Mosrite FuzzRite Ventures 1590A 2000 Pound Bee

[tubelectron]

Hi, nice build  Does this layout was posted somewhere before? I'm sure I've built one exactly the same in the past

@sinner : I've designed the layout by myself, "in my corner", with maximum compactness in mind and the lateral placement.
But there may be not much ways to be so compact on this simple circuit, so other similar layouts may have been previously issued...

I used a 320k pot I made with a 1M pot and a resistor. I first tried a 500k pot, but it really cut the sound in between the extremes. The 320k does as well, but to a much lesser extent, and I use a single transistor booster at the end so I can get good levels with intermediate settings. With the fuzz control at either extreme it is very loud, however.

@Electron Tornado : I see. So after reading your explanations, I checked it on the spot : strangely, I do not notice at all the cut in the middle position of the 500K LIN Fuzz pot : the spread of the gain increase is regular all along the rotation of the pot, with minimum at one side and maximum at the other, like any good standard gain control... Moreover it doesn't need a 3rd transistor as an output booster, the level being way enough in any fuzz setting, way over the dry level... So the influence of the 22K resistor you pointed me to is more important than I suspected : it seems to modify largely the behavior of the FuzzRite !

The funny thing is that I built it completely opposite of tubelectron. I used a cigar box and built the circuit on a wooden board with pins...old style.

@LucifersTrip : Ah, Yes ! Your "Havana Box FuzzRite" is a cool wooden oddity stompbox - as funny as nice ! Moreover :

I didn't hold back on the mods. I can confirm Electron Tornado's 22K suggestion. In addition to the normal controls I put a 20K pot there. As you lower the resistance, the pedal gets nastier and nastier...Well worth it ! I also added two types of gating controls, one with a pot and another with caps on a rotary switch.... and I added another rotary to switch between a few input caps. If you combine the gating with the 20K "nasty" pot you get a killer stinging bee fuzz !   I used 2 x 2SC1815 with hfe's ~ 150.

Here are interesting additions and advices about the tone that can be obtained by the 22K mod, among others. I think I will take the time to re-experiment on my lab board aFuzzRite with your suggestions. Do you notice the same strange effects as described by Electron Tornado on his 22K-fitted FuzzRite ?

A+!

[LucifersTrip]

I didn't hold back on the mods. I can confirm Electron Tornado's 22K suggestion. In addition to the normal controls I put a 20K pot there. As you lower the resistance, the pedal gets nastier and nastier...Well worth it ! I also added two types of gating controls, one with a pot and another with caps on a rotary switch.... and I added another rotary to switch between a few input caps. If you combine the gating with the 20K "nasty" pot you get a killer stinging bee fuzz !   I used 2 x 2SC1815 with hfe's ~ 150.

Here are interesting additions and advices about the tone that can be obtained by the 22K mod, among others. I think I will take the time to re-experiment on my lab board aFuzzRite with your suggestions. Do you notice the same strange effects as described by Electron Tornado on his 22K-fitted FuzzRite ?

Funny you mention that...When I built it, I was considering removing the fuzz control. I used a 500K linear and it works almost as a volume control. Full left is about half unity with a little less fuzz and then as I turn it right, it slowly adds fuzz & volume until the last 5-10% where there is a big increase in volume and fuzz. I get unity around 50-60% turn.

My friend who owns an original leaves his fuzz at full all the time.

[Electron Tornado]

@Electron Tornado : I see. So after reading your explanations, I checked it on the spot : strangely, I do not notice at all the cut in the middle position of the 500K LIN Fuzz pot : the spread of the gain increase is regular all along the rotation of the pot, with minimum at one side and maximum at the other, like any good standard gain control... Moreover it doesn't need a 3rd transistor as an output booster, the level being way enough in any fuzz setting, way over the dry level... So the influence of the 22K resistor you pointed me to is more important than I suspected : it seems to modify largely the behavior of the FuzzRite !

The fuzz pot is like a blend control. It controls how much signal you get from either Q1 or Q2. With the fuzz pot set in the middle, it is like having two 250k resistors in line with the signal. I found there were some interesting tones in the middle range of the fuzz pot, but it came with a volume drop, which is why I added the boost stage. With a 320k pot, the boost stage is a bit much and could probably use some extra resistance to tame it down a bit. But if you get a sound you like, that's all that matters.

I tried a pot in place of the 22k resistor to ground as well, but just used the 22k with a switch. If you try a pot, make sure you have a small resistor between it and ground, or when you go to zero ohms, you'll lose signal.

[Electron Tornado]

Almost forgot.....

Kudos to Lucifer for the cigar box pedal. The randomness of the knobs is kind of funky.


Aaaaaaaand.........

For the curious - here's a web site with some examples of very early fuzz recordings. A few are pre-"Satisfaction" :    http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/11/country-fuzz-sp.html

[LucifersTrip]

Almost forgot.....

Kudos to Lucifer for the cigar box pedal. The randomness of the knobs is kind of funky.

That's also funny...It might seem like that at first glance, but here's the logic:
The volume is isolated in the lower right corner since it's rarely touched...100% pinned. Above that is the gating section. The switch turns on the resistance gate, which is controlled by the pot immediately to it's right. The one right next to that is the cap gate. The sole left one is a rotary switch for the input cap. I build everything from schematics left to right so the input is far left. The 2 on top shape the tone, fuzz and the nasty 20k.

