OMG Fuzz version 2

[WhiskeyMadeMeDoIt]

Ok cards are on the table now. I have shown my hand , now who's in.  
After working on the first version I started playing with clippers and ways to clip. Now, I am not a newbie and i've tried just about all of the normal clipping methods and several exotic ones. I started thinking about the transistor as a set of diodes and i drew up a quick little schematic on how I could sub in that little piece for the LED clipper. I then drew up a sheet with parts on it and started testing and making notes. What I present here is the tip of the iceberg. There are hundreds of combinations left to test and i will probably in a drunken haze test them and make notes. Let me tell you fellow builders there are some wonderful and crazy things in this little circuit that I have beat down into submission to try and make a nice little fuzz pedal to use. I found a ton of effects I cannot explain and many I wished were reliable. To show you what I mean I put a sample at the end of the demo of just one alternative version of this circuit. I found octave ups and downs and weird envelope effects etc. At first glance you might say well yeah that is a darlington pair and I say to you NOPE. I flipped and rotated and reconnected and only ended up with this after trial and error. There are lots more versions this but this one that happens to look kinda similar, it isn't. I want to again thank CozyBuilder for enduring my craziness and being awesome enough to take an email at 3am and go with it.  He has tested and tweaked this with me and offered great feedback. I will be testing other versions in the future but for now this is what I have. Excuse the sh*tty playing and just take it for what it is a pedal demo. I am more of a guitar fan than a guitar player.
The switch is an On-Off-On type. It gives a nice variety between the sounds. pick a selection and tweak the fuzz shaper knob. The WTF mod is really just one variation i was talking about. If you use it make sure the selection switch is in the OFF position, or not, because I have no idea what it does in the other settings. I haven't tried those yet with that configuration. The mod is guaranteed unstable. I am working out how to make it work reliably without browning out.
Have fun and be sure to pass back any discoveries you make. Now I am going to have a nice shot or two and relax.

The circuit:


The vero:


The WTF mod:


The demo:
https://soundcloud.com/whiskey-mademedoit/omgfuzzdemo

I just wanted to add that this demo was made from the breadboard it has not been boxed yet.

[deadastronaut]

sick, i love the wtf mod...sounds like a filter-ish...

[WhiskeyMadeMeDoIt]

I knew that would bait you in Now breadboard that thing and figure out how to tame that sucker. All that stuff at the end was just playing and turning the shaper knob the middle of the pot is where high octave stuff is but the ends are octave down effects.  Somewhere in three quarter range in each side is filter like effects.   There are some more neat possibilities lurking with the right configuration.

[deadastronaut]

like a hungry fish..

busy this weekend, just got a new loop recorder...toys to play with and learn first...and build..

[WhiskeyMadeMeDoIt]

That's cool it's out there now just waiting when your ready.  In the meanwhile I will be tweaking on it I may have some new discoveries by then.   
Have fun with the looper they are addictive.

[duck_arse]

how many pages for this one? don't expect me to bb this with 5088's, either. bc548's yer man.

another excuse for not finishing anything ....

[WhiskeyMadeMeDoIt]

Try any transistors you have it should work fine. Let me know if it doesn't I'll make some notes.  You should see my sketch pad on this I have about twenty configurations left to go through before I get into the really strange stuff. there are lots of things possible with this circuit and it takes only takes a few small tweaks to get something crazy. This was just one nice sounding version that had a good all around sound.   This whole design is about three days old now from idea to this post.

[WhiskeyMadeMeDoIt]

Vero was built and is now verified. I found a small bug in one if the modes for the switch. I thought I had squashed it already but a second build revealed it is there.  If you select the mode with the cap and have the fuzz shaper knob turned far right it can brown out on you. Once it's browned out it locks up.  I'll solve it soon. To get back running just turn all the way left and hit a power chord.  Usually fixes it. Stay off the extreme ends in that mode for now.  Tested the wtf mod also and it seems to work.  I found a partial solution to beat it into shape but you lose some of the fun and craziness. You need about 2uf between the the pots.  It's won't brown anymore but changes the dynamics and loses some of the filter effects.  Last thing decrease the gain resistor on the pot.  At 22k it doesn't have as much effect as it should.  Try 10k.

[WhiskeyMadeMeDoIt]

Well I found my bug what I posted doesn't match my breadboard.  Sorry for the ones who may have tried this and it didn't work. I will be trying to figure out what I have wrong.  I have some parts removed now from my board so I will have to rebuild it and see what the hell I did.  Too any work hours and late night breadboarding.

[Cozybuilder]

My OMGF V2 is boxed now- this one has a real meaty overdrive at min Grit and Flavor, these two controls are very interactive, and useful thoughout their ranges. It goes from a very smooth overdrive to heavy metal, with a lot of different tone possibilities using the Grit & Flavor controls. There is a lot of volume on tap, just like V1. This one differs from V1 in the feedback circuit- instead of a LED, this uses a transistor with a pot to control the amount of feedback. Its a real nice box, well worth the effort.

There are a number of small changes to the component values compared to the V1, these work very well in this build. This build uses ¼ watt metal film resistors, 16mm Alpha pots, poly film caps, and Millennium Bypass.

Schematic:



Box:



Gut shot:



Family shot:

[WhiskeyMadeMeDoIt]

Good job Russ! I had not got back around to posting the updated schematic. There have been some more changes since this schematic. I will post once it is fully tweaked and I have a verified build. 

[duck_arse]

does this mean we've lost the madness switch?

nice squeezing, cozy, I see some pot-mount trickyness. how soon before the pink paint runs out?

[Cozybuilder]

There's at least one more pink OMG fuzz to go- Whiskey has some great ideas he's been kind enough to share, its been a lot of fun working with him.

[WhiskeyMadeMeDoIt]

Duck arse yes for now the switch is dead.   It's a slightly different topology of the circuit.   I am still working on that one and ill post it back when I get it worked out.  There are a lot of versions we have been trying out and ill post them soon. 

[duck_arse]

well now, a can of fluro pink line-marking paint was dumped on our footpath by the plumbers next door. I was gonna turf it back over the site fence, but it was near full. so I threw it over our fence instead. can't leave junk laying about the place. now, what to spray pink .... ?

[WhiskeyMadeMeDoIt]

Cozy uses a color code system for his pedals.  Fuzzes are always pink so if he runs out he will get more   

Have you tried out that circuit yet? I have been busy lately but soon ill post some variations on this idea. 

[duck_arse]

I have not yet tried it, no, I was wanting the mad switch sorted and have some other things that I'm also not doing. that pink paint isn't going to spray itself, you know.