Ace Tone Fuzz Master FM-1

[bmsiddall]

Greetings from Australia.

I had dismissed the FM-1 as an FY-2 clone (nothing wrong with that of course) until i stumbled across this schematic:-



A quick visit to youtube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9C4EY7WIn4
Sounds pretty great to me!  Can anyone shed some light on the missing values?  R1 and R2 probably 100k and 1m; volume pot 50kA.  I've taken a look at the FZ-1A and Mica Wailer schems but I'm not too sure what else to use.

I fear that my health will suffer unless I get to build this pedal.*



*yeah, i've been watching jhs pedal videos 

[Rob Strand]

Unfortunately I can't give you specific info here because I don't have access to my notes.     However, I'm pretty sure I looked at fixing that schematic some time back.    My memory isn't so clear because I fixed up about 10 old schematics at the time.

The back of my mind tells me,
- it turned out the Maestro values were not what was used
- there was a minor bug on the schematic.
  It could have been something related to the pot value or pot taper.

Analog guru did the best he could with the info he could extract from the pics.   IIRC I have may have a marked-up schematic but I didn't post it because Analog guru asked not to alter the schematic.

All I'm saying is if you build from that schematic it might not be a 100% correct FM-1.  If you build an FZ-1A then at least you can say you are building the real thing.    In the end you may have to tweak the parts to get the thing to bias properly anyway!

[iainpunk]

here are some FZ-1 schematics, through several versions
i personally prefer the FZ-1B(V2) the out of phase mix really gives you the buzzy fuzz tone you have been dreaming of all your life (or atleast, I have been). it can get close the the FY-2 tones from japan, but a bit softer and ''older'' sounding.

cheers, Iain

[bmsiddall]

Thanks both- sounds like I'll need to break out the breadboard.

Iain, i have a 90% finished FZ-1B which I've put aside for some time.  Think I wasn't too impressed with the sustain and thought the squelcher wasn't quite right.  I started fiddling with a dual ganged pot gain control (instead of fixed Q2 and Q3 collector resistors) which made a difference, but I've been distracted with other projects since then.

Cheers,
Brett

[Rob Strand]

I had a quick look around for some PCB pics,

http://electricpartslibrary.hatenadiary.jp/entry/20121219/p1

You can see some resistors, 1.8M resistor, 10k, 1.5k along the edges.   IIRC the 1.8M might have varied.  I can't remember if the 1.8M was in parallel with R8 or in parallel with the pot bias.  On the back of the board you can see 22k (R7) and a value I can't make out for R8.

I remember the FM-1 now.  I spent a long time scrounging-up *many* pics.  Then I pieced together the small pieces of the puzzle.  Some pics might have only showed one resistor band.   It was a very tough detective job and there may have been some unresolved parts.   There were more pics on reverb.

https://reverb.com/item/11847141-acetone-fuzzmaster-fm-1-1969-rare-hairy-fuzzbox

IIRC the individual images for this one were around,
http://gozmez69.web.fc2.com/pics/fx/pe_at_f1_4.jpg

Transistors were obviously 2SB175.

[iainpunk]

well, original FZ-1B(V2) didn't have too much sustain either, due to that gate/squelcher, but still, more than a guitar without fuzz.

if you are into modding on breadboards, i recommend you have a go at a fuzz you design yourself, from scratch. its all just a bunch of simple cascaded ''circuit blocks'', like gain stages, tone stages, volume controls and just fully experiment for yourself, just ''steal'' some gain stages you like and are comfortable with using from other fuzzes, add clipping to ground (like most distortion pedals) or feedback clipping (like Big Muff Pi clipping), or use a Bazz Fuss gain stage or let the transistors themselves clips, throw some filters in there, add some bias controls etc.
its all about free experimentation with pre-existing circuit parts, you can tailor your fuzz to your taste!!!!

how would you describe your perfect dream fuzz?

cheers, Iain

[bmsiddall]

Probably one i don't need to breadboard? 

Off the top of my head:
1. The gating and cut of a mk1 tonebender
2. The grittiness of a foxx tone machine
3. The nastiness of a superfuzz
4. The bombast of the Roland AD-50
5. The burble of the harmonic percolator
6. I'm sure there's more

Shouldn't be too difficult...

[11-90-an]

how would you describe your perfect dream fuzz?

Probably just a Fuzz Face with a few mods, EQ, etc.

It has been eluding me for quite a while... (even building the circuit on breadboard doesn't get me "the sound" lol  )

[iainpunk]

Probably one i don't need to breadboard? 

Off the top of my head:
1. The gating and cut of a mk1 tonebender
2. The grittiness of a foxx tone machine
3. The nastiness of a superfuzz
4. The bombast of the Roland AD-50
5. The burble of the harmonic percolator
6. I'm sure there's more

Shouldn't be too difficult...

might i shamelessly but humbly suggest my own mod/interpretation of the Harmonic Percolator / double BazzFuss / nasty thing:
the harmonic instant coffee
its more raspy, and when you play around with the resistors enough, you can get some octave up action as well!

cheers, Iain

[bmsiddall]

Well, i like instant coffee (also too lazy to buy/use/clean a machine) so i'll give it a go 👍

[iainpunk]

note that 2n2222 is in REVERSE BETA, this really makes it sound broken and cool!

cheers