I built this recently and it sounds pretty good, incredibly there isnt too much signal loss. With only 1 input it funtions as either a halfwave or fullwave rectifier, with 2 inputs the non linearity of the diodes produces an effect similar to ring modulation.
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Very similar to an old vox guitar effect. A great onboard passive effect using two or more pickups. Great fun.
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Sometimes the simplest circuits can do remarkable things. Ive been experimenting with little circuits like this for quite a while now. Thankfully Ive found a UK source for audio transformers around the £3 mark.
For anyone else intested here is a link for my source for these transformers
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I’ve got one of ken stones ring mods somewhere, it uses diodes pulled from a 1969 computer, germanium I think, supposed to have a particular sound
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The trick is that you can use any cheap PNP germanium transistor as a (germanium) diode.
Indeed, I found these locally for a similar price. Otherwise, mains rated 1:1 transformers (typically used as an isolation transformer) are very pricy.
The problem Ive had with using mains transformers for audio is that they tend to have too much series resistance and therefore too much signal gets lost for their use in a passive circuit.
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