[Barry]

@JasonWickersham

100% – Ziggy takes me right back to my teen years of guitar. 😁

My thoughts there are toward some kind of Dual Combo using the Modbender with either a Cock-It-Wah or a ROCK-Q Artist Profile, although I’m now leaning toward the Artist Profile for the instant accuracy and the ability to offer slightly more diverse tonal variation.

The only problem with creating a Dual Combo is that ROCK-Q won’t fit into a 1590BB2. It would require a slightly larger 1590XX. Alternatively, you could just go with building the “Singles.”

Regardless, I’m pretty certain I’ll develop an Artist Profile for Mick Ronson after I finish doing a deep frequency analysis of his isolated guitar tone.

 

[Barry]

@ jmgrabowski

Yes, the ROCK-Q will definitely feature a Kirk Hammet Q.

 

Regarding The Burner: Aside from its obvious potential for adding to the Boston tone, has anyone considered what it might do for the Queen tone when paired with the Diamond 30 and, eventually, the ROCK-Q May Edition Artist profile?

And what about some other likely candidates?

There will be some interesting combinations here. What do you think?

[Barry]

@Vrixx

Yes, but it is so much more than a Boost!

(*Brand New) NostalgiTone The Burner: Saturation Generator

[Barry]

If you are interested here is a link to purchase a copy of my Staff Shirt from an iconic 1980 gig at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh while they are there. What a show with a ton of stories and memories.

 

Full Concert audio from this show

[Barry]

Metal Godz definitely fills the NWOBHM need.

[Barry]

Looks fantastic, and thanks for sharing!

The first one is always the hardest. While there is still plenty of great stuff to learn it will all come much easier now.

[Barry]

Another project I’ve been working on is the NostalgiTone Compression Engine.

 

Introducing the NostalgiTone Compression Engine

This project has turned out to be a pretty interesting compressor. It uses an LM13700, which you’ll also find in classic compressors like the Dyna Comp, but the way it is used in this circuit is quite different. The overall topology is closer to what you would find in a more studio-oriented compressor, with the signal path and compression control handled differently from the traditional guitar compressor approach.

Solving the “Dark Tone” Dilemma

One of the things I specifically wanted to sort out was the tendency for compression to take some of the top end out of the guitar signal. The Compression Engine retains the compression and sustain without introducing that darker character.

High Sustain, Low Noise Floor

It’s also surprisingly quiet, and there is a great technical reason for that. Unlike vintage compressors that run your guitar signal directly through a noisy control chip, the LM13700 here isn’t the main audio path. Instead, it sits quietly in the feedback loop of a high-quality op-amp, acting as a background controller.

• The Benefit: This keeps the gain-control circuitry out of your direct signal line.
• The Result: A pedal that provides massive compression and sustain without dragging a wall of background hiss along with it.

Active Ratio Control

The Ratio control matches this streamlined efficiency by actively adjusting the intensity of the compression curve itself:

• Lower Settings: Dials back the circuit’s response so your natural transients and picking dynamics pass through unhindered.
• Higher Settings: Transitions seamlessly into a thick, uniform studio squeeze.

The result is a highly musical range that goes from a transparent, “always-on” enhancer to heavy, endless sustain.

Control Interface & Modding Potential

The interface provides direct adjustment over the core compression parameters via three controls: Threshold, Ratio, and Level.

• Preset Timing: The Attack and Release timings are preset via fixed resistor values on the PCB to favor maximum note bloom and natural decay. This profile is tuned specifically to prevent clipping on high-output pickups during sustained solos and to preserve the lower-frequency transients of individually picked chord passages, rather than clamping down too quickly on fast, percussive tracks.
• Easy Customization: For builders who want to customize the envelope characteristics, these timing constants are entirely determined by standard RC networks on the board. You can easily alter the response by swapping the fixed resistor values, or by wiring an external SPDT toggle switch to alternate between two different capacitor values for selectable fast and slow recovery times.

A New Direction

It’s another example of the direction I’m taking with the newer NostalgiTone projects. I’m not trying to make another version of something that already exists. I’m taking some familiar technology, approaching it differently, and trying to turn it into something that has its own purpose.

The Compression Engine is one of the many projects I’m particularly looking forward to getting out there.

[Barry]

A little more detail on the ROCK-Q:

The idea behind the Artist Profiles is not simply to create different EQ settings, but to shape each profile around the frequency relationships that define a particular player’s sound. The chart below shows the reasoning behind the current profiles and how the individual filter choices were used.

