The Fuzz Thread

[DrewJD82]

That's good description of the EJ. I found mine to be really dark as well. I definitely preferred the blue hendrix version they did, it had a really nice top end and cleaned up really well for a silicon FF.

Yeah, all the clips I’ve heard of the Hendrix sound far closer to how I’d prefer a FF sounds. And I prefer the color by a large margin!

 

[dk_ace]

Awwww... The TZ2, is that the little raunchy bastard that sounds very much like a Superfuzz?

Yeah sorta but it’s got a little different thing going on with it. It’s raunchy and has some octavey stuff going on, but it seems a little different to me than a super fuzz. I think I once read that it was closer to a foxx tone machine circuit, but I’m not sure. I can tell you this much, run it through a big power section and an oversized 4x12 and it’s a thing of beauty.

D

 

[la szum]

That Fuzz Thread at TOP is one of the best threads there. It was my
main hangout when I was in my 40s.

Lot of cool peeps in that one.

 

[greatmutah]

Since I got some new stuff over the last few months…

EQD Grim Reefer - Based on the old FM-2 octave fuzz but has a tone pot instead of a two way switch for more blends of EQ flavor. Can be scooped, middy or anywhere in between. It’s awesome. Does the octave thing super well too on the neck pickup with tone rolled back.

I also got my 3 Christmas fuzz pedals but I haven’t delved too deep yet on those. The Octapussy is cool albeit a little more subtle on the octave part than the EQD. It likes to be upfront with no buffer into it so that’s how I’m running it. The Cats Reunion with the boost and muff circuit in parallel with a blend is super cool and I like that a lot from first listen. Really dig that. The Hello Kitty fuzz has some gated splatty thing going on there too so that’s fun to have.

Next up will be a bender. And a silicon fuzz face. And maybe the OBNE Alpha Haunt. And a SUF Bucket of Blood or Alabaster or Silverfish…

 

[Dave Lewis]

This Hiwatt arrived earlier this morning from Andertons.

 

[gearJunkie]

I really like the sounds from around the 8 thru 11 minute marks.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

I spent the day testing transistors in my Tone Bender Mk1 build. It's amazing how much difference there is between transistors which measure very close to each for gain and leakage. It's such a picky circuit.

Been using a test circuit with sockets and once I've decided which ones I'm going with I'll solder them onto my pcb. It looks pretty jenky but it works and sounds just fine.

Pretty sure I'm going with these but my ears are really fatigued now. I'll have another blast at gig volume tomorrow morning after my kid goes to school.

 

[EOengineer]

I spent the day testing transistors in my Tone Bender Mk1 build. It's amazing how much difference there is between transistors which measure very close to each for gain and leakage. It's such a picky circuit.

Been using a test circuit with sockets and once I've decided which ones I'm going with I'll solder them onto my pcb. It looks pretty jenky but it works and sounds just fine.

View attachment 43442

Pretty sure I'm going with these but my ears are really fatigued now. I'll have another blast at gig volume tomorrow morning after my kid goes to school.

Oh fun! I actually jjust got my breadboard back out and am about to start wiring up a rangemaster. These simple circuits can be so much fun!

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Oh fun! I actually jjust got my breadboard back out and am about to start wiring up a rangemaster. These simple circuits can be so much fun!

Yeah I absolutely love it. Fingers crossed I like this transistor set as much tomorrow after my ears have reset as I did this afternoon.

I put a rangemaster together a few nights ago but it's going to have to wait until my next batch of pedals before it gets boxed up. It's Thorpyfx Have Blue clone. I had some Cv7351s in the right gain range so ordered a board. It actually sounds really good and being NPN will play nice with my power supply.

Do a thread on your rangemaster and bread boarding while you work on it. It'd be a fun read.

 

[metropolis_4]

The best sounding Fuzz Face I ever had was one I made, but I can’t remember what transistors I used. I’m tempted to build another one

Anyone have good recommendations for where to source transistors these days and what some good options are?

 

[SillyOctpuss]

The best sounding Fuzz Face I ever had was one I made, but I can’t remember what transistors I used. I’m tempted to build another one

Anyone have good recommendations for where to source transistors these days and what some good options are?

Silicon or germanium? Where are you based?

 

[EOengineer]

The best sounding Fuzz Face I ever had was one I made, but I can’t remember what transistors I used. I’m tempted to build another one

Anyone have good recommendations for where to source transistors these days and what some good options are?

FWIW the Joe Gagen EasyFace is my fav build. I flip the ground so I can use NPN transistors.

Its basically a standard fuzz face with a fixed resistor where the fuzz pot normally lives, and then a 250k pot controlling input level to the base of the first transistor, so rolling that knob back acts like rolling your guitar volume down. The fuzz pots usyally end up at or near max anyway.

Mike Fuller used the same trick for his input knob on the Fulltone 69 and 70 fuzz circuits.


The variable input filtering is useful as well.

Easy Face with input cap blend

Collection of vero (stripboard) & tagboard layouts for 100s of popular guitar effects, with over 1000 verified designs. DIY your own boutique effects!

tagboardeffects.blogspot.com

 

[la szum]

I spent the day testing transistors in my Tone Bender Mk1 build. It's amazing how much difference there is between transistors which measure very close to each for gain and leakage. It's such a picky circuit.

Been using a test circuit with sockets and once I've decided which ones I'm going with I'll solder them onto my pcb. It looks pretty jenky but it works and sounds just fine.

View attachment 43442

Pretty sure I'm going with these but my ears are really fatigued now. I'll have another blast at gig volume tomorrow morning after my kid goes to school.

Mullard!!

 

[Frankencat]

‘69 you say?

 

[RGB]

PTD MiniBone

 

[Blix]

PTD MiniBone


View attachment 43464

Heck yeah:

 

[HomespunEffects]

The Harmonic Percolator is a really good circuit. I never really got along with any of the fuzz face or EHX Muffs though.

 

[Dave Lewis]

Can you builders tell what’s in this fuzz pedal ?

 

[Blix]

These are fantastic. An so is Kyle at Chase Tone to put it mildly. My Red Velvet I bought years ago stopped working years ago I put it in a drawer and though nothing about it. Last year I took some pictures of its guts and set to Kyle to see if he could give me an idea what to check for and he asked me to send it to him.
In return I got what's pictured above. Unbelievable! Sold the blue one, but the Teal and RV stays.

 

[spawnofthesith]

I used to be a monumental fuzz addict, especially during my doom/stoner exclusive era…. Went through so many fuzz pedals there’s no way I could ever remember them all


As of now, all I’ve got is an FX-2 clone from PLX fx for when I want to get my electric wizard on