[Jblue76]

Hey all,
I’ve got a strat and I’m contemplating a blaster on-board. Where is the best place to get one? The Alembic one seems a bit pricy to me for what it is.
Also, it’s a hardtail so is there even room in the cavity for a battery and circuit?Thanks!

On another note, does anyone ever find certain sets of pickups don’t do as well with distortion as others? The strat has a set of Klein Epic 62s, a vintage spec pup and the sound really sweet though my twin rig clean, but I haven’t dialled in the distortion sound I want yet; they’re a bit harsh sounding until I add a lot of warmth or mids to the distortion. Could it be something inherent in the design of these pickups, or inherent in single coils, or do I just need to keep tweaking? Thanks again!

[Jon S.]

It's a pretty simple circuit. You could build one yourself or have a tech, local or otherwise, build it for you. Perhaps Brian at IO Custom Guitars? https://iocustomguitars.com/

[hippieguy1954]

https://alembic.stores.yahoo.net/blaster.html

http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/eff ... r-booster/

[lbpesq]

These guys also make an inexpensive Blaster kit.

https://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/

Their circuit board is a little smaller than the General Guitar Gadgets board - that may be a consideration if you are looking for a place to mount it. I have noticed a slight difference in the above schematic and the circuits used by both GGG and Pedalparts. The above-posted schematic uses two capacitors. The GGG and Pedalpart design employs three capacitors. Maybe someone around here who knows more about electronics than me can explain the difference?

Also, regarding on-board placement, for a hardtail your choices are to put it under the pickguard or in the jack cavity. If the latter, you will need to either replace the recessed mount with a surface mount (as Alembic does with their Blaster), or route out the compartment ala Alligator. You also need to decide if you want to adjust the gain and leave it there or you want on-the-fly gain adjustment. For set and leave, one mod to make the GGG or Pedalpart kit smaller is to replace the standard potentiometer with a mini trim pot. For on-the-fly adjustment, you might want to consider wiring your strat to have one universal tone control and replace the second tone control with the Blaster gain pot. Personally, I prefer to set and leave.

Good luck and stay safe,

Bill, tgo