I built one of these about 15 years ago and gave it away but to this day it's been the best sounding fuzz I've had, so it's time to rebuild it. I'm searching for a perf layout but it doesn't seem to exist, it's a long shot but is anybody here sitting on one?
(https://i.postimg.cc/c6GTqcq4/TONEBENDER-NPN-SILICON-DRAGONFLY-VE.gif) (https://postimg.cc/c6GTqcq4)
No layout, sorry, but it's really not that hard to do on perf board, even just following the schematic in a basic way.
I agree, it's a great sounding fuzz, I really love mine!! Same schematic.
You might want to bread board it first...for some reason, on mine, the diode at Q2 base caused it to not work (at all). Maybe that's my error, no clue... I omitted it, and used a trimmer at Q2 collector to bias (a pot, so I can change bias for the sizzle!). I think the schematic I ended up with was the 'original' Tonebender MKII, daniels, tremblay, orman et. al., easy to find on net/here!
Oh man, I have all those parts on hand...extremely tempting...I might try that perfboard software myself in the next few days since I've got some lying around (not experienced with making my own layouts except in CAD software though).
Quote from: tootsMcgee on May 29, 2024, 06:47:10 PMOh man, I have all those parts on hand...extremely tempting...I might try that perfboard software myself in the next few days since I've got some lying around (not experienced with making my own layouts except in CAD software though).
oh damn, let's go! i smell a community build thread coming
Quote from: GibsonGM on May 29, 2024, 05:36:54 PMNo layout, sorry, but it's really not that hard to do on perf board, even just following the schematic in a basic way.
I agree, it's a great sounding fuzz, I really love mine!! Same schematic.
You might want to bread board it first...for some reason, on mine, the diode at Q2 base caused it to not work (at all). Maybe that's my error, no clue... I omitted it, and used a trimmer at Q2 collector to bias (a pot, so I can change bias for the sizzle!). I think the schematic I ended up with was the 'original' Tonebender MKII, daniels, tremblay, orman et. al., easy to find on net/here!
i'm comfortable building it from the schem on perf but you know just for the sake of not painting myself into a corner and having to fix it, etc. thanks for the heads up about Q2, will def add the trim
Here's the schematic that I built from, no mods. Q2's collector resistor is 330 ohm + a 10k trimmer in series. I'm not at the pedalboard now, but think I was going to change the 10k out to a 5k, to give better 'fine tuning' (keeping the 330 ohm), so experiment - breadboard it first! Pretty sure I used 2N3904's, and they biased just fine!
(https://i.postimg.cc/fyxM2Z4R/Tone-Bender.jpg)
coool. i like jack orman's stuff, his son of screamer is still the best amp booster I've ever used
https://www.muzique.com/tech/scream.htm
Try his Mosfet Boost 8) I've used that one many times, even for preamp'ing a mic to record acoustic and the like! Son of Screamer is good too for 'middy' boost needs, and without the buffers is a lot more straight-forward to build.
In retrospect, I'm pretty sure now (90% confidence) that I used 2 2N3904's and a 5088 in Q3 in my Si Tonebender.
Hey, I have a silicon buzzaround I'm working on. Will post in a bit. It's based on https://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=111831.msg1267499#msg1267499 by mac
I have some boards left for this. Don't know how much it differs from the other silicon tonebenders.
http://www.super-freq.com/pcb-projects/silicon-tone-bender-by-mic-tester/
It's got some differences, including a BMP-type tilt tone stack driven by a buffer. As for how it sounds - maybe it's very much like the original, hard to say! 8) It might be more versatile for some.
If the op (or anyone) wants a mictester board let me know, i have moved to another slew of projects(as usual).
I built my Tonebender from the schematic in Mike's post around 15 years ago. It was one of my first builds and my first vero layout. It was originally posted by the late Ricky D. Vance (RDV). The vero layout is in the gallery, but there are probably better ones
I actually had it open last week. It has two 3904's and a 5088 like Mike's.
I tried to install a switch to bypass the first stage, making it a more fuzz facey thing. I used the other half of the switch to change the values from emitter to ground at Q3 to act as the gain pot is turned all the way up.