Technical Breakdown of Artist Profiles

The specific filter choices in this matrix serve distinct electrical purposes before your signal hits the clipping stage:

• Tom Scholz: Maxing out the 800 Hz band creates a steep mid-range peak that concentrates the guitar’s energy into a narrow vocal register, while taming the low end keeps his long, singing lead notes from turning into mud.
• Randy Rhoads: Pushing a tight, symmetrical arch focused at 400 Hz and 800 Hz steps up the mid-range response, allowing single-note solo passages to sound full and distinct on a bright, high-gain amplifier stage.
• Dimebag Darrell: Shuffling the mid-range sliders upward over a minor low-end dip acts as an input driver, slamming solid-state preamps with tight, mid-focused saturation that prevents palm mutes from loosening up.
• Michael Schenker: The balanced dome curve over 400 Hz, 800 Hz, and 1.6 kHz closely emulates a physical wah-wah pedal parked halfway open, narrowing the instrument’s bandwidth to focus purely on throat-like solo articulation.
• Tony Iommi: Slicing away sub-bass at 100 Hz replicates the high-pass coupling filters of his modified preamp gear, while a massive 400 Hz boost drives heavy low-mid heft through detuned strings before a treble drop shaves off brittle fizz.
• David Gilmour: An aggressive boost spanning 400 Hz and 800 Hz forcefully fills the mid-range cavity left behind by scooped vintage fuzz pedals, while a sharp roll-off at 3.2 kHz removes the harsh transistor hiss from high-gain sustain.
• Brian May: A steep low-end cut paired with an incremental incline up through 800 Hz, 1.6 kHz, and 3.2 kHz mimics the tone-shaping footprint of an always-on treble booster hitting a small, driven tube output stage.
• Eddie Van Halen: A broad mid-range lift centered at 400 Hz, 800 Hz, and 1.6 kHz serves as a clean pre-amp gain boost, thickening up standard bridge humbuckers and driving a vintage British valve amp into fluid lead saturation.
• Kerry King: A continuous mid-high climb peaking at 800 Hz drives a razor-sharp rhythm attack through high-gain tube preamps, providing the necessary definition for complex, high-speed thrash metal tracking.
• Kirk Hammett: Pushing the extreme lows and highs while slightly dipping the center frequencies creates a classic scooped contour, delivering an aggressive, wide rhythm crunch that stays clean of vocal frequencies.

And if there’s interest, I’d be happy to open up a discussion about some other projects currently in development: For example the new NostalgiTone compressor, and what I believe may be the “secret weapon” behind the tone of Boston’s first album.

[Barry]

@ Everyone

We’ve all spent countless hours chasing the exact tone of our favorite players, buying overdrive pedals and amp heads. But often, we try to get there using the limited tone controls built right into our guitar pedals. Most standard pedals limit you to a simple Tone knob, or perhaps a Bass and Treble control. Often these controls are completely passive. They can only cut your frequencies rather than boost them, leaving you stuck within a very narrow window.

But there is a foundational element that defines nearly every legendary guitar sound in history. It is an element that often goes completely unnoticed, and that is a highly specific, fixed EQ curve.

When you hear iconic players, you aren’t just hearing a high-gain circuit. You are hearing the magic of a precise frequency signature that cut through a mix. Michael Schenker did it by parking a physical wah pedal halfway through its sweep. Scholz, Rhoads, Dimebag, and many others did it by pushing specific sliders on graphic equalizers. They were using those filters to reshape how their guitar signal slammed into the amplifier preamp before the clipping even happened.

Fast forward to today, and the most popular gear revolution on the market is Digital Cabinet Impulse Responses (IRs). Every modeler and digital capture device relies on IR technology. But what exactly is a speaker IR at its core? It is essentially a high-resolution, static EQ curve that captures the exact physical resonant peaks and dips of a speaker cabinet, a microphone, and a room.

The goal of the ROCK-Q project is to bring that concept back into the physical world.

Instead of scrolling through software files on a digital screen, the ROCK-Q handles tone sculpting using real-world analog components. By replacing traditional mechanical control pots with discrete, permanent resistor pairs, we are modifying the active op-amp feedback loop directly. This means the resistors recreate the exact internal wiper positions of a standard slider, allowing the active circuit to deliver the full intended boost or cut. By hard-wiring these specific values, we can build those exact legendary frequency footprints straight into an analog pedal. With the simplicity of a single stomp, your signature tone is dialed in and ready to rock.

A closer look at just the 100 Hz band

 

The best part is that aside from building an artist style tone direct from the bill of materials, you can easily create your own custom, unique voice as a DIY builder. You don’t need a software engineering degree to get a custom tone. You just need a soldering iron, some sockets for testing different values, the right resistors, and a basic understanding of how the frequency bands interact. There is absolutely nothing like the feeling of physically creating your own real tone with your own hands, plugging it into a real amp, and playing that very first chord.

To help show how this works in practice, I have put together an initial resistor lookup matrix based on these 8 iconic artist profiles. Please note that this chart is a tentative. I am sharing it to illustrate the concept and show how easy it will be to create your own custom curves with this information.

