multiface RAWKS at band tryout!

[b_rogers]

i had a audition tonight for a new all original band in my area, and for laughs i brought the multiface even though no switch..i figured i could listen to it at volume and see how it rated against my other primary od a marshall jackhammer. the other guitar player was playing a strat/bossgt6 direct into the mixer. he sounded like a wall of static..it was awful sounding..so i play for a while thru my usual board setup..strat-ultravibe-wha-rmoctavia-jackhamer-peaveyclassic410 on clean side. after a few songs i put the multi in for the jackhammer and wow...i really didnt need a footswitch. at high volume it cleaned up incredibly..the other guitar player couldnt believe how it cleaned up like that..it was a LARGE warehouse and they had the pa cranked up, so i  had the classic at 3/4 volume (master on 12, pre on 8 and it was SINGING)
i installed a bmp tone control last night with the values from the "simple mods and tips" page and i recommend it highly. perfect for dialing out the sizzle or cutting bass... i also have the "blend pot" for my input cap (sweeping a 2.2 to .01)
i also noticed that i could use my wah as long as the octavia came after it but before the fuzz..none of that oscillation. tone for days...iam so happy with it..thanks guys for all your help and suggestions on my first build. it exeeded my expections by a long shot. if you havent tried the "multi" give it a shot..maybe with a little tweaking it will sound as good as mine!

[b_rogers]

oh and BTW i got the gig if i want it..everyone loved the sound..

[Ansil]

congrrats..  it is always funny to bring stuff you build to an audition and since i dont' paint most of my stufff  peopel are like.OOOOOOOOOhhh My GOD!!!!  what is that pile of crap,  someone get me a blanket to hide it while he plays.

then i turn it on.     heheheheh.   all she wrote..

:twisted:

[Marcos - Munky]

Cool. I tried the Multiface for a time, sounds very sweet. I had it above my amp to play with it sometimes until a friend come and said "Could you give me this fuzz?".

[b_rogers]

i was kinda suprised with my amp...it always sounds good, but it sounded awesome cranked up that high. smooth controlable infinite sustain. my ears are still ringing..lol   i had to brag to someone cuz my wife dont care!

happy holidays guys

Brent

[petemoore]

You can hear the 'ughh' inference sometimes when the other guitar plkayer sees crusty Racos' and a RS box...they're like oh this is gonna be interesting...
 Then they get a taste of some efkts maneuvers...Vibe, Octave, FF and the guitar volume etc...that first impression [reading a book by it's cover] is like Gone...and replaced by friendly inquisitiveness...lol !!!
 Questions like how long have I been building, is it hard etc...too funny...
 I used to go up and see what pedals a guitar player was using...I see guys doing that and I go hide or I'll be talking through the whole set break...if they catch me I try to make it as simple as I can for them and me...and say...:"Oh I visit Aron's stompbox Forum like everyday"!

[b_rogers]

the only problem is when i use a high gain,low noise in q1 (bc547c) it wont clean up as well but the tone is awesome. remarkably quiet and very little hiss or rf coming in. i would touch a string and this fat tone would jump from the silence. maybe i just found a good combo but really mine sounds like a good distortion pedal more than a "fuzz" with the lower gain trans for q1. hopefully i will have the "89" finished before i go jam again as i am dying to hear it.

Brent

[swt]

What schem did u used? Where can i get it? Thanks a lot!

[b_rogers]

its posted at runoffgroove.com..look for "multiface" i would also suggest you read the "many faces of fuzz" article from tim escobedo.let me know if you want the component values i ended up with..keep in mind i have been tweeking this thing constantly for a few weeks..trying every transistor i had and every possible configuration of caps. there are good sounds and bad in there, i just refused to give up until i found the "mojo".

[swt]

yeah!. i'll definitely want to know what you ended up with. Caps, trannies etc. Look like a nice project. Thanks for your help!

[travissk]

Peavey Classic 50 4x10? It's what I use, awesome amp

Glad to hear everything went well!

[b_rogers]

ok so heres the components...
q1 is a bc338 med gain low noise about 100-120hfe.
q2 is a bc547c high gain low noise roughly 400 hfe.
input cap blend pot 100k lin with  2.2uf-.01pf caps.  
fuzz pot is a 10klinear
volume pot is 100k which hits unity at about 10 oclock, but sounds best about 11:30.
output cap is .1 greenie and the large capacitor that goes to the fuzz pot is a 22uf electro.
i set the trim pot by ear, but 4.5v is what you are looking for..

then i used the big muff pi tone control from the simple mods and tips on this site just in front of the volume control, but instead of the 39k resistor i used a 33k and the .005 i used a .003 cuz thats all i had..

i will probably be removing the blend input cap and using a 2p6p rotary to select the input and output caps as soon as i figure out my favorite ones with the different trannies i use.

i really like the sound with 2n4401 and 2n4141? they are a little noisier than i care for and i get some rf with them which is a shame cause they have a good tone. i wasnt really impressed with the 2n3904 it sounded "boxy". EVERY transistor sounds different. some are noisy, some are fm radio stations... out of 20 bc338s i tried only 7 sounded EXELLENT. the others were ok, but not as focused as the others. the 10 bc547c's i tried in q2 were pretty much identical. for more of a BOG tone go with 2 bc547c's but clean up isnt as dramatic.

i havent been able to get jfets or mosfets to work in this circuit. then again i havent spent more than five minutes trying...

you can literally go insane switching out components in this thing. be sure to socket all the caps and trannies. i didnt have access to tranny sockets so i used a 8pin ic socket which works awesome.

i havent messed with the 100k feedback resitor yet but i plan to on my next one which will be sil/germ hybrid PNP. i play a strat with a stacked single seymore in bridge and the multi likes all the pickups equally.

i will say this, dont expect incredible sound at low volumes. this thing needs volume to "smooth" out a little. i mean it doesnt sound bad at low level but it isnt great either. it also didnt care for a couple of ss amps i tried it on. but for my setup which is pretty close to jimi's (cept for the raging marshall) it nails all the tones i have been looking for, plus some unique ones. these 4 pedals seem like they were made for each other..wha,fuzz,octavia,vibe...i guess the master wouldnt have used them if they sucked...

hope it works for you
Brent

[donald stringer]

You wrote[ havent been able to get jfets or mosfets to work in this circuit. then again i havent spent more than five minutes trying... ] I installed 2n-7000 with stock build components from runoff groove and was very surprised at the big sound coming from such a small circuit. I am gonna have to go back try some of your values[input cap selector sounds like a good idea.But the fact that you used it live and rocked the house says so much for applying diy skills and beating the cost of some commercial pedals. I have an rp-300 setting above my amp that I hardly ever turn on now[thats not to say it doesnt sound good because it does but I havent felt the necessity.Now I generally just plug into my phase 90 [non script vers. with the mod] dyna -comp or boss comp/ dist[whatever I am building at the time and dan-echo in the effects loop of my classic 30.

[b_rogers]

ok so i got 5 2n7000's today and i got one of them to work in q2..really nice tight hard rock grind, less fuzzlike, more amplike. unfortunately also more radiolike. are these things sensitve to anything? i accedentaly put one in backwards, would that fry it? i do like the sound of the 2n7000 in there though. they still dont function in q1....hmmmmm