It's ok, but I haven'decided if I will keep the switch
Quote from: mozz on June 06, 2024, 06:27:55 AMIf the op (or anyone) wants a mictester board let me know, i have moved to another slew of projects(as usual).
you're very generous but i'm not sure which version i'll end up with so probably will just go with a perf wafer
Quote from: cab42 on June 07, 2024, 01:24:46 AMI built my Tonebender from the schematic in Mike's post around 15 years ago. It was one of my first builds and my first vero layout. It was originally posted by the late Ricky D. Vance (RDV). The vero layout is in the gallery, but there are probably better ones
I actually had it open last week. It has two 3904's and a 5088 like Mike's.
I tried to install a switch to bypass the first stage, making it a more fuzz facey thing. I used the other half of the switch to change the values from emitter to ground at Q3 to act as the gain pot is turned all the way up.
It's ok, but I haven'decided if I will keep the switch
Very cool, and actually i may do this but i would def want to still control the gain knob separately. You could make a really dynamic fuzz bomber with a few tweaks like this though, especially if you boxed it up as a 2-in-1 with another circuit like a muff with variable mid boost or tone stack bypass like the byoc version does
Quote from: ghostsauce on June 07, 2024, 09:19:08 AMVery cool, and actually i may do this but i would def want to still control the gain knob separately. You could make a really dynamic fuzz bomber with a few tweaks like this though, especially if you boxed it up as a 2-in-1 with another circuit like a muff with variable mid boost or tone stack bypass like the byoc version does
I found it a bit weak in FF mode unless gain was turned all the way up. And it is pretty sensitive to the volume pot so I can use that to control gain. Maybe I could use a 3pdt toggle for switching in a bias control on Q3 when in FF mode
While writing this I came to remember that I was asked to do a vero of Dragonfly's Facebender, a tonebender with a switch. I think that is in the gallery as well.
In case it helps: I had a chance to crack open the Si Tonebender again. I now recall that I played with 2N3904s in Q1/Q2, and they were fine, but I settled on 2 MPSA42's in the end, with a 5088 for Q3.
To my ear, there was a significant enough difference between 3904 and the A42s to prefer them.
Quote from: GibsonGM on June 10, 2024, 08:21:24 AMIn case it helps: I had a chance to crack open the Si Tonebender again. I now recall that I played with 2N3904s in Q1/Q2, and they were fine, but I settled on 2 MPSA42's in the end, with a 5088 for Q3.
To my ear, there was a significant enough difference between 3904 and the A42s to prefer them.
cool, noted. i'm still mulling over how i want to proceed with this but i will nab some of these if the price is right, thanks bro
Sure! The lower gain of the MPSA42s reduces some of the harshness and makes it more wooly, to my ear - 3904s were too gainy.
Now I'm back messing around with this, ha ha! That happens, someone asks a question and sets others off. I have to paint the enclosure, maybe I'll get around to that soon!
hell yeah, drop some pics & clips when you get there
I will soon. I got into the perf I had built, and it's a mess. The values I needed to use are way different than what they should be; I probably used a pot to dial them in. That bothers me (like, 50k on Q3??). Something isn't right. So I'm going to make a new board, lol. It's been my experience that more than 2 transistors, you might want to make or find a layout (I use perfboard) instead of winging it, ha ha!
The enclosure is all painted and labeled, though! :icon_cool:
Quote from: GibsonGM on June 11, 2024, 07:35:11 AMI have to paint the enclosure, maybe I'll get around to that soon!
I have a picture of Fat Freddy's cat on mine ;D
Here's a vero you've probably already seen if you searched layouts. I've sometimes used vero layouts on perf board.
(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPoOG6Qkz9qXwDhqhJWLK6RHoInvu7tiP_0tLRkmeizUzyZP_rIk5HKaZCmk_76K03H9T4Ly4gPSfIwk_gDZRDOnXUdxh9WJzi078_yUEqzDcY_0nml2a8Vs0EgZGv_ONUIL_1YMhlp_Nn/s1600/Silicon+Tonebender+MKII+%2528V2%2529.png)
That's a good one for vero board. Without a layout, if the thing is more than 2 transistors, I tend to crowd everything in worrying I'll run out of room ha ha. This is one Q too big to freehand, and just a little too small to want to make a PCB for.
