X FUZZ

[deadastronaut]

nope forget that...

ok tried it as per schemo page 1..

and it IS correct, it works as it is...

tried red leds 5mm...ok

tried yellow leds 5mm...ok

1n4148's -  very quiet..

are you using humbuckers?..

the schemo calls for a 10n on input, but try 22n for a fatter sound....


edit:

i just did a side by side comparison, and the yellow 5mms definately sound better...they just have that extra edge..

you could try doubling up the leds you have... so use 4 instead of 2...  

>  >
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[Will.mendil]

Thanks. I'll find the yellow LEDs and test it tomorrow.

It's very odd that mine sounds like your rock instead if fuzz . Could it be the amp? I tried single and hunbercker but it does not change drastically. Bizarre bizarre cette histoire.

[deadastronaut]

ok, i have my low E dropped to D in the vid...

and i had it going into a clean channel of a marshall AVT275..

i just tried 3mm yellows...but 5mm yellows are much better.

[Will.mendil]

It seems you are using some sort of reverb aren't you?
Anyway just ordered some yellow LEDs. So I'll be back whining in a couple weeks

[deadastronaut]

yeah reverb /delay on mixer..

[samhay]

@sam: ahh cool, you have it on bread too...
is your gain pot scratchy?.... i'll meter mine in a bit.

''violence to the DC conditions''    i'll check for violence too..

Not much time to play with it at the moment, but it is on the breadboard.
I didn't notice that the gain pot was scratchy, but it certainly could be - there is DC across it, which varies with the pot. I think the fact that the gain pot is shifting the Q1 collector voltage is the violence that PRR was referring to.

Edited for typos

[deadastronaut]

we need more violence...

yep, the pot is definately scratchy, i'll try it again in the pregain position and see...

[samhay]

The other option is to AC couple the gain pot, by adding a cap in series. You will probably have to parallel an e.g. 1M resistor from C-B in order to maintain the Q1 bias.

[deadastronaut]

out of curiosity i tried lots of different leds superbrights of all colours..for the X FUZZ.

the nearest that came close to the yellows was 10mm orange clear brights...but 5mm yellows pips it..

X FUZZ:

i moved the gain to pregain again, no more scratchyness...however now there is mad synthy oscillation across the pot travel until its on full gain

then it behaves...strange as the guitar pot behaves fine...

i also stuck a 220pf across the Q2 C/B to reduce fizz between notes. much better, 

the way the x fuzz is you could do away with the gain pot entirely and have a good one pot vol control pedal...1590a etc.,,,

anyway...

[samhay]

It might be the capacitance of the LEDs you are hearing differences in. Did you audition the LEDs before or after adding the 220pf C-B cap to Q2?

[Will.mendil]

Obviously I had to find the yellow LEDs after ordering some. Anyways. Tried, not satisfied.
Has anyone else tested the fuzz? Sorry if I am insisting but it really is a smashing pedal.

[justice]

I had this on my breadboard for a bit (first version posted).  I really liked it!  With 4 4148s it I could almost dial in the same tone as my Obsidian.....very cool.  Although the volume was a little on the quiet side. 

I am still a newb at this and for what its worth, I am following your work closely deadastronaut, I am a big fan!  I can't wait to see how this project evolves.

[deadastronaut]

^ hi justice, cool, i'm glad you tried it man...

the 1n4148's will make it much queiter...leds louder..



@will: great you found the leds..

are you not getting enough gain, or ?...

[Will.mendil]

Indeed no, I'll post a recording tomorrow as it is pretty late here. I am missing the juicy sound you have.

Unrelated question. Do you have a website where all your creative fruits are publicly easily available?

[deadastronaut]

no, i have a gallery here which i update now n then...not often enough though, i'm terrible at pc house keeping..

[Will.mendil]

Well in the case ( I swear it was not my first intention) but I can put them on my blog. Do a specific section for you. If you wish of course.

[Will.mendil]

Although I am not sure how much stuff you've actually made :s

[deadastronaut]

tinkering a little more with the X FUZZ.  (straight into mixer, no amp)

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7464107/xfuzz10k-22k-onQ2C.mp3

^ this is with 10k on Q2 collector then at 0:40 i switch to 22k..adss a little more splattyness .(@will maybe try a 15k  on Q2)

and for laughs...which i really like actually too,  synthy swell sounds whoohooo.. ....hmmmm options galore..

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7464107/XFUZZ-100k-220k-Q2C.mp3

[kingswayguitar]

tinkering a little more with the X FUZZ.  (straight into mixer, no amp)

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7464107/xfuzz10k-22k-onQ2C.mp3

^ this is with 10k on Q2 collector then at 0:40 i switch to 22k..adss a little more splattyness .(@will maybe try a 15k  on Q2)

and for laughs...which i really like actually too,  synthy swell sounds whoohooo.. ....hmmmm options galore..

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7464107/XFUZZ-100k-220k-Q2C.mp3

now that's heavy!

[DDD]

Very beautiful sound with impressive dynamics!
But there's some kind of farting at the attack portion of signal. It seems that coupling cap between stages is too big, I guess (?)