Dallas Arbiter™ Rangemaster

This is a replica of the legendary old-time booster. It uses a germanium transistor available from Small Bear and other places.

• General Build Instructions
• Tone Booster Notes & Modifications
• Rangemaster Instructions
• Rangemaster Bill of Materials Text
• Rangemaster Schematic
• Rangemaster Parts Layout and Wiring Diagram
• Rangemaster Ready-For-Transfer Printed Circuit Board Layout
• Rangemaster Project Revisions History

For Compatibility with other Negative ground circuit stompboxes on the same power supplies, some builders may want to seek out and use a NPN germanium transistor. Here are the diagrams to build it with an NPN transistor

• Rangemaster NPN Schematic
• Rangemaster NPN Parts Layout and Wiring Diagram

Rangemaster PNP Germanium Transistor With Charge Pump Version

The addition of a charge pump on the input power, gives you the ability to daisy chain power to your PNP Positive ground pedal with all your other negative ground pedals! Eliminate any need for special considerations when powering your Rangemaster with the other pedals on your pedal board.

GEB PNP Germanium with Charge Pump Instructions and Diagram

Buy a Rangemaster Complete Kit. Includes all the parts and materials you need to build one (except the Germanium transistor), all for about the price you would pay for a PCB and parts.

Would you like a Ready to Solder Circuit Board for this project?

Additional Notes:

From Alex Anest:

You may want to adjust the input cap. My Rangemaster replica sounds totally different with my (single coil) Tele than it does with my home-made humbucking thinline Tele, and so I use a different “range” by flipping the input cap switch. A .033uF or .05uF seem to work well for single coils, between .005uF and .001uF for humbuckers.