Aaaaaaaand.........

For the curious - here's a web site with some examples of very early fuzz recordings. A few are pre-"Satisfaction" :    http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/11/country-fuzz-sp.html

Excellent...thanx...I always love to hear more vintage fuzz cuts. There's a few I haven't heard. Though, there is one from 1963 that is conspicuously missing...from another 45 I sold a while ago:

Jimmy Gordon - "Buzzz"

have a blast

[tubelectron]

Thanks guys for the fuzz links ! Nobody here in France seems to know anything else than grunge or Hendrix fuzzes...

A+!

[Sam]

Thanks for the awesome music links!

[tubelectron]

My favourite is Willis Brothers - Soft Shoulders, Dangerous Curves (1966) Starday.  The first few seconds of this record sound exactly like a scorching garage punk combo at work.

I will search how to duplicate that fuzz sound +++

[tubelectron]

Here is the direct link to the tune :

http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/GG/Willis_Brothers_-_Soft_Shoulders_Dangerous_Curves.mp3

Anyone has an idea about the kind of fuzz which would have been used here by the Willis Brothers ?

-----------------------------

Oh, I remember now something in France worth to hear about 60's fuzz : Pierre Henry / Messe pour le Temps Présent / "Jericho Jerk".
I'll try to find a link and post it...

A+!

[LucifersTrip]

Oh, I remember now something in France worth to hear about 60's fuzz : Pierre Henry / Messe pour le Temps Présent / "Jericho Jerk".
I'll try to find a link and post it...

A+!

The most famous Pierre Henry is Les Yper-Sound "Psyché Rock".

That is the one with the fuzz & electronics...here it is from another 45. très bon!

Psyché Rock

[tubelectron]

Ah, yes, LuciferTrips !

I may have remembered the wrong title - I have the original Pierre Henry's vinyl LP, but not here to confirm... It's may be Psyché Rock too - I know that there is several similar fuzzy tunes... So here's my confusion.

Nonetheless very good fuzz oldies !

A+!

[tubelectron]

I think that there the description of the instruments used for the tunes on the litterature on the sleeve of the record - I'll dig it and come back.

No idea about the fuzz used by the Willis Brothers ?

A+!

[LucifersTrip]

Ah, yes, LuciferTrips !

I may have remembered the wrong title - I have the original Pierre Henry's vinyl LP, but not here to confirm... It's may be Psyché Rock too - I know that there is several similar fuzzy tunes... So here's my confusion.

Nonetheless very good fuzz oldies !

A+!

Messe pour le Temps Présent & Jericho Jerk don't have any fuzz, but they both have cool electronics. Maybe something else on the album?

[LucifersTrip]

No idea about the fuzz used by the Willis Brothers ?
A+!

No idea!  The funny thing is that I actually collected the Willis Brothers, but country musicians rarely list any equipment on the record like rock musicians....and they weren't popular enough to have many videos, tho I haven't checked YouTube recently. They rarely used fuzz, tho. Kay Adams (on the same label as Pink Floyd) had the most fuzz on her album out of any country artist I own !

My favorite fuzz album is still Davie Allan & The Arrows "Cycle-Delic Sounds" . That is the album that changed my music listening forever....and it's a Mosrite Fuzzrite!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgXHchnQtt8

[tubelectron]

Messe pour le Temps Présent & Jericho Jerk don't have any fuzz, but they both have cool electronics. Maybe something else on the album?

LuciferTrips, my memory is unreliable about that record : I will check it this evening when I'll be back home, and give you the answer here.

A+!

[tubelectron]

My favorite fuzz album is still Davie Allan & The Arrows "Cycle-Delic Sounds" . That is the album that changed my music listening forever....and it's a Mosrite Fuzzrite!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgXHchnQtt8

Ha ! To listen to that you need to smoke drugs... This "metalwork portative tools" sound is very good - done by a FuzzRite... With probably the 22K on.

And yes, the title from Pierre Henry's Album is "Psyché Rock", thanks to the link you've inserted as a sound reminder.

A+!

[bigmufffuzzwizz]

Thank you fellows for the awesome fuzz-ed out tunes and great mod suggestions. Gotta go try the 22k resistor now. Wanna sound like Davie Allen!!!

[boogietone]

Inspirational build there!

[superferrite]

Have to try that!   Bump for the FUZZZZ!

[bigmufffuzzwizz]

I've done some more playing with this circuit and I have it more where I want it. The 22k resistor makes it nasty thin gritty and yes like a pound a bees! I personally like it without the 22k as well because it adds more fullness to the circuit. But the 22k gets that davie allan sound pretty spot on.
I originally built mine to Dragonfly's layout with the 10k resistors on the collectors. It was so hissy and nasty that I changed it to the 470k like you have listed on your schem tubeelectron. That did clean it up but I've since found that if I add a 100 ohm resistor from emitter to ground it should clean up the hiss with the 10k resistors in place. So I think I wanna build another trying the 10k resistors again since I heard that version sounds more like the germanium version. I've also since found the gusrite version and green bomb fuzz which I gotta give a go too! Thanks for all the info tubeelectron, lucifersTrip! I'm curious how you added those gating controls! Both of your builds look fantastic!