First, this Ampeg Scrambler circuit IS NOT the current offering of a Scrambler from Ampeg. It's the exceptionally rare octave-up fuzz pedal version originally released in 1969, with fewer than 2,500 units being produced. The originals typically sell for over $1,000 on the used market.
This is an octave-up fuzz in the vein of the Superfuzz, fOXX Tone Machine and Octavia, although all four circuits use their own techniques to generate the octave, and all of them sound different.
Due to its largely un-filtered bass content and clean blend control, the Scrambler is particularly good for bass guitar, as you would expect from a company that primarily makes bass equipment.
Ampeg reissued the Scrambler in 2005 in a vintage-style enclosure. According to Analogman, these reissues are very faithful to the originals, but not identical.
In 2017, the current Scrambler was reissued, this time in a modernized enclosure and including a treble control and output volume, and marketed as a “bass overdrive” with no mention of fuzz. That pedal has no similarity either in circuit or sound to the original 1969 version or the 2005 reissues, so the resemblance is in name only.
This build is the original '69 circuit with the addition of an optional volume boost stage as well as a master volume control at the end since all of the originals suffer from excessively low volume, so a make-up gain stage was added to it. With the gain boost disabled and the volume knob at full, the circuit is 100% identical to a vintage 1969 Scrambler.
This one comes in a 125B with aluminum knobs, a relayed true bypass and has all top jacks. I am only going to build ONE for sale (the one pictured) and it is ready to ship
