sptwpjp pink-ei compagna fuzz

[pinkjimiphoton]

so, built a shin-ei fz2 companion.

MAN what a suck load of suck. weak, anemic, muddy, crummy... no love at all. first one i'd built, really unimpressed. used a nice vero-fied layout by IvIark over on tagboard. checked all parts, no shorts, no bridges, no bad solder, everything tite.

just a sucky ass circuit that's really quite lame.... and with no balls at all. as far as nards are concerned, strictly innies that should be outies i think... a good 6db or so below unity gain. nobody cared way back when, cuz nobody knew that with non-true bypassed peds the crappier circuits would suck the life out of your tone. nope. we were all ga-ga... "holy sheet, batwoman, that thing's all different!!!"

so anywho, decided i'd see what i could do to make it suck a little less.

so i ditched the "tone stack" which is useless. i DID try and make it into a useful tone control in several variations, but... nope. sucked too much life from the circuit. had to gotchem go bye-bye. get it the @#$% outta there!

now its got some output, and a fairly useful tone... but seems "pinched"... so the 1n cap in the feedback loop of q1?

OFF WUTH ITS HEAD, THERE, GUV'NOR, I SAY I DID...get it the @#$% outta there.

NOW we gotta fuzz that works a bit better... but still nothing special.
so i started going higher and higher in gain.

in the end i went an nte47, high gain lo noise npn... reading close to hFE 2400! for q1
q2 ya can pull out and it makes almost no difference to the circuit. seriously. did i mention i hate this circuit cuz it sucks?

but i still noticed a barely noticeable difference with higher gain q's... finally settled for an mpsa13 with a gain of about 1300. now i had a fuzztone, as well as a bit of boost should i want it at the ass end. but a little ragged and fizzy...

so i added a simple diode clipper, a anti-paralleled pair of bat41's right off the output of the fuzz pot, which, btw, appears to be backwards. i'm not familiar with the original unit really, so its possible it was meant to be turned left to get more treble, but for me, nope. i wanted it to be normal. it barely does shit in the first place.

so i made what everyone calls pin 3 pin 1. much better. now ya turn clockwise for more trebly. barely noticeable, but still... so anyways, now the output of the fuzz pot being pin 1 instead of three, we connect pin 1 of the fuzz pot to pin 3 of the volume pot, and add the diode clipper to ground right off pin 1 of the fuzz. boom. little bit of compression, and the ragged fizzyness is gone.

and what's left behind is a useable silicon fuzz that cleans up pretty well from the guitar controls, that retains quite a bit of the original fuzz's tone, but makes it more useful in a modern context.

enough babble from me. there's two videos. first is for us geeky folks, second is for peeps that have to listen with their eyes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbPwj6XgxjE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e0K-Ia32Vo














remember christopher walken's "the continental" on SNL years ago? "would you like... some chamPAGG-naah?"

decided to change the name of the circuit to the pink-ei compagna fuzz py deux. seemed fitting. i don't know why. don't care.

i liked the end result. maybe you will too. rock on

PjP

[iainpunk]

i must say, i have had a great time having the original circuit on my breadboard. i moved the scoop frequency to around 300Hz (instead of the original 1500Hz), but the rest the same. the fuzz control should get most fizzy on the right (as a treble control would), and i love the most fizzy settings, it was extremely dynamic and not dynamic at all at the same time using low gain Si transistors.

to bad you didn't like the original, but i must say that i would have expected that if i knew in advance that you were going to build it. its like other Japanese fuzzes; fizz, noise and broken-ness in sound are priorities, and sustain is an afterthought, the opposite of what you try and put into a fuzz.

cheers

[mdcmdcmdc]

now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc

[iainpunk]

now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc

they started using that FY-2 after psychocandy, and never recorded with it. the first album was fully done with a pair of TR8 fuzz wah's (superfuzz into wah), Jim mainly using tone 2 (scooped), while William mainly used fuzz 1 (flat mids). the wah after the fuzz made it extremely prone to feedbacking, especially since they exclusively use hollow body guitars. jim also had his guitar just hanging of his sholder without touching it, while standing right in front of the amps which are super loud.

the Jesus and Mary Chain are the best band ever in my honest opinion. i especially love 'who do you love' 'my little underground' 'snakedriver' and 'in a hole'

their music is my #1 inspiration for building fuzzes, trying to get that huge tone without the huge volume and feedback from hollow bodies

cheers

[GibsonGM]

Good job man. I remember making this and thinking the same thing - 'nope, not getting off the BB, no way, it sucks!"   I think it has hope this way, ha ha!  Some interesting tones there, too.

