uhhh yeah, another muff a comin' ( video samples please check it out )

[markeebee]

Thanks Joe, that sounds moohoosive.

I like the idea of some form of filter, think I will breadboard it with a tonemender tonight 'just to see'.  But surely it needs to be switchable, because it would be a shame to lose the breadth in the original sound.

On the subject of juvenile names, I made a modded Muff Fuzz and called it the Ladygarden. Because your design sounds much fatter I'm going to call it Lardygarden when I get it finished up. Maybe.

[DougH]

It's been around for some time, but I still like it (though I could be accused of a certain bias):
http://home-wrecker.com/whisker.html

I like the reduced number of diodes in this version. One big PITA about muff circuits are all the feedback diode clippers, with smoothing caps, in addition to feedback caps, blah, blah, etc, etc... Drives me nuts after a while...

[B Tremblay]

I like the reduced number of diodes in this version. One big PITA about muff circuits are all the feedback diode clippers, with smoothing caps, in addition to feedback caps, blah, blah, etc, etc... Drives me nuts after a while...

Absolutely, Doug.  I was very happy to find that the Bazz Fuss can do nearly all the work of those two clipping stages in the BMP with far fewer parts.  I did tweak the tonestack components a bit when I built one last summer.  If anyone is interested, I can post them.  I also tried making a Fetzer Biscuit, out of curiosity.  I measured Vp and Idss of the FETs to determine appropriate fixed resistors.  The sound wasn't remarkably different since the BF adds so much of its character, but fun to try.

[DougH]

Okay Joe, I gave this a try last night.

In short- I love it. The harmonics it generates are insane, and it sustains forever. But it doesn't have the "cloudiness", or buzziness, or fizziness of a typical muff, which is the reason I don't really care for them. It sounds much more "natural", and works with your guitar sound instead of replacing it with "fuzz box sound". Chords and single notes ring out nice and clear but it has this insane sustain/harmonic thing going with a good aggressive clip. It's just really a lot of fun to play.

I tried it with my Hamer with PAF humbuckers through my 2W Dragonfly amp and Swamp Thang speaker dialed down clean. The amp/speaker combination is warm and forgiving. Although the distortion was smooth, overall the timbre was a little bright. So I added a cap in parallel to the 10k collector resistor of the last stage to EQ it a little. Somewhere between .0033 and .0047 seems about right. I also subbed the last (output) .1u coupling cap with a 1u to get some more bass. It was a little thin sounding compared to the bypassed dry guitar sound.

Otherwise, AFAIC this thing is good to go. No gain control needed. I dialed my guitar vol down and it wasn't that interesting. The "full gain" sound is great, not overly fuzzed or anything and I don't see much use for lowering the gain. It's not an overdrive. Some people like playing with those bmp tone controls, but I don't really see the need on this one IMO. I'd love to box this up as-is in a 1590B and call it a day. Cool sound!

Edit: I just realized it might be fun to try subbing the .05 with a .1u to fatten it up a little. That may be part of the reason for some of the thinness.

[petemoore]

  Opening the circuit up [smaller R's at the Q2 and Q3 emitters], is preferred for certain here, the cloud lifted, the sound Rams through more compressed and even sounding, easily gets near 'overbright' on attacks [perfect], generally lost the dullness aspect...this kept it shelved more than the other distorters.
  Also threw a AC128* B/E connection across the second diode set for kicks.
  *newish type GE transistor is otherwise noisy, makes fine diode.

[DougH]

I've got some leaky Ge power transistors I should try for clipping. Good idea Pete!

One thing I forgot to mention is I used plastic 2n2222's with hfe ~250. I got a bag of them for 79 cents at radio shack. I love 2n2222's in si fuzzes.

[Simon Owen]

As the sustain knob isn't that brilliant has anybody tried a blend control at the end with a boosted clean signal, like a sparkle drive?

[DougH]

I find the idea of a gain control on this to be fairly useless. YMMV.

[joegagan]

simon, funny you mention that. that was my next experiment, but we got thwarted last night when we couldn't get our 2nd breadboarded example (reference unit) to work. i like the idea of a blend, would like to put it in a waH pedal type.

doug, glad you got it and that you enjoyed playing it. as this thread progressed, it shows that lots of people had already done similar circuits.

[DougH]

Well hopefully the enthusiasm won't die down for this. It is really pretty cool.

[aron]

Yes! I need another overdrive! I will be celebrating something soon and this looks like it will be fun. If it sounds as good as Doug says, It will be "Mr. Muff" to everyone else!

[moosapotamus]

Cool! I think you should call it... The Commando

[aron]

hahahahaha I finally saw the video. OK, ok, I will build it. I think it has enough sustain :-) GOOD JOB JOE!

What IS it about Joe's that get incredible sustain.

[joegagan]

um, telecaster?

[joegagan]

um, fingers?

[John Lyons]

"He's a magic man!"

[Zzagar]

Bottom line is Joe is a FUZZ HEAD!!   

[aron]

no no no, what I meant is JOE'S <--- note the S, as in Joe Gagan, Joe Davisson etc....

:-)

We all know he is getting sustain despite the Telecaster :-)

[joegagan]

don't forget joe bonamossa and joe walsh

thanks for the compliment, aron. when i first heard it, thought of you right away.

[Eric H]

I might have a go at this one, Joe --sounds great, even on youtube.
That stupid seesaw tone-control was 1/2 the reason I sold my old triangle knob "oh...you want bass with that treble? Sorry..."
A simple treble-cut at the end, and maybe a switchable low-cap usually works for me.
Take care of that finger --they don't heal as well (or fast) as they used to.