Modding a Devi Ever Disaster Fuzz clone

[Dollywitch]

I had this built a while back as I was looking for a good gritty King Crimson kind of fuzz. But increasingly when I've been playing it, it just sounds like a generic fuzz, and not even all the fuzzy, through smoother amps it sounds a bit more like a fuzzy Overdrive.

I really want a new Fuzz Pedal but can't afford one atm, especially after losing my Fuzz Factory. What mods could I do to the Disaster Fuzz to make it more interesting? I basically want it to sound fuzzier. More "spluttering", maybe with some gating.

I'm a bit of a novice, so relatively simple but effective things(which I imagine is generally the case for a Fuzz anyway), swapping transistors, pulling caps etc.

[LucifersTrip]

a good place for that would be the devi forum

http://www.deviever.com/fx/oldforum/viewtopic.php?f=192&t=12527

but just like with any fuzz, experimenting yourself is half the fun. start by screwing around with the resistors surrounding the transistors

for instance, what will happen if you screw with that 10K on the last transistor...

[nightendday]

Build the soda miser. Trust me.

[Dollywitch]

Devi forum is dead. Didn't see any cool mods for it either.

[LucifersTrip]

there's  a mod in the thread I linked and the schematic shows the mod

did you experiment with the resistors

[Dollywitch]

I don't see a mod there, unless you mean the switch, in which case mine already came with one.

I also already have a Soda Meiser. It makes a nice sound, and it's "versatile" in terms of having both a Muff sound and an Octave-ish sound but it's not very articulate(even my Fender Blender, which is more exaggerated than the SM, seems to be more articulate). The Disaster Fuzz is articulate but it sounds boring.

[LucifersTrip]

I don't see a mod there, unless you mean the switch, in which case mine already came with one.

I think your switch is for oscillation....the mod is for "krackle fuzz"

"So if you had a disaster fuzz you could mod a switch to it to disable the feedback loop and turn it into a krackle fuzz?"

[Dollywitch]

Krackle Fuzz is just the Disaster Fuzz without the oscillation mode.

Krackle Fuzz was originally a "failed" clone of something I think, not sure.

Based on the circuit posted, what sort of mods would people suggest? I want to keep some of the transparency, but I want it to maybe be a little gated, have more texture, etc. I want it to sound more like a fuzz than a lo-fi overdrive.

[kristopher612]

the 2N2222A looks to be set up similar to the 1N914 in this fuzz face derivative, where it's used to prevent over saturation.  maybe try taking it out and jumpering the connection? 

[Dollywitch]

What about replacing it with a different transistor?

[kristopher612]

i don't know if that would do much, since it looks like its just acting as a diode, unless you use a germanium transistor.  using another Si transistor will have a similar voltage drop as that one. 

[LucifersTrip]

Based on the circuit posted, what sort of mods would people suggest?

did you read my first post?

"start by screwing around with the resistors surrounding the transistors"

"screw with that 10K on the last transistor"

if you mis bias one of the transistors, you might get some gating