[Mark Hammer]

I love the FY-2, and have "built" it many different ways.  One of them was actually the "prize" for one of the past contests here ( https://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?board=31.0 ).

The midscoop filter, intended to give a searing-top-big-bottom tone, like a Superfuzz, does remove a LOT of amplitude, which makes it a little disappointing.  The sound itself is fine, but most folks will expect that stepping on a fuzz will instantly yield a big volume boost, and this one comes out like a shy UFC fighter, who's a little introverted.  This is why JD Sleep included an extra gain section on the GGG version.

Inserting resistance between the .1uf cap and ground in the midscoop filter not only makes it "throatier", but also increases the output level.  Perhaps not to the level of the GGG version, but one can get a sound that is louder than bypass without having to dime both controls.

Personally, I prefer wiring the fuzz control differently than shown.  I tie the wiper to the output/midscoop and the outside lugs to the 3300pf and 2200pf caps, so that the control pans between the two stages, rather than blend one in with the other as the stock version does.

While using Schottky diodes for clipping will certainly get one sizzle, and removing the midscoop entirely will get you more level,  I suspect those diodes will set the signal ceiling a little low.  There's also the voodoo/juju of how diodes behave, contingent on the current, as dictated by series resistance.  In other words, can you get the guts AND the volume without having to dime it?

Iainpunk notes the use of moving the scoop around.  I think I included this feature on the "contest prize" version.  It can be implemented by replacing the 10k and 15k resistors in the scoop filter with a 10k pot and added resistors on each end, wired up like a SWTC.  Adding a 2k-5k pot between the .1uf cap and ground to that will get you a wide variety of tones, many of which are louder than stock.  They won't replicate whatever it is you love about your Compagna version, but they will be useful, and many louder than stock.

Finally, that 47nf cap that straddles the 100k resistor from V+ dictates overall high/low balance.  Removing it will get you more bottom.

Proceed!

[pinkjimiphoton]

now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc

what is j&mc?

[pinkjimiphoton]

Good job man. I remember making this and thinking the same thing - 'nope, not getting off the BB, no way, it sucks!"   I think it has hope this way, ha ha!  Some interesting tones there, too.

i mean, jesus, it didn't really DO anything but SUCK lol... didn't sound anything like the demos i'd heard, and i tried every freekin transistor in the house.
i mean, muddy, fizzy, crappy, no balls, no output, no sustain....yeah, it was a disappointment.

[pinkjimiphoton]

awesome advice, sir mark.

yeah... i just couldn't get any love out of it. i suspected removing that 47n would make it louder/darker. its really just being used almost like a treble peaker in an amp, but the value seemed kinda big for that....
i'd imagine most of the signal would be bypassed by a cap that large.

the fuzz control is kind of a joke, too, agreed. i had toyed with changing it more to a fake variable cap, but i wanted to leave the circuit as intact as i could after stripping half of it out.

it really started as a challenge to make the sucker work, and you know me, any fuzz has the potential to sound like many other fuzz circuits i've monkeyed with, as my ear tends to gravitate towards what i would find useful if i were having to rely on it.

still obsessed, in other words. there can never be too many fuzz circuits

does q2 actually really even do anything the way the schematic is? seems like all it does is work as a crummy buffer, so its quite possible i f'd up the vero, tho i did check it over multiple times, checked for bad solder <i actually pull on each component with pliers now to ensure it stays together..... and when boxed whack the bejesus out of it on my bench to try and make it mess up> and ran a blade between the tracks. made no diff.

i tried low gain, medium gain, but only the darlingtons seemed to make it kick.

in the end, i think it came out completely different from what i expected, but it sounds pretty good, and it cleans up well, which for me, is wickedly important.

maybe i'll cobble another together and add some mods to it, but so many fuzzes, and such a finite time left on this rock....

[GibsonGM]

now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc

they started using that FY-2 after psychocandy, and never recorded with it. the first album was fully done with a pair of TR8 fuzz wah's (superfuzz into wah), Jim mainly using tone 2 (scooped), while William mainly used fuzz 1 (flat mids). the wah after the fuzz made it extremely prone to feedbacking, especially since they exclusively use hollow body guitars. jim also had his guitar just hanging of his sholder without touching it, while standing right in front of the amps which are super loud.

the Jesus and Mary Chain are the best band ever in my honest opinion. i especially love 'who do you love' 'my little underground' 'snakedriver' and 'in a hole'

their music is my #1 inspiration for building fuzzes, trying to get that huge tone without the huge volume and feedback from hollow bodies

cheers

j&mc =

"Jesus and Mary Chain".    A little too industrial for my tastes, but hey I'm an old bastard.

