LARDACIOUS PHAT BASTARD... a "new" fuzz overdrive

[pinkjimiphoton]

nothing special or probably un-done before....this USED to be the "stereo make up gain stage" i built for my mn3007 clone theory build...

ever eco-conscious <vbg> i decided to cascade the two preamps. and add a footswitchable diode clipper. all built in a re-cycled 1590 from my very second build.

now...it may not seem like much, but it's real nice and creamy!! i built mine with the balls pot on the side of the pedal, so i can roll it with my foot to adjust it. you may wanna do different.

anyways...it's built, it's verified, if you want a schematic, you gotta draw one!!!  it's basically a pair of eh lpb1's cascaded, with a footswitchable diode clipper between e of q2 and ground.

easy breezy sleazy goodness... can double as a fuzz or an overdrive. if you leave off  R9, and turn the gain pot all the way down, you get farty nasty octave down/ringmod/escobedo kinda horrible nasty sounds,
that SOME of you guys may enjoy...i just added the resistor to prevent that, but when ya breadboard this, you may like it better without.

i didn't measure voltages, i cranked the top trimmer full blast, then the bottom up till i found a sweet spot. if you get rf noise, turn vr2 down just an RCH.

there ya have it;

something to do one of these days when you're REALLY freakin' bored!!



please let me know if ya build this thing...have fun!!


ps...savvy viewers will notice the jumper between j 2 and k 2 could have been avoided if i had been intelligent enough to  put the resistors r 3 and 5  to the ground rail...

[rutabaga bob]

so...when's the 'pedal trick' video coming out? 

[pinkjimiphoton]

give me time...mwah hah hah...

this thing is SICK. depending on how ya dial it in, you can get some pretty brootal sounds...it's gated, it's fuzzy, but sustains well.
almost like a compressor and fuzz...or half a big muff?

depending on the trimmers, the diodes being engaged can be drastic or damn near unnoticeable. some of the best sounds are with the two trimmers damn near pegged...a lot of sweet spots for different fuzzes and buzzes and overall gain.

stupid pedal trick to be seen at a youtube near you soon...

[rutabaga bob]

the cascaded lpb1's bring to mind the 'assassin of silence', a rick holt production, if i am thinking right...(which doesn't happen all that often).

[pinkjimiphoton]

wellp, this was an accident...just kinda like, ok, got this board i built that's now useless, what do i do with it?

and it's one of my favorite fuzzes yet!

no disrespect to rick holt, i've looked at a lot of his stuff but haven't set out to build anything specifically.

[rutabaga bob]

I just meant it came to mind. 
A BAT 60 diode?  Isn't that a surface-mount Schottky?

[pinkjimiphoton]

maybe bat 40? i forget, it was bat something, just got 'em from tayda...look kinda like a 1n34a but with black end instead of green

[pinkjimiphoton]

 

   

[pinkjimiphoton]

thanks to rutabaga bob for the schematic...nice job, larry!!

[Tony Forestiere]

rutabagabob/Larry is a good scout for tracing that. 

[rutabaga bob]

Now, you'll just have to swap out those trimmers for regular 10k pots, so it's easier to check the different 'sweet spots'!  Nothing like more knobs!!!

[rutabaga bob]

For those of us who don't like vero much...

[rutabaga bob]

Schottky diode changed to germanium per Jimi.

[Gus]

I would remove the two 1n34s that are in series and and reduce the parts count (the schematic with the bat 41 and 2, 1n34s) it should sound the same

If the schematic is correct they can not conduct they are DC coupled in the schematic not AC coupled.

Test it with the 2 diodes disconnected leave in the bat 41.

[pinkjimiphoton]

you can do that if ya want, but i tried it with a couple different diode types and combos, this sounded best to my ear. i think what it's doing is just letting the second footswitch boost it in volume when the diodes are out of the circuit. depending on how you set the trimmers is the key...if both are pegged, the diode thing has almost no effect...the way i have it, it gives a boost, tho i haven't checked the switch to see if the boost is with or without the diodes.  like i said, i'm a hack, i mess around with things until i find something that sounds cool. check the youtube out gus, you can definitely hear the difference.

i was telling bob that i may have mis-labeled the single diode, i have a bunch i bought on ebay a while ago, and tho it was supposed to be 1n34's, there were some that didn't look the same, they were glass but had a green band...that's what's in the thing i built...anybody's guess what it is. like i said, i'm a hack. i doubt the type of diode is gonna matter too much, but i don't know poo about this stuff.

i'm  10,000 monkeys and 10,000 years kinda guy

if ya breadboard it, try it both ways and see what ya like better.

the second 1m can definitely be omitted if one wants i think.

but definitely sounds different with the diode clipper added...can't tell you why it works or doesn't.

[brett]

Hi
Cool design. 

I think Gus was saying that the two serial diodes don't conduct because the voltage is set up the other way (emitter is always more +ve than the ground). So, if they don't do anything, you might as well leave them out. The BAT41/1N/whatever will be working lots ot little depending on the voltage at the emitter and top of the trimmer.

an extra 2c worth....From what I can see, that trimmer is important enough to be a control on the outside of the box. Also, you might consider putting the volume/gain control at the input to get some extra control over the amount of clipping.  I realise that this is not usually a good idea, but at the moment, the clipping is dependent on the input level and the trimmer - the pot is only for extra gain, not extra clipping. If you wanted to make it really flexible, you could add an extra one at the input - "drive".

cheers

[pinkjimiphoton]

cool idea! like i said, this was just salvaging something else, and turned into this.

i do like the idea of moving the trimmers out to the box, just wasn't worth it with this version. i may build another one and do that tho.
i LIKE the idea of the pregain pot.

i believe gus, i don't know what the heck i'm doing, so i'll take his word!

[rutabaga bob]

sorry for the other empty holes, but it's past editing, so i am upping another one.

[pinkjimiphoton]

no worries lar!!