Colorsound Fuzz Box One Knob Fuzz

Started by KingSG55, September 16, 2023, 06:30:28 PM

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KingSG55

Hey pedal builders,

after finishing my Tonebender MkII Silicon vero build, I've tried to build a Colorsound Fuzz Box One Knob Fuzz. Long story short - it works, it's AWESOME but I have one small issue with powering it.
On it's own it's super silent (battery or adapter) but when I plug it into my pedalboard there is some noise after I roll down the volume knob to 0 on my guitars. I've tested everything and it turns out it's the Boss buffer in my DD-200 that is causing this. Whenever I try to plug my "One knobber" directly into my Boss DD-200 it works and sounds great but when I put the volume knob down on guitar there is some weird noise coming out. Tried many different transistors, some make less noise (BC109C) but some create more (2N2222A).

One more thing - I currently don't have the footswitch hooked up (input and output directly to jacks + jacks are grounded together) because it's coming next week, could this be the issue? I'm not sure really, like I said it's pretty quiet without the Boss in chain.
Also here is the schematic I used:

http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2013/04/1-knob-fuzz-bonanza.html
(First picture)

Should I maybe add some additional power filtering, maybe use better jacks or something like that?
Power supply used: Truetone CS7 (Isolated power supply).

Rob Strand

#1
The layout has a 47uF psu cap on the board so you could try adding say 100 ohm in series with the +9V lead.
Send:     . .- .-. - .... / - --- / --. --- .-. -
According to the water analogy of electricity, transistor leakage is caused by holes.

KingSG55

Thank you so much Rob, I will try it asap - but one small thing: I don't know how it's done since it's basically my second vero build ever. Let's say I have 100 Ohm resistor in my hands, can I just stick next to the 9V out (where there is empty space between the cap and the cable going out to 9V) or should I do some other things like soldering it directly underneath the cap (on + and - on the cap?).
Sorry for being a noob, I'm still learning a lot.

Thx.

Rob Strand

Quote from: KingSG55 on September 17, 2023, 03:58:38 AM
Thank you so much Rob, I will try it asap - but one small thing: I don't know how it's done since it's basically my second vero build ever. Let's say I have 100 Ohm resistor in my hands, can I just stick next to the 9V out (where there is empty space between the cap and the cable going out to 9V) or should I do some other things like soldering it directly underneath the cap (on + and - on the cap?).
Sorry for being a noob, I'm still learning a lot.

Thx.
Best to see if it work well enough first.  I'd put in it series with the 9V wire.

If it works then you need to cut the 9V track at the top left of the PCB then bridge that cut point with the 100R (or whatever) resistor.
Send:     . .- .-. - .... / - --- / --. --- .-. -
According to the water analogy of electricity, transistor leakage is caused by holes.

KingSG55

I've tried the resistor in series and it didn't work but there is one other thing..I really became suspicious of my Truetone CS7 and check this out - you know how CS7 has two 500 mA outputs? I plugged one in my DD-200 and other one in my Colorsound - zero noise.

When I try to plug one in 500 mA and one in lower powered output (200 mA) there is crazy noise coming through when volume is down completely on my guitar. Plus I have tested with few more pedals (Tonebender Fuzz MkII) and if I leave the input unplugged on the Tonebender and I connect it to to the DD-200 and one in higher output and one in lower output I get the same freaking noise!!!

I don't know what to do, it seems like the 500 mA outputs are somehow connected/grounded.
What should I do? Thank you for helping out.

P.S. Adapters on the Colorsound are DEAD quiet, and so is battery, only stupid CS7 is making this kind of noise.