[pinkjimiphoton]

who?

now get the hell off my lawn, you whippersnappers!! lol

[Mark Hammer]

awesome advice, sir mark.

yeah... i just couldn't get any love out of it. i suspected removing that 47n would make it louder/darker. its really just being used almost like a treble peaker in an amp, but the value seemed kinda big for that....
i'd imagine most of the signal would be bypassed by a cap that large.

the fuzz control is kind of a joke, too, agreed. i had toyed with changing it more to a fake variable cap, but i wanted to leave the circuit as intact as i could after stripping half of it out.

it really started as a challenge to make the sucker work, and you know me, any fuzz has the potential to sound like many other fuzz circuits i've monkeyed with, as my ear tends to gravitate towards what i would find useful if i were having to rely on it.

still obsessed, in other words. there can never be too many fuzz circuits

does q2 actually really even do anything the way the schematic is? seems like all it does is work as a crummy buffer, so its quite possible i f'd up the vero, tho i did check it over multiple times, checked for bad solder <i actually pull on each component with pliers now to ensure it stays together..... and when boxed whack the bejesus out of it on my bench to try and make it mess up> and ran a blade between the tracks. made no diff.

i tried low gain, medium gain, but only the darlingtons seemed to make it kick.

in the end, i think it came out completely different from what i expected, but it sounds pretty good, and it cleans up well, which for me, is wickedly important.

maybe i'll cobble another together and add some mods to it, but so many fuzzes, and such a finite time left on this rock....

To quote Al Pacino "Something is REALLY wrong here".
Pretty much ANY NPN transitor will work just fine.  I have an original, and the 2SC536 units in it have an hfe in the mid-200s.  So any 2N3904 or 2N222 will do just fine.  No need for a darlington.

Does Q2 "do" anything?  You betcha.  That is where the fuzz comes from.  Q1's output is hot, and it makes Q2 get even hotter.  That's why I like my way of using/wiring the Fuzz pot: it pans between a somewhat cleaner and much dirtier stage.

That said, even with both transistors doing what they are supposed to do, it still isn't an especially loud circuit.  Removal of the 47nf cap won't make it darker.  It will just add a little more "woof" to the low end.  As always, consult this chart for ideas about what you can change to get different sounds.  All those fuzzes are kissin' cousins.

[pinkjimiphoton]

man, i must have done something wrong then, cuz you can literally pull q2 out and it makes almost no difference at all. very weird. i musta screwed it up somehow. i'll have to take a look!

i forgot the comparison chart

maybe i'll take another crack today. i'm bored. trying to get back into doing vero more again instead of pcb's. mark's customers prefer the vero pea%^&*s, so that's what i've been building mostly.

[iainpunk]

who?

now get the hell off my lawn, you whippersnappers!! lol

the Jesus and Mary Chain.

its a noise/pop band from Schotland. they have huge and noisy tone, with lots of hiss and feedback (and some songs even 50Hz hum!) they have inspried me in the pursuit of tone. i designed most of my fuzzes through their inspiration. they basically made 2 good albums (Psycho candy and DarkLands), and a good b-sides compilation (I Hate Rock n Roll), the rest is quite a bit more new-wave-ish and less noisy.

i really love them

cheers

[GibsonGM]

No problems. I once worked with a guy who was 55, I was 35. He was making fun of MY gen's tunes..smashing pumpkins or something.  I just looked at him and started to sing:

"This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius, the age of Aquariuuuusssss....."  He was like "Ok! Ok! Please STOP!" LOL     

[mdcmdcmdc]

now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc now play j&mc

they started using that FY-2 after psychocandy, and never recorded with it. the first album was fully done with a pair of TR8 fuzz wah's (superfuzz into wah), Jim mainly using tone 2 (scooped), while William mainly used fuzz 1 (flat mids). the wah after the fuzz made it extremely prone to feedbacking, especially since they exclusively use hollow body guitars. jim also had his guitar just hanging of his sholder without touching it, while standing right in front of the amps which are super loud.

the Jesus and Mary Chain are the best band ever in my honest opinion. i especially love 'who do you love' 'my little underground' 'snakedriver' and 'in a hole'

their music is my #1 inspiration for building fuzzes, trying to get that huge tone without the huge volume and feedback from hollow bodies

cheers

They're truly (one of) the best! Darklands is the one I put on the most these days, but there's very little to dislike in the catalog. Always keeping my eyes open for an affordable hofner verithin...