Which Fuzz Does This?

8mileshigh · October 01, 2007, 09:17:10 PM

That's great Dave, I'm glad you're happy with the Ge Fuzzrite. Just out of curiosity, I measured my collectors, my Q1 is at 3.0v and Q2 is at 0.34v. I'm using a SG with a Kent Armstrong P-90 in it but that gives me high gain and almost never ending sustain. I prefer my tele with Bill Lawrence pickups for fuzz tones, twang and fuzz go very well together. BTW, this circuit also does Spirit in the Sky perfectly.

Can you post sound clips ? I'd like to hear it !

Enjoy & don't go having too much to dream tonight

(also amazing fuzz tone)

Chris

Dragonfly · October 01, 2007, 09:50:59 PM

Don't forget about the Orpheum Fuzz (Ge version) as well. Definitely in the Fuzzrite family, and IMO, at LEAST as cool.

8mileshigh · October 01, 2007, 10:12:09 PM

The Orpheum is also on my list along with the Saturn 5 and the Whirley Gig but I'm going to finish the Kay Fuzztone I'm working on first.

Geeze, I wish I could stay up later but the 4:30 AM starts kill my will to solder during the week

tcobretti · October 02, 2007, 01:16:58 AM

I love my Si Orpheum, it is quite possibly my favorite fuzz.

So add that one to the list, too!

Baktown · October 02, 2007, 01:46:45 AM

FYI...

Mosrites were built here in my hometown, lovely Bakersfield, California.

If anyone ever needs any Mosrite parts, let me know as one of our local music stores has the largest collection of Mosrites in the world.

Rock on!

Axl Bundy

Pedal love · October 02, 2007, 02:02:26 AM

Quote from: Baktown on October 02, 2007, 01:46:45 AM
FYI...

Mosrites were built here in my hometown, lovely Bakersfield, California.
Axl Bundy

Yes, I remember Mosrite being there. The guy that designed the Fuzzrite, Eddie Sanner is still there as well. He had a shop off of Niles street, when I lived there. (I'm sure Niles means nothing to most of you.) Hes a cool guy with a lot of info about Mosrite and Rosac stuff.

Solidhex · October 03, 2007, 01:47:11 AM

A couple years back I contacted one of the member's of The Strawberry Alarm Clock via myspace. It was when they briefly reunited and played Amoeba records in LA. They had a myspace profile they maintained themselves (not the current one). I asked of course what they used on Incense And Peppermints guitar wise and Lee Freeman said it was just straight into a Marshall no pedals. Sounds like a fuzz to me though....

--Brad

analogmike · October 03, 2007, 01:41:22 PM

Quote from: Solidhex on October 03, 2007, 01:47:11 AM
A couple years back I contacted one of the member's of The Strawberry Alarm Clock via myspace. It was when they briefly reunited and played Amoeba records in LA. They had a myspace profile they maintained themselves (not the current one). I asked of course what they used on Incense And Peppermints guitar wise and Lee Freeman said it was just straight into a Marshall no pedals. Sounds like a fuzz to me though....

Of course it's a fuzz, never believe memories

Not sure which one they used back then but now he's using (appropriately enough!) one of these:

aron · October 04, 2007, 04:43:40 AM

A long time ago, I traced this pedal (which I thought was terrible). The timbre changed for sure in the decay part of the sound. You might want to try it for fun.

http://www.diystompboxes.com/pedals/orange.jpg

petemoore · October 04, 2007, 08:16:59 AM

Orange Sunshine's a nasty critter. Cooks up pretty sweet with the G volume rolled back, IIRC the input levels had pronounced effect on the output dist and frequencies levels.
Try with low gain transistors, especially Q1.

polaris26 · October 06, 2007, 09:31:03 PM

I was playing with the Fuzz Rite circuit a bit more - I got a chance to make a crude recording. Here is a link: http://www.poconothermionics.com/fuzz.html
Let me know what you think!

Dave

Elektrojänis · October 07, 2007, 07:05:56 AM

Quote from: Paul Perry (Frostwave) on September 30, 2007, 08:45:02 PM
You know, an envelope follower (that is, filter swept by the envelope of the signal) might do this.

Filters are not only things that can be controlled by envelope follower (although most pedals that say "envelope follower" on top of them have a filter that is controlled by the envelope).

One thing to try would be to control the bias of a fuzz circuit with the envelope. It would produce timbral chande even when the fuzz totally squares the signal because it would modulate the pulse width of that square. Actually separate envelope following circuitry might not be needed... I think some in some fuzzes the bias changes anyway when you drive it hard.

8mileshigh · October 07, 2007, 04:50:16 PM

Hey Dave,

Nice !!! your's sounds more musical than mine, mine has much more gain, way too much for my tastes. I'm going to lower the gain of Q2 and bias from there. Box that baby up !

Are you using the neck pickup on the Eastwood ?