ROCK-Q Experimental Resistor Matrix (Tentative Prototype Guide)

Artist Profile	Band 1 (100 Hz)	Band 2 (200 Hz)	Band 3 (400 Hz)	Band 4 (800 Hz)	Band 5 (1.6 kHz)	Band 6 (3.2 kHz)
Tom Scholz	-3 dB 33k 18k	-3 dB 33k 18k	+9 dB 12k 39k	+18 dB 1k 51k	+3 dB 18k 33k	0 dB 25k 25k
Randy Rhoads	+3 dB 18k 33k	+6 dB 15k 36k	+9 dB 12k 39k	+6 dB 15k 36k	+3 dB 18k 33k	0 dB 25k 25k
Dimebag Darrell	-3 dB 33k 18k	+3 dB 18k 33k	+9 dB 12k 39k	+18 dB 1k 51k	+9 dB 12k 39k	+3 dB 18k 33k
Michael Schenker	0 dB 25k 25k	+3 dB 18k 33k	+6 dB 15k 36k	+18 dB 1k 51k	+6 dB 15k 36k	0 dB 25k 25k
Tony Iommi	-9 dB 39k 12k	+3 dB 18k 33k	+18 dB 1k 51k	+6 dB 15k 36k	+9 dB 12k 39k	-3 dB 33k 18k
David Gilmour	-3 dB 33k 18k	+3 dB 18k 33k	+9 dB 12k 39k	+18 dB 1k 51k	+6 dB 15k 36k	-6 dB 36k 15k
Brian May	-3 dB 33k 18k	+3 dB 18k 33k	+6 dB 15k 36k	+18 dB 1k 51k	+9 dB 12k 39k	+3 dB 18k 33k
Eddie Van Halen	-3 dB 33k 18k	0 dB 25k 25k	+6 dB 15k 36k	+18 dB 1k 51k	+6 dB 15k 36k	-3 dB 33k 18k
Kerry King	+3 dB 18k 33k	+3 dB 18k 33k	+9 dB 12k 39k	+18 dB 1k 51k	+6 dB 15k 36k	+3 dB 18k 33k
Kirk Hammett	+6 dB 15k 36k	+3 dB 18k 33k	-3 dB 33k 18k	-6 dB 36k 15k	+3 dB 18k 33k	+6 dB 15k 36k

Note: Rather than chasing strict mathematical perfection, the lookup matrix utilizes standard, readily available resistor values for practical convenience, bringing your circuit well within the targeted ballpark of each fixed frequency response level.

[Barry]

@ brd

I’ll have a chart that makes it pretty easy to translate the slider positions into common resistor values, along with the preset combinations for specific artist EQ settings available in the BOM. The resistor positions can also be socketed, so anyone who wants to experiment can easily customize the settings and come up with their own. I think that could be pretty cool for people who like to tweak things beyond the standard settings.

 

Interestingly I am also working on an exciting new Compression module at this time as well.

[Barry]

Has anyone said the name of this new circuit out loud several times?

[Barry]

@ Byrdhouse Compressor

Yes, where the information can be verified, I have precisely recreated the artist’s EQ voicing as they used it. The Level control allows you to cut the output if it becomes too much when running pedals in tandem. That’s why I thought it was useful to have available. With the Level full-up, the ROCK-Q will be at the same volume level as the original MXR 6-band EQ, which does not have a separate Level control.

It’s also worth mentioning again that I’ve used through-hole ICs that will deliver the goods, something that isn’t possible with the later Black and Silver SMD versions.

 

@ JasonWickersham

Thanks!

The idea is that I’ll offer multiple BOMs for the ROCK-Q, allowing you to build your favorite artist’s EQ voicing from choices like Boston, Randy Rhoads, Dimebag Darrell, Michael Schenker, and of course Brian May though his specific tone is almost achievable with the STADIUM ROCK PCB alone. Simply cut the Bass, Boost the 800 Hz focused Mids, and Boost the Treble and Bob’s your Uncle. Anyway their specific EQ settings are well documented and recognizable, so each BOM would let you build the corresponding voicing.

 

[Barry]

The switches only fit one of two orientations as you see and it doesn’t matter which one.

If you ordered a pre-drilled enclosure from Tayda then the LEDs are mounted on the wiring board so you will need to short the Main Board LED pads and I would use a trimmed component lead to do that and not just a solder bridge.

As for the soldering just take your time and develop your technique. I assume you are using a fine conical tip that is tinned well. Hold the hot tip (650-675°F) to the pad and component lead at the same time for 5 seconds before applying your 63/37 tin/lead solder. Cold solder joints are the #1 reason for a build error. Also if you are not happy with a solder joint simply go back and re-flow it with your freshly tinned iron. That is the #1 troubleshooting tip that fixes most build errors.

