Any Bazz Fuss or Buzz Box Mods Out there?

[Austin73]

Any Bazz Fuss or Buzz Box Mods Out there?

Built them both and just wondered if there were any decent mods out there Ie Tone controls , gain controls , cap switching etc. I'm working on a couple of diode and cap switching mods but just wondered if anyone else has had fun

Cheers

Aus

[Noplasticrobots]

As this layout is burned into my head, let me just say that there a ton of different mods for the Bazz Fuss. It's a great beginner's circuit-trust me, I'm a beginner.

I'm working on a poor man's Uglyface using the Buzz Box as a foundation, so that right there should show you the range of noises you can get out of it, and I don't know anything about electronics compared to the folks around here. Take a chance and plug things in where they shouldn't go. Just take a look at different schematics and try applying things to the Bazz Fuss, i.e. taking the Big Muff tone control and plugging it in to the circuit. Also, don't follow the rules. That's how you discover the best things in life (Silly Putty anyone?)

By the way, you've been awarded one DIY Point for actually spelling Bazz Fuss correctly! Everyone always calls it "Bass Fuzz". Thank you!

[Austin73]

Cheers for the point lol. Although I'm sure i lost about twenty points building my first pedals! Where are you putting the Muff tone are you just sticking it on the 0.1uF Cap at the end?

[Joecool85]

Trying using two diodes in opposing direction.  Also, you can add a gain control by adding a 1k pot to ground from Q1.

[Noplasticrobots]

I think I added the tone control at the output cap. It's been a while. Yeah, basically at the two points where the cap's leads would be placed would be the in and out of the tone control. If you look at the schematic, you have the output cap coming from the collector of the tranny:

       |   |
------|   |------(to output jack)
       |   |

Just remove the cap and insert tone control to get this...

------.      .------(to output jack)
      >     |
      <    ---     <---resistor/cap
      >    ---
       |     |
        ''''|'''''
          |       <---Potentiometer
         \./
     --\/\./\/--
    |           |
   ---          >
   ---          <    <---cap/resistor to ground
    |           >
    |            |
  (g r o u n d)

Something like that. ASCII art sucks.

[Noplasticrobots]

I guess you could just have a look at the actual schematic, eh?:

http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/richardo/distortion/bigmuff.gif

And if you haven't read the whole article yet, you should:

http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/richardo/distortion/

[nightingale]

Hi,
You can also swap the 10k resistor with  pot wired as a variable resistor. [similair to the dirt control on the DBF]
Then you can starve the circuit and get nasty gatey weirdness.

I love the sound of the BF circuit.

[HWV]

Also check out 'The Many Faces of Fuss' from the FolkUrban Music website - lots of interesting variables to try in the 'morefaces' section:
http://www.geocities.com/tpe123/folkurban/fuzz/fuzzyfaces.html

He also has some info on the Bazz Fuss:

http://www.geocities.com/tpe123/folkurban/fuzz/fuzz.html

These are great circuits!

-Hans

[Austin73]

Just thought I'd let you know that I have shoe horned a 1N5401 diode into my Bazz Fuss and it sounds immense! A lot like a LED lots of distortion but very quiet too if that makes sense. Hope this is of some use as I 'm not sure what type of diode a 1n5401 is anyway (but its big! )

Austin

[janus]

I put a 3.3uf cap on the input(as opposed to the 4.7uf in the schematic) that made it a little more guitar friendly.

[KORGULL]

I made the 'deluxe' version which utilizes a transformer for use with active pickups. Made it so the transformer can be switched out of the circuit.
Also added a cap switch mod that allows me to choose three settings. Used a DPDT on-off-on switch. I have one setting optimized for bass, one for guitar, and one for my theremin - (low/medium/extra low).
I also added a MOSFET for reverse polarity protection.

Power protection using a MOSFET article: http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/mosswitch/mosswitch.htm

Deluxe Bazz Fuss schematic: http://home-wrecker.com/bazz.html

Here's my perf layout: http://www.momoshare.com/photo/view.php?img=80568d3a3846e73d5222e0e2bd8df816 (perf template courtesy of http://www.runoffgroove.com)
The reverse polarity protection MOSFET isn't shown in the layout.
I think I settled on a .05 uF for Ca and a 2.2uF for Cb. I may have used a .22uF instead of a .1 for the output cap. I built one of these where I socketed just about everything and messed around with it for a few days. After trying many combinations, I ended up sticking with a basic diode setup of two 1N4148's (or 1N914's I forget which exactly).