Show Your Pedal Builds

Today was "utility build day." I've had a couple of utility projects laying around for a couple months, and I've been meaning to get to them. While I wait for my Aion and PedalPCB orders (😈) to arrive, I finally assembled these:
  • Huntington Audio Pot Buddy XL and Multimeter Breakout
  • Fuzzdog Simple Tester
  • And I did this Blues Pilot build - based on a BD-2, but with integrated op amps instead of Boss' discrete op amps. One poster in the linked thread was kind enough to share a gerber of the Blues Pilot, so I ordered a few boards from OSH Park. I haven't really compared it to my BD-2W yet, but it's a nice pedal.

IMG_4981.jpeg
 
@HomespunEffects - I boxed up the Harmonic Percolator clone today. I think it’s my favorite boosting fuzz so far. It’s OK into a clean amp, but running it as a boost into a higher gain amp (eg the Revv Generator model in the Axe Fx) it really nice, especially with something like the Tele.

I also boxed up the Swollen Pickle build. It’s alright. I’m not sold on it, and I think I like the production model better. I might give this to a buddy who was fuzz shopping lately and see if it does anything right for him.
 
HomespunEffects said:
It’s a cool circuit. Try cranking both knobs and finding the notes where it doea that octavia thing. Each time I’ve built one, it happens at different notes.
Click to expand...
Is that an octave up? What struck me is how it almost feels like the HP adds an octave down. She thiccccccc, ya know?
 
eggpl@nt said:
Today was "utility build day." I've had a couple of utility projects laying around for a couple months, and I've been meaning to get to them. While I wait for my Aion and PedalPCB orders (😈) to arrive, I finally assembled these:
  • Huntington Audio Pot Buddy XL and Multimeter Breakout
  • Fuzzdog Simple Tester
  • And I did this Blues Pilot build - based on a BD-2, but with integrated op amps instead of Boss' discrete op amps. One poster in the linked thread was kind enough to share a gerber of the Blues Pilot, so I ordered a few boards from OSH Park. I haven't really compared it to my BD-2W yet, but it's a nice pedal.

View attachment 49317
Click to expand...
Your post quoted above finally convinced me to take the plunge into another set of new projects. I ordered some utility kits from Seth at Huntington Audio and I will soon be on my way to my first pedal build.

Crazy thing is that I still have my (working) dual power supply and breadboard I used for my embedded systems and senior design classes more than 30 years ago at UCF in pursuit of my BSCpE.

For no particular reason other than experimentation and pure overkill, I'm thinking of a fuzz based pedal with motorized potentiometers and MIDI control. :grin
 
gearJunkie said:
Your post quoted above finally convinced me to take the plunge into another set of new projects. I ordered some utility kits from Seth at Huntington Audio and I will soon be on my way to my first pedal build.

Crazy thing is that I still have my (working) dual power supply and breadboard I used for my embedded systems and senior design classes more than 30 years ago at UCF in pursuit of my BSCpE.

For no particular reason other than experimentation and pure overkill, I'm thinking of a fuzz based pedal with motorized potentiometers and MIDI control. :grin
Click to expand...
Too funny. Fellow UCF grad here - BSEE. Go Knights!

:beer

Enjoy the project!
 
gearJunkie said:
Your post quoted above finally convinced me to take the plunge into another set of new projects. I ordered some utility kits from Seth at Huntington Audio and I will soon be on my way to my first pedal build.

Crazy thing is that I still have my (working) dual power supply and breadboard I used for my embedded systems and senior design classes more than 30 years ago at UCF in pursuit of my BSCpE.

For no particular reason other than experimentation and pure overkill, I'm thinking of a fuzz based pedal with motorized potentiometers and MIDI control. :grin
Click to expand...

Don't forget to post updates.
 
