Bourbon fuzz

[WhiskeyMadeMeDoIt]

I have been tinkering with this fuzz for awhile now and I think its done. You may have seen the other versions called the OMG fuzz. At this point its pretty far removed from the original design. I will post a demo later in the week when I get some time to record. Until then please have a look and offer any feedback you may have. It would be appreciated. There have been many parts of this taken from other sources and i will try and list them. The first stage is a Fetzer valve from ROG. The second stage is something that I have been playing with for a few months hopefully it is original but the more I look it seems everything has been done. The last stage is a simple amp. and the tone control is from Mark Hammer SWTC. Many thanks to CozyBuilder who has helped me with testing and circuit mods. I think he is working on a variation of this now for other FETs on the front end. The 2n5457 can't be subbed without rebiasing the Fetzer and it has caused problems for CozyBuilder when he tried to sub with a 2n5458. All the other transistors should not be too sensitive to subbing. I have used a 2n5088 for the 2n3904's. I hope some kind soul will try and breadboard this as is to verify it works. I have boarded it twice with different parts and it seems solid. The circuit can go from a mild overdrive up to a nice fat fuzz. The body control makes the fuzz meatier when dimed out and lots of high harmonics when zeroed. The Fuzz/Shred switch when open is fuzz and when closed is more of a defined distortion.

[midwayfair]

Looks good overall.

I'd suggest moving the tone control before T4. Right now your output impedance is really high (almost 130K), and you've already got the transistor there; you might as well use it. You'd also end up with some extra output if you do it that way.

Just use a trim pot on Q1's drain.

[WhiskeyMadeMeDoIt]

Thanks Jon! I just added the tone stack in and haven't played with that much. I will move it. Good idea for the drain so it can be tuned if needed.  I appreciate the comments.  

[WhiskeyMadeMeDoIt]

Little update on the circuit.  I changed the tone around as suggested by Midwayfair and it seems to not be as effective.  I think I will go back and try a BMP style tone instead.  The fuzz can go from deep bass fuzz to high treble fuzz already with the body control.  I will probably need a more robust tone control for both situations.  I will post a little demo tonight if I get some time after work. 

[WhiskeyMadeMeDoIt]

Okay here it is a quick and dirty demo. I am not a guitarist so excuse the crappy playing. Hopefully you can get an idea of how this thing sounds. Playing a an LTD guitar > BourbonFuzz > old solid state Crate on 1 with spring reverb. Recorded with a microphone 3 inches from center of speaker into a Tascam DP-02. I just played random chords and tweaked the knobs around. I don't think I demoed the presence switch but it just gooses the Fetzer and gives more high end. I am still working on the tone control.

https://soundcloud.com/whiskey-mademedoit/bourbonfuzzdemowav

[wildebelor]

I think for the most part it sounds really great, however the Crate SS is probably letting it down a little as I can hear that it's kind of stale.  I am 99% sure that is the amp though.
Send it through a marshall super lead and I bet it would scream!
Nice work

[WhiskeyMadeMeDoIt]

Oh yes I agree the crate is not a great sounding amp. It's just what I have at the moment. I was hoping some industrious soul would breadboard it and try it out.  When I get the tone sorted out I will box it and take it to a guitar shop. They have lots of amps to torture thanks for the comment.

[WhiskeyMadeMeDoIt]

Just had a few minutes to tinker this morning after work. I added the BMP tone section in place of the SWTC and it has much better control of the tone now. I haven't had time to abuse it yet and see if needs more tweaking but here it is. The values for the BMP tone can be adjusted to taste. Suggested values for R11 are 5k to 50k. 5k is scooped and it goes flat at 50k.