Are any of you guys interested in an old school silicon fuzz project ?

jlullo · July 03, 2007, 02:25:11 AM

a.c.,
this looks really great! i can't wait to try it out.... AWESOME job on the distressed look that you gave the pedal

i think it's very fitting to the sound

fenderstrat,
just make this version and see how it sounds. since it seems to sound so good with lower chords and has a ton of low end, you might not want to do anything. If you needed to let me low end through, you could play around with the input cap (.047uf).... try raising it up to .1uf and see how that goes. if that's too much, split the difference

jonathan

edit: A.C. beat me to it! listen to his ideas... he is the fuzz master!

jlullo · July 03, 2007, 02:49:11 AM

ps- this wouldn't happen to be named after the infamous "Montezuma's Revenge", would it?

Dragonfly · July 03, 2007, 02:58:40 AM

Quote from: jlullo on July 03, 2007, 02:49:11 AM
ps- this wouldn't happen to be named after the infamous "Montezuma's Revenge", would it?

Yep.

jlullo · July 03, 2007, 02:59:55 AM

haha that is amazing

goosonique · July 03, 2007, 03:01:13 AM

nice

QuoteA useful addition would be a switch with a 22pF cap to ground to choose whether you want to roll off the extreme highs or not

Yes, a smallish cap 39pf to abt 100pf smack right on the input to ground after input cap ...just to keep unwanted freq's (radio)out ...

Dragonfly · July 03, 2007, 03:06:15 AM

Quote from: goosonique on July 03, 2007, 03:01:13 AM
nice
QuoteA useful addition would be a switch with a 22pF cap to ground to choose whether you want to roll off the extreme highs or not
Yes, a smallish cap 39pf to abt 100pf smack right on the input to ground after input cap ...just to keep unwanted freq's (radio)out ...

I breadboarded it with a 68pF cap and it was very good. When I built / boxed the proto, I ended up using a 220pF cap, as I use Teles quite a bit, and a 220pF worked well with teles as well as humbuckers.

goosonique · July 03, 2007, 03:19:23 AM

I just played your clip again ....awesome lick ....

MartyMart · July 03, 2007, 04:09:25 AM

Sounds great Andy - big PHAT and dripping in fuzz !!!
MM

searoad · July 03, 2007, 09:48:23 AM

im really interested how this monster sound on bass

so fatty than my mongoose and big muff!!

petemoore · July 03, 2007, 10:15:13 AM

Montezuma avenges every attack !
Pretty cool, this computer decided to allow links all of a sudden.
3904's, pretty straightforeward, nice !

makenxero · July 03, 2007, 10:42:45 AM

Would this work with BC109s? I think I have a few extra...

Dragonfly · July 03, 2007, 11:28:06 AM

Quote from: makenxero on July 03, 2007, 10:42:45 AM
Would this work with BC109s? I think I have a few extra...

should work fine, though it would require some adjusting, due to the higher gain. you'd likely need to adjust Q1's collector resistor, and also raise the value of the 330k interstage resistor.

Dragonfly · July 03, 2007, 11:32:29 AM

Quote from: petemoore on July 03, 2007, 10:15:13 AM
Montezuma avenges every attack !
Pretty cool, this computer decided to allow links all of a sudden.
3904's, pretty straightforeward, nice !

originally it was a bit different....used 2N3566's, had a 3rd stage, etc, etc.....but i decided to simplify it and adjust it for easily available transistors. its the WAY misbiased second stage that gives it the spittiness...i also "tamed it down" just a bit by putting the 330k between stages.

i hope youre doing well Pete !

zjokka · July 04, 2007, 11:44:15 AM

Quote from: Dragonfly on July 03, 2007, 11:32:29 AMits the WAY misbiased second stage that gives it the spittiness...i also "tamed it down" just a bit by putting the 330k between stages.

When I heard the clip, I thought, well that's a misbaised fuzz face. Let's not make that comment, everybody's so happy. But there's more to this idea, no?

Dragonfly · July 04, 2007, 12:32:06 PM

Quote from: zjokka on July 04, 2007, 11:44:15 AM
Quote from: Dragonfly on July 03, 2007, 11:32:29 AMits the WAY misbiased second stage that gives it the spittiness...i also "tamed it down" just a bit by putting the 330k between stages.

When I heard the clip, I thought, well that's a misbaised fuzz face. Let's not make that comment, everybody's so happy. But there's more to this idea, no?

If you look at the schemo, its not FF based at all. Its a boost into a misbiased boost, essentially. Its more in the style of the Shin-Ei / Orpheum / etc fuzz pedals of the 60's.