Project "Logical Fuzz" Planning

1. Assemble Huntington Audio utility kits.
2. Get a basic Tone Bender style fuzz circuit up and working.
3. Create a reusable Audrino-based controller with:
  • data input module (buttons, rotary encoders, touchscreen,...)
  • Display module (LEDs, LCD, touchscreen, ...)
  • Digital potentiometer controller
  • Digital relay controller
  • Non volatile memory save and recall
  • MIDI send & receive module
4. Replace the volume & gain potentiometers with SS digital potentiometers.
5. Integrate the digital controller with modified fuzz circuit.
6. Tweak firmware and UI
7. Bask in my total geekdom!

That's a lot of side projects, but I'm looking forward to the journey.

I'm hoping at the end of this project, I can adapt my digital controller for use with all my future pedal builds.

Time to get to work.

:cheers
 
gearJunkie said:
Project "Logical Fuzz" Planning

1. Assemble Huntington Audio utility kits.
2. Get a basic Tone Bender style fuzz circuit up and working.
3. Create a reusable Audrino-based controller with:
  • data input module (buttons, rotary encoders, touchscreen,...)
  • Display module (LEDs, LCD, touchscreen, ...)
  • Digital potentiometer controller
  • Digital relay controller
  • Non volatile memory save and recall
  • MIDI send & receive module
4. Replace the volume & gain potentiometers with SS digital potentiometers.
5. Integrate the digital controller with modified fuzz circuit.
6. Tweak firmware and UI
7. Bask in my total geekdom!

That's a lot of side projects, but I'm looking forward to the journey.

I'm hoping at the end of this project, I can adapt my digital controller for use with all my future pedal builds.

Time to get to work.

:cheers
Click to expand...

Are you planning on germanium or silicon for your tone bender circuit? Also which tone bender?
 
SillyOctpuss said:
Are you planning on germanium or silicon for your tone bender circuit? Also which tone bender?
Click to expand...
I am open to suggestions for the circuit choice. I haven't started my deep dive into the plethora of nuance in fuzz design. My strengths are in the digital realm. I am truly a newb with this aspect of the project. Any ideas?

My plan is to start with Si transistors. The audrino controller will include digital relay controls, so eventually it'll have multiple Si and Ge options that can be recalled via MIDI presets. Regardless, the first iteration will be silicon.
 
Definitely stick with silicon until you've got a feel for the circuit. They're a lot easier to get in the right values. Getting decent germanium transistors these days requires a lot of hunting and sifting through junk.

I'd explore the tone bender mk1.5 and fuzz face to start with. They're the same circuit topology with a few different values. Just exploring all of the options you have with that circuit can take a really long time.

The tone bender mk1 uses germanium transistor leakage to bias the circuit and is an absolute bitch to get right.

I'm very excited to see what you do with the digital controls.
 
SillyOctpuss said:
I'm very excited to see what you do with the digital controls.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestions!

In reality, it's completely overkill, impractical, and unnecessary, but that makes it more interesting to me.

In the end, I expect to have more of a fuzz workstation than a fuzz pedal. Fortunately, I'm not too concerned about the end result; it's all about the journey.
 
gearJunkie said:
Thanks for the suggestions!

In reality, it's completely overkill, impractical, and unnecessary, but that makes it more interesting to me.

In the end, I expect to have more of a fuzz workstation than a fuzz pedal. Fortunately, I'm not too concerned about the end result; it's all about the journey.
Click to expand...

I'm looking forward to seeing it. I've pretty much finished my fuzz face journey and know what I like now. I'm still working on the tone bender family though. I'm pretty happy with tone bender mk1, 1.5, mkii and the zonk machine. My next fuzz will be a mkiii and then I'm going to have a look at the Burns Buzzaround.
 
SillyOctpuss said:
I'm looking forward to seeing it. I've pretty much finished my fuzz face journey and know what I like now. I'm still working on the tone bender family though. I'm pretty happy with tone bender mk1, 1.5, mkii and the zonk machine. My next fuzz will be a mkiii and then I'm going to have a look at the Burns Buzzaround.
Click to expand...
Based on that, I suspect you'll be a great source of information and inspiration as I wander the fuzzy path.

:cheers
 
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