The one I'll redo the TB using is this one; it's easy to see it's functional since it's literally the circuit! Just a couple of mods needed - C7 would hit my input jack so I have to move it, that kind of thing. Not doing the SPST bypass cap thing at C5.
(https://i.postimg.cc/hjkPZ3vx/Tonebender-Perf-Layout.gif)
I put this together with the vero layout I posted. Which seems to match the schematic in the first post. I couldn't get it to work until I removed the 1N914 diode on Q2. Just put a jumper to match some other layouts. Don't know what that diode is suppose to be doing. My sound is very compressed haven't tried different transistors yet.
With the gain up and bias high I get a low feedback tone. If I back it off just right I can get a sub harmonic with certain notes but dull tone. Which is cool.
I've been messing with this again, like I said. I rebuilt it...I ended up with a 2N3904 as Q1, MPSA42 for Q2, and 2N5088 for Q3. Seemed to sound the best to me. The varying transistor gains does seem to make a difference...more 'clarity' with the MPSA42, IMHO.
The catch - I replaced Q2's collector resistor with 47k, which is the original value. Anything below 22k sounded like crap. I ended up using a 3.3k resistor in series with a 25k pot wired as variable resistor for the bias control (27k turned out to be the sweet spot for me, on Q3, for some reason). 10k in Q2 just sounded like crap to me no matter what (impedance issue, to me it made it way muffled, lost most of high end).
This is a great circuit for the breadboard so you can change things! It sounds pretty good on a clean amp channel, and REALLY good with attack dialed back a bit into a slightly dirty tube amp. It does NOT like humbuckers, at least to my ear. Strat and Tele sound like live Jimmy Page ca. 1969 in those shows in Denmark, ha ha. It's definitely very sensitive to amp settings/attack/bias, and a little adjustment when you change anything seems to be in order.
With the biased rolled down, you can get down to glitched Atari sounds, but come back up from there and it does that very nice gating thing 8) Glad I re-visited this one, and now I can solder it up and get it in the steampunk enclosure I painted up!
Yours seems similar to the good sounds I found with mine. These are very sensitive to changes it seems. Probably why I have so many Big Muff builds. They always deliver.
A quick PS: I found the low end a bit TOO wooly on the TB, and a few mods I did to change that changed the entire thing too much (so it wouldn't be a TB anymore).
Rolling off the lows in my DAW sounded really good, so I thought - why not try a c(**&ed wah in front of it? That sounded REAL good! It's what the old guys did in 1968.
And then - hey, a Rangemaster has that upper mid peak, let's try that....WOW. It plays extremely well with the RM, and it's easy to leave the TB attack slightly down and use the RM level to control the distortion. Try it.
Just an observation, back to jamming 8)
I put an auto wah, SWAH in front of dark bassy fuzzes with long decay and it gives a nice juicy sound. Roll the guitar volume back a bit to get the Wah working.
Oh hell yeah, you guys really ran with this. I got caught up with life stuff for a while but i'm digging out the soldering iron this weekend! it's my turn
anybody willing to post some sound clips?
Ask, and you shall receive, Ghost...crappy thing I just ripped out in Reaper. Probably overly distorted, but hey, it's just to show what it sounds like. You should hear this when you double up rhythm tracks, L/R! Very pumpkin-esque. I like to use this on one side and a muff or something on the other.
https://soundcloud.com/gibsongm/si-tonebender/s-YP0Tw6lga4j?si=e2bd97a746f54120ab11c65c5f841c11&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
dammmn that sounds fun. gnarly af i love it
Thanks. You can get a wide variety of tones from it with the bias control...straight up fuzz (kind of dark, wooly), but also spitty and nasty, "sharper". Using a boost in front and dialing back the attack changes the tonality quite a bit, too!