I havent been able to get a misbiased FF to sound anywhere close to that nasty, but maybe someone else has...I havent spent a bunch of time trying to misbias FF's.

foxfire · July 04, 2007, 02:26:12 PM

ok so i built one this morning before going out to help my dad do the breaks on his truck. i made a few little changes from the schematic. i used a 500k trimpot in place of the 330k resistor. i socketed the input cap for the obvious reasons and i put in some sockets for the suggested filter cap after the input cap. i first had the 2n3904's in it, but didn't feel like i was getting enough saturation so i tried 2n5089's, 2n2222a's, bc107's and a few others. i ended up using a 2n5089 in Q1 and an older texas instruments tranny with relatively low hfe in Q2. now that i've had a chance to play it without having to worry about waking up my girl or neighbors i went back to the 2n3904's for both trannys. for me they handle the bias/miss bias better. i'm using a 0.1uf input cap and decided to not use the optional filter cap for now at least. i found the 500k trimpot rather useful in that you can clean the fuzz up a good bit if you should want to? all and all i think that this is a really cool fuzz.

i built Dragonfly's/your whirlygig last week. i couldn't get the trem part of it sound sound good for me, but i really liked it's fuzz. i played with the in/output caps and swapped the trannys for a 2n2222a in Q1 and a 2n5089 in Q2. i also added a pair of leds and 3 1n914s on a switch. the 1n914s are nice and fuzzy, the leds are louder and i guess more like an overdrive. anyway i plan on putting the Whirlygig and the Montezuma in the same enclosure. the way i look at it i'll have 3 fuzzes in 1. it's not an new idea and i'm sure i could have gotten there quicker and with half the parts if i wanted to. but i'm very happy with what i've got. thanks, dragonfly.

puretube · July 04, 2007, 04:23:59 PM

"STARVED COLLECTOR"

...

(who said that?)

Dragonfly · July 04, 2007, 04:34:09 PM

Quote from: puretube on July 04, 2007, 04:23:59 PM
"STARVED COLLECTOR" ...

(who said that?)

OK...now I'm lost...

I'm assuming that you mentioned that somewhere/sometime ?

Its an "age old" trick, AFAIK...But I figured it out years ago when I started messing with Bazz Fusses....still a great way to get fuzz...you just have to push a hot signal through it.

I'll tell you what though...I *wish* I knew 1/1,000,000th of what you know about tubes and electronics, Puretube...you're the man !

Dragonfly · July 05, 2007, 08:34:55 AM

Quote from: foxfire on July 04, 2007, 02:26:12 PM
ok so i built one this morning before going out to help my dad do the breaks on his truck. i made a few little changes from the schematic. i used a 500k trimpot in place of the 330k resistor. i socketed the input cap for the obvious reasons and i put in some sockets for the suggested filter cap after the input cap. i first had the 2n3904's in it, but didn't feel like i was getting enough saturation so i tried 2n5089's, 2n2222a's, bc107's and a few others. i ended up using a 2n5089 in Q1 and an older texas instruments tranny with relatively low hfe in Q2. now that i've had a chance to play it without having to worry about waking up my girl or neighbors i went back to the 2n3904's for both trannys. for me they handle the bias/miss bias better. i'm using a 0.1uf input cap and decided to not use the optional filter cap for now at least. i found the 500k trimpot rather useful in that you can clean the fuzz up a good bit if you should want to? all and all i think that this is a really cool fuzz.

Glad youre liking it...it definitely has that old school "nastiness" !

Quote
i built Dragonfly's/your whirlygig last week. i couldn't get the trem part of it sound sound good for me, but i really liked it's fuzz. i played with the in/output caps and swapped the trannys for a 2n2222a in Q1 and a 2n5089 in Q2. i also added a pair of leds and 3 1n914s on a switch. the 1n914s are nice and fuzzy, the leds are louder and i guess more like an overdrive. anyway i plan on putting the Whirlygig and the Montezuma in the same enclosure. the way i look at it i'll have 3 fuzzes in 1. it's not an new idea and i'm sure i could have gotten there quicker and with half the parts if i wanted to. but i'm very happy with what i've got. thanks, dragonfly.

using lower gain trannies like that, the Whirlygig wont get the tremolo to oscillate...it needs high gainers, like the darlington MPSA13's in the schematic. It "might" work with MPSA18's or NTE47's as well...i havent tried though....

foxfire · July 05, 2007, 08:59:18 AM

yeh i kind of gave up on the trem part of it. the volume/treble cut was too much on my build. it sounded like there was a heavy blanket on it. i only have the 2 darlingtons and i never bothered to check their hfe so they may be on the lower side? i've mainly built bpm types of fuzz so far, and i liked the cleaner/high gain fuzz of the pedal.

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Are any of you guys interested in an old school silicon fuzz project ?