GuitarPCB

The company does not sell enclosures. Its shop page links to Tayda's pre-drilled enclosures, and its build documents include drill templates for common sizes². Kits with the components are handled by authorized worldwide distributors: PedalPartsAndKits in the USA, Das Musikding in Europe, and PedalPartsAustralia in Australia³.

How the NostalgiTone boards work

Every NostalgiTone purchase follows the same three-piece format: a mainboard holding the effect circuit, a 3PDT footswitch wiring board, and a ribbon cable joining the two⁵⁶¹⁰. The wiring board carries the status LED and its current limiting resistor, so the footswitch wiring stays tidy and the mainboard stays compact at 2.10" x 2.12", sized for a 1590B or 125B enclosure⁵⁶.

One build tip repeats across the series documents: in a 1590B enclosure, mount the ribbon cable on top of the mainboard and wiring board rather than underneath, because the enclosure's compact size restricts space for side jack plugs¹¹.

Overdrive and distortion boards

The overdrive and distortion side of the range runs from straightforward amp-like drives to multi-stage high gain.

GuitarPCB describes Rock Candy as moving "from clean, gritty overdrive into a fuller, more sustained drive as the Gain control is advanced," with controls for Gain (B1M), Tone (B20K) and Output (A10K)⁵. STADIUM ROCK's three-band tone matrix is voiced for era-specific settings: tone controls around noon give the thick drive of classic Boston tones, while cutting Bass and raising Treble produces a brighter, singing saturation in the spirit of a treble booster driving a saturated amp⁹.

Fuzz boards: ModBender and Harbinger

The NostalgiTone ModBender Single takes the three-transistor Tone Bender architecture and rebuilds it with three 2N3903 silicon transistors, chosen for their lower gain characteristics. GuitarPCB says it delivers the aggressive harmonic character, sustain and dynamic response of the classic circuits with improved consistency and reliability, adding a dedicated high-frequency contour control, FUZZ (B5K) and VOLUME (A100K) controls, and an onboard 10K bias trim for the final gain stage¹.

Setting that trim is a measured procedure:

1. Power the circuit at 9V.
2. Connect the multimeter's black probe to ground.
3. Measure the voltage at the Q3 collector (left pad).
4. Adjust the 10K bias trim until the reading is approximately 4.5V.
5. Fine-tune by ear for your preferred tonal character¹.

The Harbinger Fuzz, sold as a NostalgiTone single with mainboard, wiring board and ribbon cable, is inspired by the Big Muff Opamp and built around two RC4558 ICs with 1N914 clipping diodes¹⁵¹⁶. GuitarPCB describes it as producing thick, endlessly sustaining fuzz walls, with SUS (B100K), TONE (B10K) and VOL (A100K) controls¹⁶.

Wah, EQ and preamp boards

The Cock-It-Wah is a fixed, parked-wah filter: instead of sweeping a traditional wah range, it captures the focused, vocal character of a wah left at its sweet spot, in a compact pedal with no treadle mechanism¹¹¹⁰. It is all-analog, built on TL072 and TL074 ICs, with an external PEAK control that selects the parked wah frequency¹¹.

The AmpEQ is an active EQ preamp with up to +26 dB of adjustable gain and active Bass and Treble controls offering true boost and cut⁸. GuitarPCB says it shapes tone "without sacrificing clarity while preserving the natural character of your guitar, pedals, and amplifier"⁸. Its controls are GAIN (C500K), BASS (W20K) and TREBLE (W20K), and because the EQ is active, Bass and Treble both boost and cut from the 12:00 position⁸¹⁷. It also works in an amplifier's effects loop: placed after the preamp stage, it becomes a tone-shaping tool for fine-tuning the amp's response without increasing preamp gain¹⁸.

The CitrusAmp preamp single is built around vintage Orange amplifiers, with what GuitarPCB calls "Classic British rock character with the bold voice of vintage Orange-inspired amplification," an active three-band EQ, and a stock red LED clipping pair that can be swapped for 1N5817 Schottky diodes. For detuned, baritone or extended-range instruments, increasing C12 from the stock 22n to 33n or 47n extends the Bass control further into the lows¹⁹.

Bonus PCBs and community layouts

Alongside its own designs, GuitarPCB includes free bonus PCBs with qualifying orders. These are not sold separately and are based on existing circuits: the Danelectro Nichols 1966 fuzz, the Krank Distortus Maximus distortion, and the Alexander Jubilee Silver overdrive²⁰²¹²². Each layout was shared publicly on PCBWay by the user "Glory to Ukraine" and is included as a non-commercial project, with 10% of the PCB cost donated to the designer²⁰²¹²². All component values and capacitor codes are printed directly on these boards, and each build document includes a drill template that must be printed at 100% scale, not Fit to Page²².

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