Honey Special Fuzz.

[digi2t]

well... i can still send (really!) mine, for comparison or so...
just in case you're not too pissed at me... 

i feel bad and guilty. let me clean up my name/face, will ya? 

No hard feelings Pat. It's just that when I get on a crusade, I can get pretty "mission orientated", for lack of a better word. Ludwig clone project can atest to that  . If you still want to send your unit(s?), you're welcome to. I won't need them long, and like Jimi mentioned, it would be nice to compare them. PM me if you're still game.

OK, moving right along, the video. Here it is, and pics will follow soon. I just ran out of time tonight. I should add, that this video might not be totally representative of the pedals sound. Upon inspection after the video, I found an electro cap that was toast (popped bottom), and maybe others that might need replacing, see my question below.

For the record, this puppy sports 13 ( ) transistors. From my primary inspection, they're all 2SC828's. A good thing, since I stocked up a crapload of them for the Keio Singing Wah-never happened project. Great news is that I managed to spec the inductors. They're the round, red, TDK ones, and they both have the number "41" printed on the backsides. Going down the Thomas Organ parts list, they correspond to part number "80-5041-7 INDUCTOR, 4 HY  #41". So a 4 Henry inductor, times two, it is. So thoughtful of them to number them back at the TDK plant. God bless their souls!

I'll get the pics and tracing done ASAP. Hope you enjoy the video. It's the only one around of this baby by itself... not being obliterated by a Super Fuzz.

A question here; I was arbitrarily probing transistor voltages, when by accident, my Positive DMM probe touched the top of electro cap. You know, they have that plastic jacket with the writing and polarity printed on it, and there's a hole on top where you can see the can. It so happens that I had the pedal plugged into my small amp, and I had the headphones on. When I touched it, I could hear a buzz in the headphones. I did the same to all the electros, but only 3 gave me that buzz. Are these caps toast? I'm thinking that maybe they've dried out, and are leaking by, hence the buzz when I touch the can with the DMM probe. Maybe I'll change one out, and see if it makes a difference. Hell, after 40 years, I should be changing them all, right? Could be why the "Special" effect is stronger on the fuzz, than on the direct signal.

Cheers,
Dino

[Keppy]

Cool!

[Pacafeliz]

cool!!!

well yes i've noticed that i get some (quite similar, but ultra LOW in volume) outta one of my pedals... when i plug it in THE OTHER WAY ROUND (input vs. output). weird.

now... sure hope to not upset anyone. and you guys are the tech-experts here, but take a looksie here, it's outta "analog man's guide to vintage effects" book. great read with lotsa nice pedal porn. 

first some info about Honey:




and then this about the "psychedelic machine" (in the "hen's teeth" section of the book!).




so from what i can understand is that this pedal (special fuzz) is the FATHER of the psychedelic machine, which itself is the mother of the superfuzz and univibe.
so it makes "sense" (?) that there might be some sorta phaser in the special fuzz... pre-univibe circuit and all.

or am i talking BS here?

Pat.

ps: i'll send one of mine (or both?) your way anyways and let you know when it's done. should be in the next 48h. for real, this time, ok? 

[LucifersTrip]

Pacafeliz, thanx for the excerpt...very cool to read

...and digi2t, excellent demo vid!   fuzz w/ special, even tho it's a phase, sounds alot like an auto wah...like a Superfuzz thru an auto wah.

I think the first mod should be controlling the speed of that auto phase.

cool

[digi2t]

@Pat - Excellent piece of historical data. Helps to narrow down the age of this baby. I read the same thing as you, that this pedal pre-dates the Super Fuzz. I've listened to a couple of Super Fuzz videos, and this one seems to have that same "metallic" roar. I was actually pretty surprised when I first plugged into it, and hit the first chords. I was maybe expecting something a bit more, I don't know, gated or splatty maybe? But no, the fuzz has really got legs of it's own. Interestingly enough, the same twin DA-90 diodes found in the Super Fuzz, are also found here. That, combined with a plethora of 2SC828's leads me to believe that this is indeed a Super Fuzz circuit, or a VERY close relative, providing the fuzz
Like I said, if you want to send both, that's cool. I'd be more than happy to look at the broken one as well, pro bono. Having more than one to look at would really help validate any readings I take from this one as well.

@LucifersTrip - I really can't put my finger on whether it's phase, or autowah, that I'm hearing. I was surprised by the fact that the inductors are 4 Henry. I was sort of expecting maybe 250 - 500mH? You know, you're usual run of the mill stuff. Then again, I'm not brilliant enough to analyze exactly what's going on here, that's why I want to get the lead out and draw this puppy out. Then the experts can render judgement. And yes, having another knob to keep the volume knob company, would be choice. Again, our resident circuit dissectors will let us know if that's possible. 

[Keppy]

My guess is those inductors aren't in the audio path at all but the core of a phase-shift sine wave oscillator. The large values seem consistent with the slow speed of the sweep.

