Mysterious Fuzz Circuit...... (possible Mod?)

[sevenisthenumber]

I got this fuzz at a pawn shop and would like to add a fuzz/gain control to it. It only has one knob for overall volume. Great sounding fuzz that sounds really good with the guitar volume backed off. I looked at the inside and it has one transistor, a 10k resistor, a .047 cap and another cap? (cant remember). The bottom has www.fuzzboxworld.com on it with sharpie?? it turns out it is the beginner kit http://fuzzboxworld.com/page2.html

How can I add a knob that would be like a fuzz/gain knob. It would be great to get this (backed off volume knob sound) set on the pedal.

Thanks for any help.

[tcobretti]

The easiest way would be to wire a pot in between the input jack and the effect input.  One wire from the input to the pot, one wire from the pot to the effect, the other leg of the pot connected to ground.

Look for a schem of the Jordan Bosstone to see what I mean.

[sevenisthenumber]

wont that affect the signal even when its off??

[tcobretti]

Yes, you're right.  Put the pot between the switch and the effect input.

[sevenisthenumber]

i tried it and i didnt do alot. kinda acted weird. not much change at all. what type pot do you recommend?

[Dragonfly]

Im pretty sure that his Beginners Fuzz is simply the Bazz Fuss vero layout that is in my gallery....at least thats what I've been told. Take a look and make sure...




If it is indeed that layout, you can either connect another pot on the front end, a'la Joe Gagans Easy Face, or you can disconnect the transistors emitter from the vero and wire it to lug-3 of a small pot (1k linear or so)...lug 2 and lug 1 will both connect to ground.

That being said, the Bazz, IMO, is best at high gain. You might try rolling your guitars volume knob back and playing with it to see if you like the lowered gain sounds before modding it.

Good luck.

[sevenisthenumber]

Thats it exactly!!!

What leg is the emitter?

I have tried a pot at the front end (between the input and circuit input) and it just doesnt act like turning the guitar volume down at all. It adds some octave to my ears and funky warble in the distance.....

I hope the emitter mod will give me the feel of the pedal cranked with the volume on my strat backed off...!

[Dragonfly]

Thats it exactly!!!

What leg is the emitter?

I have tried a pot at the front end (between the input and circuit input) and it just doesnt act like turning the guitar volume down at all. It adds some octave to my ears and funky warble in the distance.....

I hope the emitter mod will give me the feel of the pedal cranked with the volume on my strat backed off...!

the emitter is the bottom leg in the picture 

[jimbob]

http://www.fuzzboxworld.com/page23.html

Wow- he charges $8 shipping USA for anything from  0 to $49.99.

[sevenisthenumber]

I did a 2k pot on the emmitter. Works like a charm!!!  Thanks for the help. Did you design this fuzz?

[sevenisthenumber]

How could i make this circuit gate? Like maybe an external gate knob... Voltage sag isnt doing it...

[jessej]

The Bazz Fuss was (probably) designed by Hemmo P. (Christian Holmberg from Finland, "Hemmo P" is a comic book character*...) somewhere in 2000-2002.
I've made a few of them and put probably 20 hours of selecting custom parts for the one I use...  

I don't have any input pots on mine, since I can use the volume pot of my guitar / bass for that. There's only a output vol and one of my bass fuzzes has a tone circuit
that lets me roll off the high treble above 4kHz.

There's lots of tricks you can do with the diode. You can use one or two with the second in reverse etc. You can mix and match different diodes.
You can put different diodes behind a switch. You don't have to use a 2N3904 transistor... you can try different caps than electrolytics... There's
lots of possibilities with this little circuit. Play with it!

Also, a buffer in front of it usually changes it's behavior a lot. Without a buffer, the circuit will act very differently depending on what mic your guitar/bass has.

*=