Updated – see below for information on improving the design to lower the output impedance. We have had enquiries about adding volume and tone controls to the Unbalanced Piezo Preamp (available in the shop here). The PCB was not designed for the addition of these controls, so this article represents something of a hack. Here’s… Read More »
Following on from our articles on the Unbalanced piezo preamp and Guitar leads, buffers and true bypass we present a project to build your own JFET buffer pedal. The circuit is essentially the same as in the unbalanced piezo preamp with a few tweaks and may be built into a Hammond 1590B or similar stomp-box… Read More »
Update: Modules are available in the shop here now. I finally decided to retire the Altoids Piezo Preamp Kit and Altoids Piezo DI kit projects from the shop; I received good feedback from customers – but not enough people bought them. Fully built and tested Altoids Piezo Preamps are available from the shop here. The… Read More »
Phantom Piezo Preamp Modules are available from the shop here. Sometimes, back-of-the-envelope calculations do not tell the whole story (and neither do simulations). This article is a follow-up to the original article Phantom Piezo Preamp and addresses some errors and misconceptions that have arisen. The Phantom piezo preamp module (available in the shop here) has… Read More »
Update: Please see also Phantom Piezo Preamp revisited Update: Phantom Piezo Preamp modules are available for purchase in the shop here. A few years ago, Alex Rice put a design up on the internet for a phantom-powered JFET piezo preamp. Here’s the schematic of the original design as reported by Zach Poff: So far so… Read More »