My "Full Beard" fuzz ... Update with pix and Soundclip!

[Melanhead]

Well after a bit of playing around with some ideas from from the FullTone 70's pedal and mods/tweaks from other fuzzes I give you the Melanhead "FullBeard" ...

I love this thing and it sounds wonderfull ...

Soundclip: http://users.eastlink.ca/~melanhead/MP3/FullBeard.mp3

Picture of the pedal: http://users.eastlink.ca/~melanhead/PIX/FullBeardWeb.jpg

Done with Xerox window decals ... and Inkjet printer

This is the first schematic I've drawn so hopefully it's okay ...

I modded Torchy's '70's Fuzz Vero layout to build it. I don't feel right about posting the layout though without Torchy's permission and have no way of getting a hold of him ...

The tweaks (  thanks to Mojotron and others )

I used the smallbear BC108 for Q1 ( HFE ~ 250 ) and Q2 ( HFE ~ 450 )
Added a 10k resistor in series with the input to get rid of the Radio
Changed the input cap to 1uf Metal Film, to reduce mush.
Changed the cap across the Collector of Q1 and Q2 to 47pf
and some pot changes as well.

Thoughts ?

http://aronnelson.com/gallery/melanhead/FullBeard?full=1

[Yun]

It would help if i could "see it all at once", man.  The image is too big. 

But from what i can see, looks pretty good, dude!  Do you have any sound samples eh?

[MartyMart]

Bob, looks great ! nice one

Yun, you need a bigger screen my son  !   

Marty.

[jrc4558]

Sorry for offtopic, but:
Is that a Leafs shirt???

[Melanhead]

Sorry for offtopic, but:
Is that a Leafs shirt???

Yup!, I'm a Hockey Nut! ...

[Melanhead]

It would help if i could "see it all at once", man.  The image is too big. 

But from what i can see, looks pretty good, dude!  Do you have any sound samples eh?

Sorry 'bout that  it's smaller now, probably too small ... I'll try and take some pix and sound samples tonight ...

Up now!

[Melanhead]

Bob, looks great ! nice one

Yun, you need a bigger screen my son  !   

Marty.

[Gus]

People

  Maybe you should try this

http://www.diystompboxes.com/pedals/gusFuzzFace.gif

[Doug_H]

Sounds nice. Has a nice resonance to it.

Doug

[Melanhead]

People

  Maybe you should try this

http://www.diystompboxes.com/pedals/gusFuzzFace.gif

Interesting, thanks for sharing.

[Burstbucker]

Hey Bob,

Nice work, sounds nice and fat just like a good Fuzz should.  I like the fact that it's in a small enclosure, kinda looks like Fuller's OCD layout.  Way more practical than my Fuzzes built with skillet pans!
8^)

You also did a super job on the schematic, very easy to read.

[Melanhead]

Hey Bob,

Nice work, sounds nice and fat just like a good Fuzz should.  I like the fact that it's in a small enclosure, kinda looks like Fuller's OCD layout.  Way more practical than my Fuzzes built with skillet pans!
8^)

You also did a super job on the schematic, very easy to read.

Thanks! ... I built one in a BB box as well but my pedal board is getting filled up pretty quick! ... the smaller the better

[shredgd]

Hi,

Melanhead, we both did very similar mods to this pedal, we probably have similar ears...!
    I built this pedal some time ago and I also came out with 47p instead of 10p across Q1 and Q2's collectors, to remove harshness. I'm wondering if who drew the schematic actually meant 100p there. Unfortunately I didn't think about socketing it so I can't try a 100p. Anyway I'm happy with 47p.
    I, too, changed the volume pot value, but I decided to make it the same as the original fuzz (500k, while the schematic said 250k), because I found the pedal too trebly and this should keep more bass. I did the change at the same time I did the cap change though, so I can't say how much this mod effected the overall sound improvement.
    I didn't change anything in the rest of the circuit, but I realized I prefer bc108s in Q1 and Q2, too - mine have an HFE of about 220 and 310, respectively.

    What I want to ask you is: how do you like/keep the mid pot? And how do you keep it while you're setting the bias (as the mid pot influnces Q2's collector voltage)? I personally like it at about 9 o'clock, which corresponds to a resistance of about 330 ohm between +9v and R7 (considering R6's contribution), the same value as germanium fuzz faces, and I set the bias to about 5.2v while the mid pot is in that position. I'm wondering if I'm doing right, though.

    If I manage to find the time, I will record a sample of my pedal, as well.

[jmusser]

Hey Gus, I don't see you post too often, so I was wondering how long the "Fuzz Face Type Fuzz" has been out? I haven't been over to the main schematic page for awhile. I'll have to give it a whirl.

[Melanhead]

Hi,

Melanhead, we both did very similar mods to this pedal, we probably have similar ears...!
    I built this pedal some time ago and I also came out with 47p instead of 10p across Q1 and Q2's collectors, to remove harshness. I'm wondering if who drew the schematic actually meant 100p there. Unfortunately I didn't think about socketing it so I can't try a 100p. Anyway I'm happy with 47p.
    I, too, changed the volume pot value, but I decided to make it the same as the original fuzz (500k, while the schematic said 250k), because I found the pedal too trebly and this should keep more bass. I did the change at the same time I did the cap change though, so I can't say how much this mod effected the overall sound improvement.
    I didn't change anything in the rest of the circuit, but I realized I prefer bc108s in Q1 and Q2, too - mine have an HFE of about 220 and 310, respectively.

    What I want to ask you is: how do you like/keep the mid pot? And how do you keep it while you're setting the bias (as the mid pot influnces Q2's collector voltage)? I personally like it at about 9 o'clock, which corresponds to a resistance of about 330 ohm between +9v and R7 (considering R6's contribution), the same value as germanium fuzz faces, and I set the bias to about 5.2v while the mid pot is in that position. I'm wondering if I'm doing right, though.

    If I manage to find the time, I will record a sample of my pedal, as well.

Cool! ... The mid pot, all the way up! ... I set the bias with my ears, ( I'm not much of a techy so that's all I have have at times   ) I think on the schematic I noted it as about 6.5v with my first one,that seemed to be the sweet spot on it,  but I'm assuming it's gonna be different all the time ... I think around 4.5v would be normal then start from there, but I'm not sure