The Range - Germanium Treblebooster kit

Item number: 185

Category: Booster

Enclosure

starting from 19,50 €

Final price incl. VAT, plus shipping (mitttel)

Available.

Shipping time: 3-7 Working days



Description

The Range is a treblebooster based on the legendary Dallas Rangemaster. It has the same features but some addons. It works with a germanium PNP transistor and uses a toggle-switch to switch between different input capacitors which makes it more versatile. It also features negative ground, so you can use the power-supply you use for your ofter effects.

This kit contains all parts you need to build a fully functional effect pedal.

Not included in the kit, but also very good to have:

  • Aluminium enclosure: select one above.
  • 9V battery or DC power supply
  • 1 nice knob for the potentiometer, for 6.3mm shaft
  • Decal, transfer or transparent sheets for labeling


Instrument: Guitar
Effect-Type: Boost

Build documents

Installation guide: Installation guide

Schematic and pcb: Schematic

Parts list (BOM): Parts list

Here are the docs for the previous version:

Schematic and pcb: Schematic

Wiring: Wiring layout

Parts list (BOM): Parts list

Ratings (96)

Average product review

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The most useful review

1 from 1 Customers found the following product review helpful
5 from 5 Very easy to build, does the job

You can build it in a couple of hours. I recommend to use a signal generator and an osciloscope to adjust the transistor polarization. Using the standard values gave a very asymmetrical signal, but it is expected with a very small feedback design. However, some may like the asymmetrical signal sound.
Just try it and see what you like.

., 06.12.2019
Entries 31 – 40 of 57
4 from 5 Great pedal

4 stars because the top drilled enclosure doesnt fit properly, so choose the one with the holes in the sides.

Building the pedal is pretty straight forward and the result is really cool. Amazed how much I like the pedal, especially because its only a handful of components. I use it on the lead channel of a marshall jubilee which is already quite overdriven. When engaging the boost it cuts some low end, add volume, gain and harmonics. When you lower the volume on your guitar it cleans up nicely. It can be a little shrill but I also use a treble bleed in my guitars. It is a bit different pedal than a normal boost or overdrive pedal, so Im learning on how to best use it.

., 08.01.2021
4 from 5 Sounds great, easiest build of my Musikding kits

Nice quick build, the 3PDT PCB helped with cutting down on time spent wiring the switch, plus it holds the LED quite nicely as well.

The only small issues are that the PCB is too close to the power supply jack and needs some care to fit in, and that the wiring docs picture different input and output jacks than the ones provide (the ring, tip and sleeve terminals are _not_ in order presented in the wiring docs, so be careful).

., 12.02.2021
5 from 5 Really cool circuit.

First pedal kit I ever built. Lots of resources on the web page if you get stuck.

After hearing this effect in my own playing I started to hear it all the time in the other music I listen too. Seems to make sense to why I was drawn to it.

This version is a bit on the more trebly side but that’s what i was looking for.

If I were to do it again I would purchase a few extra silicon and germ pnp transistors. And chose the one with the least noise.

The trannies are affixed to the chassis by a pressure fit three prong socket.

So you can keep the back off and swap them around until you fond something you like.

., 14.02.2021
5 from 5 Fantastic to begin with !

This was my first attempt to make a guitar pedal from Musikding and first succesful ever. The kit is very easy to build, I recommend it for beginners, altough knowing the schematics basics would be helpful. Ready pedal has an incredible sound and helps me a lot with recording guitars (especially dark sounding guitars and/or amps). I was really suprised by the quality of kit and absolutely noisless circuit. Now I am a regular customer of Musikding, did a few other, more difficult effects and I am simply delighted with the company idea, quality of products, and their approach to customers. So, start with this one and you will propobly start your adventure with building guitar effects, like I did :)

., 23.02.2021
5 from 5 It Sounds so good but...

The pedal deserves five stars cause it sound so damn good.
The germanium transistor has a very strong character and add that bite that really break the mix.
The switch is very userful and change the sound a lot. Its a little bit noisy ad high gain level, but its ok... probably if you use the battery instead the ac connector the problem disappears.
But...
I did a little mistake... I bought the top mount enclosure and it does not fit the two pcb at all. Also the wires are too short to connect jacks to the switch, the led need afjustement and so on... In the end the assembly was a nightmare... I wish musikding was be more clear on that issues.
Anyway, now it works, and I love it.

