’s this dude named Kelly Doyle. He did all of the sound clips for me of the production Balls units. He also happens to be a hot lava shit storm of shredding. I have openly wept watching the man play. Dude is good. But the point to all that is that when he asks you to make something, you do it.
Enter the BUS DRIVER, Kelly’s all-in-one overdrive unit. I dont even like overdrives, let alone three drivers in one box, but hey to each their own. This giant gold brick contains three of the man’s favorites. Starting from the right we have a bog standard Klon Centaur clone. Following that in the middle is a booster styled after the preamp from the old echo-plex tape echo. People used to use that circuit to drive their amps even when they had no intention of adding the echo effect. This is a nod to that spirit. And then finally on the right we have an atypical tube screamer type of circuit. This one has been tweaked in a couple of ways. Namely it retains much more bass than a normal screamer, clips and compresses less, and has a wet/dry blend control to dial in the most faint amounts of drive.
And here’s the man himself killing it at the 3:36 mark:
Have we talked about the Vox Tone Bender before? No, not any of the Sola Sound Tone Benders. And no, not any of the Colorsound Tone Benders. I’m talking about the VOX one. It appears that in the mid/late sixties about everyone was using that name, and a lot of them had distinct variations….some more noticeable than others. The Vox Tone Bender is drastically different than other benders. Its essentially a spin on the often rehashed Fuzz Face, but the particular blend of tweaks used turned this guy from commonplace rager into liquid gold beams of brown sunshine. Its saturated and soupy. Its a crockpot full of meat and potatoes stew. Its a volcano with Schlitz. Its just goddamned perfect. The originals were built with germanium transistors, but for ease and reliability this one was built with silicon per the customer’s request. Honestly this is one germanium fuzz box that translates particularly well to silicon parts. Finished with a particularly wrinkly gold and black hammertone. Get it on, fuzzbox.
Updates, updates, updates! Why am I never postng updates? I always say ill do more and never do, so maybe now is the time. I’ll try to look back in my archives and bring everything up to speed.
Ever since I started building I’ve had a small but steady stream of requests for Klon Centaur clones. Why? Well they’re a pretty nice overdrive circuit. Many people swear by them as the ONLY overdrive circuit they’ll use. Add to that the originals stopped production and used units were going for over a grand (!!) on eBay and the like. The circuit does sound quite nice, especially in the hands of the right player and in front of the right amp. One of the hidden secrets of these guys is that they have a TON of boost and will really drive your amp to breakup, as well as coloring the signal with some diode clipping.
So this is my take on that famed Klon circuit. The last few i’ve done have been in a nice raw finish which mimics all of the subtle glory of the original units. I build these as custom order but generally have one in stock and ready to ship if requested.
Black Balls is here!
INFAMOUS. THROBBING. BALLS. This here is a newbie that was built on a custom order and will be available in limited run shortly. Its a tremolo patterned after the old Vox Repeat Percussion. Never heard of it? Most people havent. It was found in some old Vox guitars that had built in effects, as well in some stand-alone boxes that plugged right into your guitar. What it amounts to is a tremolo like you’ve never heard. A bizarre, whomping whomper with lots of pulse attack and nowhere near the smooth rolling swells that most people associate with a tremolo effect. Fans of Spaceman 3, you’ve heard this before!
We called it the Throb Balls because it THROBS and, well, we have the sense of humor of a nine year old. One knob on this guy that controls the rate of the throbbing. A second is technically possible to control the depth of the effect, but really you ought to be approaching this one with an “all or nothing” frame of mind. The original circuit for these had an issue with volume drop which has been corrected for the Throb Balls. All the standard trimmings apply and it comes in a nice golden mustard enclosure. If you’re interested, drop me an email! thedoctor@ballseffects.com
Let’s get deep and personal. Why not? Ill talk about myself for a bit. For *my* band Cave Bros my setup is dead simple. I play a telecaster into clone of a 50W Marshall model 1987 that I built (many would refer to this as a “plexi”). What you may not know about these amps is that they are absolutely divine sonic lightning bolts that just kick ass all day and all night. They sound great and for my pursuits with this band I dont need a whole lot on top of that, so Ive just used an occasional wah, and a more-than-occasional Ballsmaster to drive it into saturated molten goo territory. I loaned that very Ballsmaster out to my dude Kelly Doyle for some sound clips, figuring i’ll just make another one for myself. Thats what this is.
So I know my settings on my Ballsmaster: boost cranked and the range set heeeaaaavvvyy. I know that I dont need to play with it, so no knobs are needed. Just a Ballsmaster hard set for loud and heavy. I put it in a nice big box with a rare Balls meatball decal from the lovely Dann Miller. For grins I used an old OC139 transistor that I had around. Simple, effective, and awesome!
I have not a garage, nor a car to put into one, but regardless i am having a garage sale. Just offloading a couple of pedals that i’ve made that are particularly cool and I dont mind letting go of…
Italian-ish One-Knob Fuzz ($100)- silicon transistors. compare to: Vox Tonebender. https://ballseffects.com/baldow-son/
Dark One-Knob Fuzz ($100)- silicon transistors. compare to: DAM Dark Meathead. https://ballseffects.com/baldow-son/
Big Muff J. Mascis Style ($130)- silicon transistors. built to in the style of what is purported to be J’s favorite muff. compare to: V3 Big Muff, Ram’s Head Big Muff.
Super Rat ($130)- Standard Rat with clipping options. No clipping/turbo rat/vintage rat/ultra clipping. compare to: Proco Rat, Turbo Rat. https://ballseffects.com/oye-como-brah/
Foxx Tone Machine ($140)- Standard Foxx Tone Machine circuit. Built in the layout of the original with knobs on the side and a large flat box. https://ballseffects.com/category/foxx-tone-machine/
Shipping is $10 for one pedal and $5 each additional pedal. Hit me up if interested! thedoctor@ballseffects.com
Man. MAN! It has been waaay too long since I had a good post. I’m gonna try to start posting more stuff here, but its currently summer and way too hot to build anything so I may run thin on stuff to gab about. I guess I can just start telling jokes then.
First order of note is that there are now some incredible sound clips for the production Balls units on their respective pages. These were all recorded by Kelly Doyle (hired-gun shred beast) in Houston Texas and I couldn’t be happier with how rad they sound. Give em a listen!
Now for some FUZZZZ. The O.G. fuzz face was an incredible pedal but even more incredible is the circuit. It is seemingly INFINITELY screw-with-able. You can tweak that thing for days and get new sounds out of it. People started doing it in the mid-sixties and still do it to this day. With that spirit in mind I made up this trio of one-knob-fuzzes built around that circuit and dammit if they don’t sound killer.
The first one (blue) was tuned a bit brighter than the standard fuzz face with some added filtering to smooth out the roughness in the fuzz. Super awesome bright, ringy, sustain chopper! The second (grey) is flavored after the Italy-produced Vox Tone Benders of the mid sixties. Its similar to the blue one but more saturated and just JUICIER. Ugh…it makes me sick even thinking about how good that one sounds. I think that one is gonna be a production unit soon. The third (green) drank some weird booze and things got dark. It has been tuned down to the thick and bassy side and sounds downright evil. Perfect tool for the sludgehead that lives in all of us. Each one of these uses a silicon BC108/BC109 transistor pair and has been topped off which a nice little chicken-head knob.
