Fuzzface-Y.A.F.F built report. Please check out cap values

[AM]

I just finished my new project. Started as a fuzzface and ended up as something between a fuzzface, a Y.A.F.F, and a Colorsound fuzz.
Well, all of them are variations of the same circuit anyway. I wanted to post some of the values I used and I would appreciate any comments/feedback.
I had a look at the "brit face" and I'm thinking of including the cap switch mod in my circuit. I will test this tomorrow.

For now:
I used an 1k resistor instead of the 330 one. I also used a 10k pot for biasing Q2 and a resistor from Q1 e to ground. Polarity protection, 1M pulldown resistor etc.
I ended up using an 1uF output cap. I was inbetween 0.1uF and 1 uF and the latter gave me more output on tap and somehow it felt like the whole signal was more full and ballsy even without using extra boost to push the amp. Question: Is this too much? I usually see people going as much as 0.1uF on this one.
For input cap I have wired a 0.22uF and a 1uF on a toggle switch and I'm testing both. With a 6 strings standard tuned humbucker guitar I can't hear any difference between the two. This observation raises the question. Is there any reason to go above 0.22uF for the input cap? Am I missing something here?

Please feel free to comment or give me some feedback.

[petemoore]

  Cool sounds like your Fuzz Face !
  As in Your FF.
  Then try figuring out the math angle, i wouldn't mind "helping" us figure out through equation about where the rolloff point would be 'if and if else is correct'.
  Fuzz Faces can really get the 'wobbly' gain of frequencies effect going...can also get swamped with bass or sound mosquito-like, for me, not quite enough bass let in makes a dry stand alone FF, too much bass and the bass especially is ill-defined.

[jimbob]

I was doing the same thing recently w Fuzz Face type circuits and really didnt notice much of a difference with the input cap when used the suggested values. I decided to just use what sounded good and made a bigger difference to me and my set up. In fact, I think the output cap made the biggest difference. I used a spdt switch to choose between input caps= a 2.2 and 4.7 electro (I played around with different ones from .22, .01, .1, 1uf, 2.2, and 4.7) and the 2.2 and 4.7 I liked those best with my set up. I also added a switch to choose between the output caps .01 and .1uf (bass/less base).

[Dragonfly]

Personally, I prefer the Gagan "blend" control, but on the OUTPUT cap instead of the input....

[John Lyons]

The input cap can be subtle.
Listen for the amount of saturation/fuzz with the lager cap sizes.
Small caps are a little cleaner and react to picking nuances better,
more on an overdrive that a sluggy fuzz.
Larger caps provide more fuzz and a sloppier attack that slurs the picking attack,
sort of a compression due to letting though much more low end.

Unless you have the caps on a switch or blend pot it's hard to tell while you solder in another cap and test again.
I usually go with a 10uf and a .005 with a Gagan cap blend arrangement as in the EZ face (with input cap blend)

Interesting Andy. I'll have to try the blend pot on the output some time.

john

[AM]

  Then try figuring out the math angle, i wouldn't mind "helping" us figure out through equation....

I wish I could do that!!! Unfortunatelly whenever I need any scientific proof in what I'm doing I have to come here and ask. I tune things by ear. A bit like those old mechanics who used to tune cars by ear.

Unless you have the caps on a switch or blend pot it's hard to tell while you solder in another cap and test again.

I couldn't agree more with you. I always had the caps wired  on a spdt toggle.

The final circuit has 0.1 uF input cap, 0.2 uF output cap, LOW gain silicon transistors, a trimpot set-and-forget arrangement instead of gain pot, external bias and volume controls. I also put a very small cap and a resistor at Q1 to soften things up. I moved the resistor values up and down a bit until I found what worked best.
I played a bit with a 10 uF cap at the gain pot but it sounded a bit too mid heavy for my taste. I hate that so I ended up with a 22uF one.
As it is now it keeps my guitar tone unaltered. Just adds distortion and sustain. What else is there, let me think...ahhh, the usual polarity protection, power supply filtering, and blocking radio frequencies stuff.

I need to say that this is a box totally built around my setup. What works for me might not be ideal for somebody else. So I need to make clear that this was built to be used with a dual humbucker guitar through a bass heavy amp.
It might look weird to some the ommition of the gain pot. My ideal pedal would be something with no pots at all. I don't even put led indicators on them. I always tend to find the sweet spot on a pedal and leave it there. The rest is always done through my guitar controls. I put the volume outside the box so I can push a bit more the amp whenever I need to. I also chose to have the bias control external so I can go between smooth and edgier sound without having to have more than one pedal on my setup.

[Gus]

IIRC this was up at Aron's before the YAFF

http://www.diystompboxes.com/pedals/gusFuzzFace.gif

Have you tried it? it can use different transistors and you can alway adjust caps to taste.

[AM]

IIRC this was up at Aron's before the YAFF
Have you tried it? it can use different transistors and you can alway adjust caps to taste.

I had your schem in my files already. What I ended up doing was taking and combining some ideas from your schem, some stuff from Joe Gagan's easyface, some stuff from the colorsound fuzz and the YAFF.
For example from your schem and the YAFF, I borrowed the 100 ohm resistor idea from transistor to ground. I didn't like the effect of the extra 220 ohm resistor to ground at Q2 that YAFF has so I ommited that. I also made the 340 or 470 ohm resistor that the original fuzzface asks for around 1K. I liked the small cap that the colorsound fuzz uses to smooth things up but I wired mine on the second transistor and used a much smaller value.
I kept the 33k and 100k resistors from the original fuzzface schem. For in and out caps I did listening tests and stuck with whatever didn't change the eq of my bypassed sound too much.

For the bias control I just replaced the 8k2 resistor of the original FF schem with a 10k pot. I see Tim Escobedo does the whole bias thing in "The Many Faces of Fuzz" in a different way. And at R.G Keen's article "The technology of the fuzz face" there is a schem with Fuller's fuzz where the bias control is after the 490 ohm resistor and in between the 33k and 8k2 resistors. I just followed what looked simpler to me as far as that goes. I'm not sure if with what I did I'm also biasing the first transistor right though.

I would actually like to ask if you think the way I did the bias control is not complete or sufficient enough. If you or anybody else has an opinion on that I would love to hear it.