Chris

polaris26 · October 07, 2007, 06:52:03 PM

Hi Chris - thanks for the kind words. I tried various combinations of gains for Q1 and Q2, and this one seemed to get me the closest to the sound I was looking for. In the sound sample, I start out with both pickups blended, and then switch about half way through to just the neck pickup. All vol/tone controls set to max throughout.

Dave

Quote from: 8mileshigh on October 07, 2007, 04:50:16 PM
Hey Dave,

Nice !!! your's sounds more musical than mine, mine has much more gain, way too much for my tastes. I'm going to lower the gain of Q2 and bias from there. Box that baby up !

Are you using the neck pickup on the Eastwood ?

Chris

brett · October 07, 2007, 10:23:10 PM

Hi

QuoteI don't think it is worth hunting down vintage Si transistors.
I don't have specific HFE numbers in mind, but I would think 200-500 is probly the range you want. However, this is all personal preference.

I agree. Early silicon devices were both stable and had low hFE (often 100 to 200). IMO some people fool themselves when they compare a Ge device with hFE of 100 with Si and 500 and conclude that Ge sounds great. Some of the effect is due to Ge vs Si, but a lot is due to low vs high hFE. If you want to hear killer fuzz that really loads your pickups and sounds quite Ge-like, try building a silicon fuzzface with hFEs of 40 and 80. (Piggyback to get the low hFE. Search "Piggybacking" if necessary.)

hFE has a big effect, especially in position 1, for two reasons: (i) low hFE "loads" the pickups because they produce less input impedance, and (ii) these fuzzes call for a balance between gain and clipping. Roughly, I think that (single string coil output x hFE of q1) should be about equal to the supply voltage. Twice the supply might be ok, but five times the supply voltage is definately too much. Hence traditional single coils (0.05V to 0.2 V) and q1 hFE of 60 to 150 are about right (about 9 V).

hFE of 200 is too much - three times too much gain, three times too much input impedance, ...

just my 2c

Dragonfly · October 07, 2007, 11:33:21 PM

Quote from: brett on October 07, 2007, 10:23:10 PM
Hi
QuoteI don't think it is worth hunting down vintage Si transistors.
I don't have specific HFE numbers in mind, but I would think 200-500 is probly the range you want. However, this is all personal preference.

I agree. Early silicon devices were both stable and had low hFE (often 100 to 200). IMO some people fool themselves when they compare a Ge device with hFE of 100 with Si and 500 and conclude that Ge sounds great. Some of the effect is due to Ge vs Si, but a lot is due to low vs high hFE. If you want to hear killer fuzz that really loads your pickups and sounds quite Ge-like, try building a silicon fuzzface with hFEs of 40 and 80. (Piggyback to get the low hFE. Search "Piggybacking" if necessary.)

hFE has a big effect, especially in position 1, for two reasons: (i) low hFE "loads" the pickups because they produce less input impedance, and (ii) these fuzzes call for a balance between gain and clipping. Roughly, I think that (single string coil output x hFE of q1) should be about equal to the supply voltage. Twice the supply might be ok, but five times the supply voltage is definately too much. Hence traditional single coils (0.05V to 0.2 V) and q1 hFE of 60 to 150 are about right (about 9 V).

hFE of 200 is too much - three times too much gain, three times too much input impedance, ...

just my 2c

i agree.... i buy up tons of NOS silicons because, to my ears, they sound better...they also have a much lower hfe generally...a bit noisier, but i'll sacrifice noise specs for tone every time....

brett · October 08, 2007, 08:53:40 AM

Hi
It would be interesting to compare, in terms of tone, hFE and noise:
(i) two 2N5088s piggybacked with a 1k emitter resistor,
(ii) an old BC107 or similar.

Hmmm...off to the tone lab... (oo oo ahh ahh)...

Dragonfly · October 08, 2007, 12:30:46 PM

Quote from: brett on October 08, 2007, 08:53:40 AM
Hi
It would be interesting to compare, in terms of tone, hFE and noise:
(i) two 2N5088s piggybacked with a 1k emitter resistor,
(ii) an old BC107 or similar.

Hmmm...off to the tone lab... (oo oo ahh ahh)...

Keep us informed Brett....

polaris26 · October 08, 2007, 12:38:11 PM

I have seen piggybacking mentioned before here - can someone recap what this is, exactly? Are we talking about paralleling the devices, putting them in cascode, etc? Is this some new topology, or just another name for a pre-extant one?

Dave

Dragonfly · October 08, 2007, 02:44:01 PM

Quote from: polaris26 on October 08, 2007, 12:38:11 PM
I have seen piggybacking mentioned before here - can someone recap what this is, exactly? Are we talking about paralleling the devices, putting them in cascode, etc? Is this some new topology, or just another name for a pre-extant one?

Dave

Using the keyword "piggybacking" in the

gets this thread, among many others....

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=17513.0

You might also search using the terms "rangepig", "miss piggy", "piggyback"

I hoipe this helps.

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Which Fuzz Does This?