The Skuzz Bag Bass Fuzz Pedal

Started by Ben Lyman, September 03, 2015, 03:00:02 PM

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Ben Lyman

Hi, new here and just made my first pedal for my buddy who plays bass.
My next project is a Fuzz Face with a DS-1 tone stack, via instructions from Small Bear Electronics.
I really like it so far (on the breadboard) but I am wondering how I can narrow or expand the tone range...
Anybody have some advice on caps and/or resistors I could experiment with in the DS-1 tone stack?
Anyway, here's some pics and a short vid of the Skuzz Bag:





"I like distortion and I like delay. There... I said it!"
                                                                          -S. Vai

Bill Mountain

I'm confused.  Is this project a FF or something different?

Ben Lyman

Sorry to confuse you, the Skuzz Bag is done, my buddy loves it, its got an output level knob and a preset amount of gain (adjustable by guitar volume)
As for the off topic question due to my side tracked ADD mind, I am currently building another pedal, a Si Fuzz Face but I added a tone stack (Boss DS-1 tone stack)
It sounds pretty good but the tone knob is kinda useless any lower than noon, as it just gets so bassy and muddy. So, it would be cool if I could just narrow the range of tone a bit.
Maybe a different pot would help with this? I don't know.
Here's a short clip of it on the breadboard, I never even messed around with the tone knob in this. Tone knob is all the way up, gain is about 90% and I am changing tones with
guitar volume and pickups.

"I like distortion and I like delay. There... I said it!"
                                                                          -S. Vai

slacker

#3
If it's basically the same as the Fur Face http://diy.smallbearelec.com/Projects/FurFace/Kit/BeginnerInst.pdf then making the 0.039uF cap (C8) in the tone stack smaller will raise the bass cut off frequency letting more highs through making it less muddy. Maybe try 0.022uF or 0.01uF. If your build has C6 that will reduce treble as well so you could remove it.

Ben Lyman

#4
Thanks Slacker, that is exactly the answer I was looking for, I will try that later when I get a chance.
Late last night I found a schem for a modified NPN Rangemaster Treble Booster using a 2n3904. I added it directly to the input
of the Fuzz with a trim pot in between, the results are awesome! Although I did take the DS-1 tonestack out for now, I will throw it back on the board later
and see what it sounds like with your cap changes. Thanks!
edit:
I just looked at the Fur Face and it looks like that might be a Big Muff tonestack, which I tried and it was ok. He also gives this little schem as an option:

Sorry I didn't even think to include this pic from the start. Anyway, what should I modify to get less bass from this? Thanks again!
"I like distortion and I like delay. There... I said it!"
                                                                          -S. Vai