WHIRLYGIG TREMFUZZ !

[ambulancevoice]

you should make that 1k res into a gain/fuzz pot
sorry, i like more pots...

[The Tone God]

Dragonfly,

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Enjoy.

Andrew

[John Lyons]

Very nice! Digging that trem jerkyness!

John

[ambulancevoice]

i decided to do some tranny harvesting(thats sounds wrong)

hahahahhahahahahahahha!

[John Lyons]

I've breadboarded this up but am having some trouble getting the trem side working right.
The fuzz only section works fine but when I switch to the trem fuzz side I get a very quiet tremolo with no fuzz and a very muted sounding signal.
The trem is clearly working but there is almost no signal getting through.

Not much here to go wrong. I've tried different MPSA13s and fooled around with the bias of Q2 with a 10K pot.

Any ideas?
I get about  2v at the collector of Q1 and Q2. I know this is low but the fuzz only side works...

John

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Might be interesting to replace the 100K resistor by a 100K pot with a small (say .0022) cap from the wiper to ground.
Havn't tried it, but I think it might be worthwhile.

[John Lyons]

Putting a trim pot in for the 100K cleans up the oscillation nicely but throws off the tremolo, actually makes the rate a good bit faster.
With the 100k trimer set to 23K the tone is about the same as 100K  but no self Oscillation when not playing. Dialing this down drops the gain nicely.
Still not able to get much signal at all out of the trem setting.

[John Lyons]

Here's a quick soundclip of what I'm getting.
(Les Paul, stock schematic values)

[John Lyons]

Bumpski

[Dragonfly]

Here's a quick soundclip of what I'm getting.
(Les Paul, stock schematic values)

Thats odd. I breadboarded it twice with no issues. There was a small volume / treble drop when the trem side was engaged, but nothing like the soundclip.

I already took it off the board, so i dont have voltages, but if i have a chance later, i'll breadboard it again.

BTW...on the "bright side" of things, the "fuzz" side sounds great !

[John Lyons]

Andy

Yes, the fuzz is pretty nice. The variable 100K can dial in some lighter shades of fuzz as well.
I'll tear mine down and start again. Maybe it's a fluke or I miswired something.

John

[Cardboard Tube Samurai]

I finally got off my arse and made this pedal. I didn't even bother bread-boarding it before making it because I knew I was going to like it. It's pretty darned awesome! Such a chunky, grumpy fuzz. It's just a crying shame that it oscillates so much when you aren't playing. The tremolo side of things is great too, but yet again the 'thumping' (as mentioned in the original post) lets it down. Apart from the trimpot mod, what are some other suggestions for reducing the oscillation? I can probably live with the thumping, though suggestions for reducing that would be nice too.

My voltages:

Q1 -
E: 0.92
B: 2.05
C: 4.51 (varies downward with trem/bias pot turning downward)

Q2 -
E: 0.01
B: 0.92
C: 2.05

[Cardboard Tube Samurai]

Just some pointers would be nice... not asking anyone to design anything

[John Lyons]

I tore down and redid my breadboard set up and I get a little better trem but no fuzz in trem mode.
The only way I could stop the oscillation was to lower the resistance of the 100K to about 23K.
Even then it oscillates slightly with the volume of the guitar rolled off all the way.

Possible mods to switch between:
A .01 input cap is nice for a brighter and faster picking attack. Although this will stop the tremolo I believe.

John