Advice please for a noob modding a fuzz face for extra controls

[stent]

Hi all, I'm new to the forum.  I'm going to build a fuzz face from a kit and wondered if anyone could advise me about modding it.

I can solder, I did a BYOC Leeds Fuzz which works brilliantly, but I don't have a huge understanding of how most effects related circuits work (except the stuff in my guitar) so please forgive any ignorance!

I've seen that the fuzz face is a really simple looking circuit and I wondered how easy it was to add extra pots to control things like transistor bias.  I've seen this done on some boutique fuzzes and I like the variety of tones it gives.  Is this just a case of replacing certain resistors with pots to give control over previously fixed parameters?  Could anyone advise me about guides to how the circuit works or just let me know which components to modify?

Also, does anyone have any suggestions about good kits which ship to the UK?  There seem to be a few available so all I'm looking for is low price, decent quality and a pre-drilled enclosure.

Thanks in advance!

[Gus]

Extra controls have been done before.
Search for terms like fuzz face at this site and other sites and the web get ready to read a lot of threads it might be worth it.
Check geofex (link at the top of the page)and read the tech of
Look at the schematics link and layout gallery(links at the top of this page)

After you build the kit and make sure it is working then ask about what you want to change. There is no one good answer for an adjustment to a circuit
Things that matter volume you will be using it at and will it be with a band?
What sounds good at home might not sound good on stage at volume.

[drolo]

one of the most useful mods i ever did to a FF is adding a tone pot.

You can replace the 470ohm (depending on version you are building, i mean the upper voltage divider resistance over Q2) by a pot with equivalent value and hook a cap (test to find the value that suits you best, for me between 100n and 470n) between center lug and one of the outer ones.

Here is the idea in a project i am working on, based on the FF



the fulltone 69 has some decent ideas too:

http://juansolo.demon.co.uk/stompage/schematics/Fulltone/Fulltone%2069%20Schematic.gif

[stent]

Hi, thanks for the advice.  Since posting I've seen that this forum has a good wiki with links to useful things like how to read schematics and other DIY pedal sites.

Drolo, thanks for the link to the Fulltone schematic, I think this is the sort of thing I'd like to build.  Is it possible to get PCBs for a Fulltone 69 clone?  I have no idea what to do with the other types of DIY circuit building boards e.g. perfboard and veroboard :S

[drolo]

Check in generalguitargadgets if they sell some
Otherwise, a FF is quite simple to build on perf or vero board

[stent]

Wow, the ggg price for this kit is great!  Think that's the one I'll go with.  Thanks for your help!

[duck_arse]

forget about perf and vero to start with, get yourself a breadboard. it will solve all your problems. there is a couple of threads hereabouts with pointers.

[drolo]

If you're after a kit, check these from musikding in germany : http://www.musikding.de/Kits/Musikding-Kits/Fuzz:::52_122_245.html

might come out cheaper, since you're in the UK.

But what duck_arse says is right. Popping the components in a kit won't teach you anything compared to breadboarding it and mess around and test different configurations. It will give you a much better understanding of how the circuit works. Plus that is where the most fun lies (except for actually playing, which sometimes i come to forget ...) ;-)

[stent]

Nice one, musikding looks perfect and it does indeed come out cheaper!

[LucifersTrip]

+1 duck arse

the answer is:

breadboard


when I first started, I pulled out every resistor one at a time and subbed em with pots to see what effects they would have