., 09.03.2021
5 from 5 Great sound, easy to build.

The instructions, though general, are very clear, the PCB is nicely annotated. It was fun to build this kit and the sound is great too.

., 23.03.2021
5 from 5 Great Kit!

Havent built a kit for a while but enjoyed this build. Everything was logical and well laid out. I made 2 mistakes (reversing power leads, and input leads) but once that was settled it worked great. Now to come up with a paint scheme!

., 10.05.2021
5 from 5 now i see the light

It took me about 4 hours to build. The parts were bagged and well marked. The instructions arent step by step, but it wasnt too hard to figure out. I made a mistake in soldering the potentiometer to where the switch went. Both have 3 pins and Im an idiot. But a little desoldering and I was back on track.
I bought the enclosure with the jacks on the top, as opposed to the sides. Everything fit (some previous reviews have said that it wont fit, but it did for me). One minor problem... the wires that were included werent long enough to reach from the on/off switch pcb to the jacks. I just soldered an extra length to the ones that werent long enough.
This thing sounds great!

., 24.06.2021
5 from 5 Sencillo y muy bueno

Es perfecto para iniciarse. Fue mi segundo pedal y el resultado no pudo ser mejor. Te queda un Booster muy versátil y muy bien conseguido. Tiene tres opciones de voicing que dan mucho juego. Todo un acierto

., 23.07.2021
5 from 5 Powerful boost, good treble, relatively easy build

Build:
This kit is relatively easy to build (although my friend did all the soldering). The instruction is perhaps not 100% for this specific unit, but close enough to not cause problems.
I chose top mounted version, so the cables that came with were not quite long enough. But you can either join two of them and isolate with heat shrinking, or use your own longer cable.
Also the in/out jacks got quite close to the metal in the corner but some small piece of isolation tape fixed that.
I chose the https://www.musikding.de/Chickenhead-coal for the Boost pot. It is a little bit sensitive to scratching, but has a gloss to it.

Variations:
I put in a 4-pin inline socket (https://www.musikding.de/4-Pin-inline-socket) for the transistor so I could have options left for the future.
I also soldered (myself!) the transistor in a 3-pin inline socket (https://www.musikding.de/3-Pin-inline-socket) so that I can easily swap between transistors to try different ones. The double socket height is not a big issue if you carefully fold the transistor about 90 degrees down, then it fits.
The stock/default one AC125, 70-79 sounds nice.
I also tried AC116, 80-89 which is a little bit thinner/less volume boost which is not all that bad since the boost is very powerful. The AC116 is also perhaps a little bit more natural, but that is subjective.
AC122, 90-99 is more powerful than the others, in a nice way.
AC125, 90-99 is also more powerful compared to the others, nice at first but can get a little bit too much.

We added a 3-pin inline socket for the C2 capacitance (3,3nF) and I also got a 4,7nF one to swap between. I was afraid the end result would be too trebly for my taste. It turned out that the 3,3nF was the better option, but I was happy to make use of the socket to try out variations.

Result and playability:
The result is more than I hoped for!
It is a bit more powerful and has more volume on tap than expected, but that is not a bad thing.
Unity is at 10:00 to 11:00 depending on which transistor I put in from the 4 listed above.
The treble switch settings with top being quite warm and not very much treblier makes it more of a useful and powerful Volume Boost.
The middle setting makes it as trebly as I like it to be at the most.
And the down setting (supposed to be closest to the original RM) has a very nice tone to it that I prefer most although I like to flip between them.
I put it very first in my chain and that seems to be a good spot.
Full boost with humbuckers breaks up the clean channel of the amp very nicely, even if it is a little bit loud for bedroom level.

Summary:
Very nice build, lots of tweakability if you want and a great final result.
Das Musikding clearly delivers! (And that should come as no surprise.)

., 19.08.2021
Entries 31 – 40 of 57


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