simple splatty fuzz?

[taang]

does anybody know of a simple (1 transistor, maybe?) splatty fuzz out there? i'm not entirely sure what the effect is called, a stuttering fuzz? gated?

i'm looking for something that isn't fuzz mayhem, but stutters and maybe sounds like it's a dying electric sheep, with a hint of octave up. something that maybe sounds like the octave-up part of a octavia.

i know these descriptions are very vague, but if anybody knows of one many thanks if you can share it!

[Taylor]

Bazz Fuss is kind of the goto for that. But you can actually just put a pot as the bias resistor for any transistor in a fuzz and misbias it to get that splatty sound.

[taang]

so say on a bazz fuss, would the 10k (or 100k, etc) resistor coming off the battery be the bias? or would i have to insert a pot somewhere else? i read the technology of the fuzz face, but i'm still confused which one is the bias resistor.

thanks for you help

[rousejeremy]

It's not one transistor but you should build Doug Deeper's Garage Fuzz. I have a feeling it's exactly what you're looking for. http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main.php/v/DRAGONFLY-LAYOUTS_0/album18/album144/Garage_Fuzz.jpg.html

[tcobretti]

I think the Bazz Fuzz might be not as lo-fi as the you want.  I love super nasty fuzzes, also.  It's not easy to find one that truly sounds 'bad'.

Honestly, you should probly build a Fuzz Factory.  You might also try the Maestro FZ-1 or FZ-1A (this one is pretty low gain, so really works great with some guitar/amp combos and not-so-great with others), or maybe even something like the Orpheum.  People also say the Jordan Bosstone is crazy, to my shame I haven't built that one yet. 

BTW, by bias resistor, I think he means the resistor connected to the collector of a transistor.  However, that's a bit of a misnomer because biasing is the result of all the resistors around the transistor (plus other variables as well).  However, his point is totally sound - you can learn a lot and have fun for hours by breadboarding a fuzz circuit and then one-by-one replacing its resistors with trimpots to see what happens when you tweak.

[superferrite]

I second the Orpheum.  It is pretty unpicky about transistors and gets the Fuzzrite sound and beyond.   
The Bosstone is more like a mean overdrive in my builds of it.

[Paul Marossy]

I was also thinking of the "Garage Fuzz". It's definitely "splatty".

[Taylor]

BTW, by bias resistor, I think he means the resistor connected to the collector of a transistor.  However, that's a bit of a misnomer because biasing is the result of all the resistors around the transistor (plus other variables as well).  However, his point is totally sound - you can learn a lot and have fun for hours by breadboarding a fuzz circuit and then one-by-one replacing its resistors with trimpots to see what happens when you tweak.

Yep, you're right on both counts - that's what I meant but it's not the proper term. "Collector resistor" or "emitter resistor" is more accurate, depending on what you're replacing.

[aquataur]

This might be the right thread here.

Does anybody of you guys who have surely stomped on many a box know how this guy made the stuttering sound described here:
(he calles it "amp-on-the-verge-to-give-up sound" ) http://www.thegearpage.net/board/archive/index.php/t-317030.html.

He has a Pete Cosey demo here: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=600160&content=music

If you listen to that you get an idea.

If I understand correctly most of this stuttering sound comes from the Experience Pedal, but from the demo videos I see thereof I am not so sure...

I wonder if an uglyface or pwm fuzz would do something similar? The PWM can be built without the driver in the front I read, so as to be driven by another device.

Any ideas?

have fun,

--helmut

[Top Top]

Both the PWM and Uglyface are more like synth-sounding effects. They might have a little aspect of what you are looking for, but in general, I think they go in a different direction. Also, PWM could work without the 386 in front under SOME circumstances, but with a guitar, you need something that pushes pretty hard to get the CMOS chip to read high enough levels to go ON.

There should be sound samples of both around on the net... unfortunately the original circuit snippets with sound files is gone.

Try this miror, though I find that it is also often down (up right now).
http://www.jiggawoo.eclipse.co.uk/guitarhq/Circuitsnippets/snippets.html

Listening to that sample from soundclick, I am guessing the main aspect of that sound that you are going after is the gating at the end of sustained notes? The sound in that clip is likely from more than a single transistor fuzz.

That said, a simple one transistor bias messed with sound can actually be pretty cool.

[petemoore]

  Tune your splatter.
  Drop the supply voltage.
  Increase the input strength.
  Fiddle with the bias at the input and or output.
  heavy splat is probably easier to get set up with the second transistor or more.
 

[aquataur]

I contacted the guy that made the soundclip. He claims it is just the P.E. Exp. pedal with an extreme setting of the swell.

I shalt look into it and let you know.

have fun,

-helmut

[Earthscum]

I've been playing a bit with the Fuzzrite circuit and found that it can become REALLY splatty if you take the 2 470k bias/feedback resistors, and replace them with diodes like the Bazz Fuss, use 500k blending pot and 100k volume, all caps to .1uF. It still has that "BF" sound, but even nastier since the signal is fighting itself. At one side I would get farting, at the other end I would have raging Fussing distortion, and right in between was a uber-crappy, tinny, splattery buzz domain... pretty much the same sound my old Peavey TKO made before it ate dirt on me about 4 hours before a show... (ML!)