SUCKER MUCKER'S BUMPY-BUMP BUZZER - horrid fuzz designed by a 3-year-old!

[anchovie]

This morning, while I was mucking about on the old axe in the garage, my daughter came in for a listen. She'd normally join in by detuning all the strings while I'm sat there playing but today she started gathering components from the pile of random parts on the workbench and stuck them into various holes on the breadboard. I thought it would be fun to see if I could jumper them together into an actual working circuit and I'm pleased to say that the experiment ended in success!

Every component was picked by Matilda with no substitutions or additions apart from the volume pot. It's very fuzzy, splattery and screeches as the notes decay, before gating into silence when the signal is low enough. Palm-muted single-note lines on the lower strings sound like a sitar being played through a megaphone.

The name of the circuit is what you get if you ask a 3-year-old to name a fuzz pedal.



Here it is being demoed by its creator:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRbnvUVtbjA

EDIT: Layout re-uploaded after I noticed I'd taken one of the resistor values from the breadboard incorrectly.

[ParlorCitySound]

hahaha that's awesome.

[Chugs]

I don't know if its the cute factor or not but I like it. I like it a lot!

[John Lyons]

Look out Kim Gordon!
That's great!

[bassk81976]

lm386 based chips are the shizzzzz

[Wild E]

I noticed you have your jumper from pin 6 to the load side of R3 which decreases the voltage to the 386. Was that intentional? I know it will work with V+ of 4-12V. However, I have found with my Ruby that switching from 9V to 12V increases headroom, increases overall volume and makes a bit crisper bite throughout the range. Tell your daughter this, it may come in handy in the future. it may help her land that rockstar husband that you'll come to dispise but accept him because he takes good care of her.
BTW, I hate tracing vero layouts...GRRRR

[goulashnakov]

Some of the best inventions happen by accidental discoveries.  Potato chips, chocolate chip cookies, microwave oven...

Or maybe Mozart was actually Buddhist and reincarnated in a DIY-er's daughter.

[DougH]

Your daughter will be the next noise pedal pioneer... 

[Mark Hammer]

I'm guessing...and this is just a wild uninformed guess, so bear with me...that this is not Roland's typical R&D process.

[SpencerPedals]

Using Mark's same disclaimer, I'm guessing that this is Devi's typical R&D process.   

(Additional disclaimer - This is a joke; I like the sound of those bizarre circuits)

[MarkR2955]

Having a "helpful" daughter myself I must tell you that I cannot wait to build this! Maybe I'll see what my kid comes up with....

[anchovie]

I noticed you have your jumper from pin 6 to the load side of R3 which decreases the voltage to the 386. Was that intentional? I know it will work with V+ of 4-12V. However, I have found with my Ruby that switching from 9V to 12V increases headroom, increases overall volume and makes a bit crisper bite throughout the range. Tell your daughter this, it may come in handy in the future. it may help her land that rockstar husband that you'll come to dispise but accept him because he takes good care of her.
BTW, I hate tracing vero layouts...GRRRR

Seeing as she'd picked out the 820R, I thought I'd use it to starve the whole circuit as I haven't done that with a 386 before. I've now had the chance to transfer it from breadboard to vero and play it at a volume that's not risky for little ears - the sputtery fuzz is all on the treble and it's blended with an audible clean sound. With the volume pot at max it squeals constantly but backed off it calms down when the signal drops.

I'll tell her to get the crayons and draw up a schematic!

[bassk81976]

you could have her draw the design for the enclosure. that'd be so awesome

[BoxOfSnoo]

This is awesome on so many levels!  The name is perfect.

[anchovie]

you could have her draw the design for the enclosure. that'd be so awesome

I did offer her the opportunity, but she's insisted that it has to have a picture of Spiderman to match the sticker she got from the dentist!