From our previous thread be sure to check out the other builds on our forum:

Here is one Zoso Tone build and here is alternate Zoso Tone build that you can use as a visual reference.

 

[Barry]

Too many??

Nah. And BRD as far as telling your wife something I am fairly certain there are far worse things husbands could be doing in their spare time than being at home building pedals. I could create a Top Ten list right now.

Excellent post jd6string, thank you for sharing!

 

[Barry]

I was kind of hoping to continue the conversation here so if you all have any comments or questions go ahead.

 

So, regarding my previous post about one of the most crucial tone elements for Boston’s first album guitar tone, I’ve been working on an idea where I create my own modules. I may expand on that concept here at some point if there is some interest.

For now, I’ve developed a circuit based around the crucial analog, through-hole components of the MXR 6-Band EQ Blue Box version. Instead of using individual sliders, I’ve replaced them with resistors that provide a fixed level for each band, locking everything into the exact settings needed for the Boston tone. So all you have to do is turn it on and you’re good to go.

I also added a single Level control, which isn’t part of the original circuit, but I found it useful.

This would be one more module toward achieving that iconic Boston tone, while still giving you the flexibility to turn it off and play completely different styles. That’s something you really can’t do with a Rockman.

As mentioned in my previous post, the only version that can really achieve this is the Blue Box version, due to the older through-hole components used in its construction. Those components have a different character and add some extra breakup and harmonic character to the tone that isn’t quite the same in the later Black or Silver versions. Unfortunately, finding an original Blue Box version in good condition isn’t getting any easier, and prices have climbed considerably, with vintage examples commonly selling in the $175–$300 range and some asking considerably more. So rather than hunting down an expensive vintage pedal, I wanted to build a dedicated module that captures the important characteristics of that particular version and locks the EQ settings into the configuration needed for this tone.

Simply plug this in front of the Stadium Rock, your favorite high-gain pedal, or a high-gain amp, and you’re well on your way to some great Boston-style tones.

There will be more to follow if there is some interest.

[Barry]

And this is where the Boston rabbit hole gets ridiculous, and also where you discover that some of the details really do matter. 😂

Take the MXR 6-Band Graphic EQ. Scholz used the EQ as part of his setup, including using it to recreate the frequency response of his studio cocked-wah sound for live performance. So naturally you might think, “Fine, I’ll just grab an MXR 6-Band and dial in the same settings.”

Well… not quite that simple.

There have been several versions of the 6-Band over the years. The older blue version uses through-hole construction and TL022 op-amps, and these older units are known for having more character and breakup when pushed. Later versions, including the black 9V-input model and the current M108S, use newer surface-mount implementations and are considerably cleaner.

That matters when you’re putting the EQ in front of a Marshall and using it to push the amp. The EQ isn’t just shaping the frequencies; its own behavior becomes part of what is hitting the amplifier.

And suddenly you’re down the rabbit hole: which MXR, which revision, what EQ settings, what Marshall, what was in front of it, and what was happening after it? 😂

That’s not necessarily cork sniffing. If the older EQ actually breaks up differently and changes how it drives the next stage, that’s electronics, not magic.

And that’s exactly why I like approaching these classic tones as separate pieces. You’re not locked into one band’s tone you can experiment with the individual pieces and combine them in different ways.

Old Blue – (through hole components)

Newer versions Black and Silver – (smd will not allow that special thing to happen)

[Barry]

Recreating the Boston sound is a giant can of worms that I will be exploring. 😁

Does STADIUM ROCK have the saturation? Yes.
Does it have the 800 Hz mid focus, which is boostable with an active EQ? Yes.

There is much more to the Boston sound than that, though.

If we’re talking specifically about the first Boston album, you have to consider that Tom Scholz wasn’t using Rockmans or RockModules in 1976-77. He was using a Marshall amplifier, which he boosted with a secret device that I have already designed and am currently waiting to verify when the PCBs arrive.

He also used an MXR 6-band Graphic EQ with very specific settings. And that’s all without getting into the compressor, chorus, and delay. I have left a few items out on purpose but you get the idea.

There’s also a fairly noticeable difference between the debut album and the follow-up albums, which became even more processed. aka; The Rockman sound.

What’s brilliant about doing it this way—keeping the pieces separate—is that you’re not locked into one band’s tone. A few quick twists of the knobs and you can move from one classic sound to something completely different.

So, in short, yes, you should get the STADIUM ROCK. 😁 It will give you the saturated Marshall-style foundation, with the added bonus of an active EQ with a focused midrange centered around 800 Hz.

It’s not intended to be the entire Boston rig in one box—but it’s definitely one of the important pieces of the puzzle.

[Author]

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