Fireaxe -fa-1 preamp

[Guardians of the analog]

Greetings and salutations, this week I'm revisiting my second build of the fireaxe, a fantastic take on the boss fa-1 preamp. The first one I built some time in 2021 and I had someone reach out to me after posting it on IG and they made me an offer I couldn't refuse. Luckily this was a giveaway board and I had a second one and I had to build this up again.

The fa-1 was originally a preamp made with a belt clip and was made to stay on all the time. The edge is probably the main reason this became a wanted circuit. Regardless of the edge's use of the effect, it's fantastic and it's lack of conventional housing and switching is probably why it didn't catch on the first go round. The bass and treble EQ section is pretty powerful and can give some nice tone sculpting. The added subs switch is great for use on bass, the clipping switch and addition of the master volume knob allow you to use it as a low gain drive as well, which has a more open breakup less like a traditional soft clipping opamp overdrive. I really like to use this to give my blackface amp more of a box type chime.

A simple straightforward build. Matte black tayda enclosure with UV print. Beta Rey Bill with storm breaker in a monochromatic black and white color scheme. If you are looking for something a little different then this is something I would definitely check out as it can be used for multiple applications, sounds good on bass too, and low parts count.

 

[Harry Klippton]

I've got this one kicking around somewhere I think based on your last build report. What's up with the tiny volume pot?

 

[Guardians of the analog]

I've got this one kicking around somewhere I think based on your last build report. What's up with the tiny volume pot?

The original just had the level pot, which means it was loud AF and using it as a low gain drive was hard to do. The added master volume means you can use it as a drive and manage the volume with the master, or leave it wide open and use it as a preamp/clean boost like the original

 

[szukalski]

Lovely stuff as always. I really like the matte black enclosures.

 

[Guardians of the analog]

I like all the matte colors, I fact I wish they offered every color in matte, the gloss is so distracting and has light reflecting off it all the time. The matte looks so classy.