Shin-ei Companion Fuzz, strange thing happens, but it sounds cool

[ericohman]

Hi! Long time since I posted, but winter has come to Sweden and now I want feel like all I want to do is play guitar and mix with effects.

About the Companion Fuzz, I have one that I recently got from my dad. I played it yesterday and noticed something pretty strange, though it sounded pretty cool.

When I strike a note, the treble seems to go down, sounding almost over-compressed and not much treble, then, after maybe 1-1.5 seconds the treble is starting to shine back. It has to do with the attack strength and what volume I have on the guitar.
Is this due to a capacitor that should be replaced perhaps or what do you think?

I'm not sure about the battery level.

The thing is, I kind of like what happened, that's why I want to know if anyone knows what could cause it... I was playing on a Tokai Les Paul, bridge humbucker into a 15W solid state Levin Retro 15 amp.

(MODIFY: feel free to move this thread to the Lounge, sorry.)

[fuzzo]

I built one and "cool" isn't exactly the word I'd use to describe it. That thing is the most horrible fuzz pedal I've made ,absolutely useless.  

the guitar player of "jesus and mary chain" used a lot that fuzz pedal, you can clearly hear it on some songs.

[Mark Hammer]

It's a wonderful fuzz in my view.  But then, that's why there are som many thousands of different ones; tastes vary widely when it comes to distortion.  I have made a number of clones, but I also have an original and I like it.  The squish-and-recover is part of the natural behaviour of the pedal.  And yes, this does depend on the strength of the input signal.  If you feed it with a boosted signal, it sounds like it went for a walk down the street, mumbling to itself, and then walks back again....slowly.

[ericohman]

...it sounds like it went for a walk down the street, mumbling to itself, and then walks back again....slowly.

yes, that's how it sounds
thanks for the replies.

[fuzzo]

I  have just installed that circuit in a box. Not for me , for a guy who wants buying it.

That sounds really nasty and dirty, god.

I put a 10K lin pot in the tonestack to increase mids .

[Mark Hammer]

I'm sure you found out, like me, that really only the first 2k or so matters.  So, if you used a 10k pot between the cap and ground, stick a 3k3 resistor in parallel with the pot to reduce its resistance and make every degree of pot rotation actually do something.  With the mids lifted its a much more interesting fuzz, though, isn't it?

[fuzzo]

Actually , I didn't try it a lot tonight .( It's a little bit late and my neighbor wouldn't love that) so I couldn't really see the sound it produced .

I'll see that tomorrow. I put it in a box juste because a  guy wanted it .

But yeah for what I tested the 10K lin pot seems to be a little big, a part of rotation is useless. I have to see if I' ve a 5KLin pot to remplace that . (some schematic I see using a 50KL) you think 2KL will be enough ?



"interesting" , maybe , only with a scientific point of view . Muscicaly I really don't like it. that sounds like a Kellogs box falling down   I prefer softer or sweeter fuzz pedal like a foxx tone machine (octave off) or a fuzz face variant , big muff . That thing is really extrem !

[Mark Hammer]

(some schematic I see using a 50KL) you think 2KL will be enough ?

The 50k was actually my original suggestion, and it was naive.  In practice, and much to my surprise, all it takes to make a huge difference is 2k.  I don't understand why.  I'm just telling you what has consistently been true in each of the 3-4 times I've built it.

[fuzzo]

Ok I'll see that tomorrow . But I think I don't have 2kL anymore .

The zvex octane use the same tonestack and uses a 10K . 

[Mark Hammer]

Are you sure we are talking about the same thing?  The FY-2 does not have a "tonestack" per se.  It has a mid-scoop filter made up of 2 resistors and two capacitors.  You can use whatever you want to go between the 0.1uf cap and ground, but after 2k or so of added resistance between the cap and ground, there is little or no audible change.  One thing you can do is use a 3-position toggle to insert roughly 500R, 1k8 or zero ohms between the cap and ground.  So, middle position is 1k8, side position A puts 680R in parallel with that for an effective resistance of 493R, and side position B is simply a direct connection to ground for zero ohms.  Note that lifting the mids will produce a louder overall output.  You can either use the volume control to balance that, or if yuo wanted to get all fancy you could use a DPDT 3-position toggle to insert an additinal fixed resistance in series with the output volume pot to producer an approximately constant level for any tone setting.

[fuzzo]

Yeah we talk about the same thing, I say "tonestack" but it isn't a "tonestack" like marshall/fender have.my bad

[fuzzo]

I played a little with it today and yeah the "mid" pot are useless after 2K7 , so I'll change it for a 2KL pot. Thanks Mark.