[pinkjimiphoton]

dino, it's been my experience that electros that buzz when you touch them are bad...the casing SHOULD BE isolated from the terminals, and if it isn't, should be at ground potential (connected to outer wrap of the cap)...either way, if it buzzes, i believe it's partially shorted...there's no way touching ground should make it buzz.

i had the issue on my ludwig, remember?

hope this helps bro...

bummin', can't watch the video till later... can't wait!!

[Govmnt_Lacky]

Dino,

Don't forget to take some detailed pics of the trace and component sides. Some of us PCB folks would greatly appreciate it 

Thanks for taking this on!!

[John Lyons]

I think the first mod should be controlling the speed of that auto phase.

Yes, for sure!
Sounds pretty good Dino.
I have gotten signal touching the top of new electro caps Dino.
Not sure this means much but I don't know the construction of them.
R.G.?  

[mth5044]

....I'm turned on.

[digi2t]

I have gotten signal touching the top of new electro caps Dino.
Not sure this means much but I don't know the construction of them.
R.G.? 

Yeah, hopefully R.G. can shed some light on the capacitor issue. I fell upon it by accident. Actually, I'll try doing the same thing on one of my builds, and see if they do the same thing.

OK, I just had enough time this morning to shoot some gut shots, here they are;









I shot two of the trace side, having the wires in different positions for clarity. Note that the board is flipped upwards vis-a-vis the component side picture, revealing the traces. I'll post another of the component side tomorrow, but I'll run it through Paint, and annotate the transistor legs, capacitor orientation, and anything else that's not visible. That will make it easier to transfer the connection points to the trace side.

Enjoy the porn!

[~arph]

Maybe I'll change one out, and see if it makes a difference. Hell, after 40 years, I should be changing them all, right? Could be why the "Special" effect is stronger on the fuzz,

Nope, a phase effect is always stronger on a signal with more harmonic content, so that sounds perfectly normal.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

Brilliant pics Dino!!! 

Awaiting your expertly crafted schematic. Then it is off to do a PCB 

[digi2t]

Maybe I'll change one out, and see if it makes a difference. Hell, after 40 years, I should be changing them all, right? Could be why the "Special" effect is stronger on the fuzz,

Nope, a phase effect is always stronger on a signal with more harmonic content, so that sounds perfectly normal.

Yup, you`re right. The Ludwig is proof of that. But, the buzzing I get into the audio when I touch the can with my DMM probe still bugs me. I`ve ordered some good quality Nichicon`s as replacements.

As for the pictures, having the girlfriend`s camera stolen 2 years ago down in Mass. was the best thing. Got me.... uh, I meand HER, a nice new Fuji for X-mas. It`s the cats a$$.

You know, staring at the trace side, everything is so linear on this PCB, that I can almost see the vero layout in it. Although it`s a real porcupine, might be alright on vero. Especially considering that I myself tend to like standing up resistors on my layouts.

[artifus]

honey fuzz pcb fade 1

honey fuzz pcb fade 2

[~arph]

Neat fades... Now read all values.. that's gonna hurt you brain..

[artifus]

Enhance 224 to 176. Enhance, stop. Move in, stop. Pull out, track right, stop. Center in, pull back. Stop. Track 45 right. Stop. Center and stop. Enhance 34 to 36. Pan right and pull back. Stop. Enhance 34 to 46. Pull back. Wait a minute, go right, stop. Enhance 57 to 19. Track 45 left. Stop. Enhance 15 to 23. Give me a hard copy right there.

[Mark Hammer]

So, 13 transistors in all?

[digi2t]

So, 13 transistors in all?

Yes Sir. Lucky 13  . At first glace, I get the impression that 6 of them are for the fuzz. I haven`t really studied it in depth yet (damn work!), but half the board looks a lot like a Uni-Fuzz/Super Fuzz relative. Now that you`re here Mark, have you had any experience with electro caps buzzing into the audio when you touch the can with the DMM probe? Neg. probe connected to ground, effect on, I have three electro caps that cause a significant buzz in the audio when I touch the can with the other probe. Is this normal? The others are silent. I always thought that the metal can is insolated.

@artifus - That has got to be the neatest thing I`ve seen in a while! COOL! BTW, the fade 1 lines up better than the 2.

@arph - Slow and steady is gonna win that race.

[artifus]

@artifus - That has got to be the neatest thing I`ve seen in a while! COOL! BTW, the fade 1 lines up better than the 2.

yeah, it was done in a hurry - at least i didn't post the back to front upside down one! (i very nearly did). hope it helps.

only took two minutes with freeware: open image in paint.net, import second image as layer, open layer properties to access opacity slider, flip and align images, open licecap, hit record and adjust opacity slider. should prolly have spent a little more time aligning the layers but hey ho. need to work on getting the file size down a tad too.