The Jordon Boss Tone is a Monster!

[jmusser]

I believe Aron was the one that debugged the original schematic. I tried the original input and output caps .02, and then I tried the .1uf in and out as suggested. I had switches installed to go between to compare. There is no comparison really. The .1s in and out turn this thing into a Tone Monster! This has been the first fuzz in memory that has just as much fuzz and sustain at the bridge pic up as it does at the neck. Since I have a fat strat, when I go back to the bridge pickup, it gives the effect a metal tone. At the neck pic up it sweetens up some, but definitely not enough to be confused with a fuzz face type tone. This thing is an axe grinder, and set up with the .1s, it's ready for anything. I tried a bunch of different cap options at the input and output to see if I could have an option that would thin the tone out, but all I really accomplished was cutting the volume to about nil. The tone did thin up, but it cut the balls off of it at the same time. The original .02s were a poor choice for this design, and the .1s really open this thing up and totally change it's personality. It does the octave thing, just like the note says. The original note comes through, and then the octave ghosts in behind it. It likes some notes for this better than others. This box is a must in everyone's arsenal, and would be something you'd play as a standard gig effect. Big thanks go out to Aron for cleaning up this circuit.

[Mark Hammer]

Yup, this little puppy is SERIOUS, both in terms of intensity, and in terms of output level.

On mine I have a little 3-way slide switch that gives me "normal" (whatever the hell that is on such a box), extra input cap, and normal with a treble rolloff (cap to ground in parallel with clipping diodes).

[aron]

YEAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!


I went through a lot with that little circuit! We need a stripboard layout for it.  

[vortex]

What diodes did you end up liking in the Bosstone?

[Mark Hammer]

I don't think they really matter.  This thing clips heavily in the complete absence of diodes.  For the most part, what they add is a steady level, by imposing a signal ceiling.  Even if you added an asymmetrical trio (2+1) like on the SD-1, my guess is that you'd simply end up with a heavily clipped sigal where one half cycle was exactly twice as great an amplitude as the other.

[Paul Marossy]

Hmm... that one is so simple I may just have to whip one up and see how I like it.  

Any opinions on how Ge transistors would sound in this circuit?

[aron]

I never tried Ge, but silicon was plenty good for me. I've built several over the years.

I have them lying around somewhere, but I might make another with more filtering on the end.

[Paul Marossy]

I only ask because I have a truckload of various Ge transistors and want to use them in something.  :wink:

[Dragonfly]

YEAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!


I went through a lot with that little circuit! We need a stripboard layout for it.  

I can do that

just direct me to the proper schematic, and i'll get it done for ya !!!

andy

[RCZ53]

I have an original Jordan Bosstone and it is CRAZY Way Over The Top !!!! I love it ...tons of gain and not subtle at all.

[squidsquad]

Had two of em back in the late 60's...mid 70's....and they were always my fave fuzzes.  Sounded so good...they were stolen!  I had put them in regular boxes to avoid that *plug the box into your jack* abortion.  Gonna have to do one now...based on the above suggestions.  WOOF!

[jmusser]

I used 1N4148 diodes in it. I may eventually mess with it and see if Ge's sound better in there, but right now, I'm real tickled with the way it came out. You are right when you say it has a lot of output. Wow! It has a great gritty, growl to it. I don't think I've been more pleased with the initial outcome of a circuit since my Si Tone bender. It's not the Ugly Face where it has 50 bells and whistles to it, but it's one a person would get an awful lot of mileage out of in day to day playing.

[inverseroom]

Where's the link, y'all?  This sounds like something I want to do...  

[Paul Marossy]

I just made a PCB layout for it in about 20 minutes. I'm going to etch it tomorrow and see how it sounds...  

[petemoore]

I'm sorry, look in schematics under "Jordan'. The 'OK' one on top looks good.

[Paul Marossy]

Gee, this thing is one fuzzy distortion!  

[Paul Marossy]

I am in the process of trying different transistors - some seem to sound better than others. Here are the ones I have tried thus far: 2N5089, 2N2219, 2N2222, 2N3569, 2N3904, MPSA10, MPS5172. Haven't decided which one I like best yet...

I think I will also try a few Ge transistors just to satisfy my curiosity.  

[jmusser]

I figured you'd like it Paul. It's doesn't sound like anything else I've built thus far, and I have built several circuits. This thing has so much gain, I think you could probably play it without a battery for two hours and rattle the windows!

[Phorhas]

After reading all of the good reviews I decided to try this thingy out. I used 2n4401 for Q1 and 3906 for Q2 (at first, the 5087 for Q2 and various others for Q1) and for the diode I put 2 Ge diodes in series BtB (total of 4) for I didn't have Si at the moment.

I think I did somthing wrong because the fuzz I got was pretty avrage... cool tones but nothing special, alot of volume but no great deal of FUZZ.

what pin voltages do you guys have?

[Mark Hammer]

There seem to be some varying opinions/schems with respect to a few components.

On old schem drawn up by RG Keen, and sitting in a vast number of mirror sites for Jamie Heilman's Leper's Schematic Archive shows the second transistor as NPN.  The second transistor should be PNP.  Given that you indicate using a 2N3906, you have successfully avoided the use of the first schematic.  RG used/showed a 10k output pot where others show 100k

Aron Nelson drew up the circuit again, and indicated on his redraw that a resistor shown as 150 ohms in some places is actually 150k.  Similarly, a cap straddling the base and emitter of the 2N3906 should be 47-50pf and NOT uf.  I gather it is a product of his schematic drawing software at the time, but NONE of the caps involved is actually polarized.

Please note that the emitter of the 2N3906 does NOT go to ground.  Rather, it goes to the V+ line, and the collector goes to ground.

The intensity of this beast is such that it is hard to imagine that performance differences in yours are simply due to a few component tolerance differences or to using lower output pickups than others do.  Of course, on the other hand I have no idea what you consider to be subtle and intense distortion.

Given how easy it is to confuse such matters, my money is on transistor pinout confusion.  Notethat the omission of diodes in this circuit STILL gets you distortion.  So if lifting the ground connection of your diodes gets you "clean" tone, something is installed wrong.