Bass Fuzz suggestions?

[slashandburn]

Just finished fixing a EHX Bass Big Muff for a guy I've been jamming with, though he was never overly keen on how it sounded in the first place so if I get the chance over the weekend I'm going to throw a diy effort his way (instead of undertaking the more important task of learning the songs I'm supposed to already know). 

Nothing too elaborate. Really just an alternative for him to play around with.   I've already got my eye on a Woolly Mammoth clone. It looks like a really straightforward build and seems fairly versatile.

The Bazz Fuzz on homewrecker will probably also happen too, I even have a 1590a enclosure I'd planned on using as another guitar boost that might suit it fairly nicely and I imagine it should fit in there without causing me too many headaches.

Any other recomendations besides the Woolly Mammoth and the Bazz Fuss? The DBA Fuzz War caught my attention too, but I can't get my head around what the circuit is doing so I'll likely leave that for the time being. Not saying that I fully understand the other two, but I at least have some idea of whats going on with those circuits. We've been pissing around as a 3 piece (noisy, unrefined garage rock sorta thing) so I'm not looking for anything subtle or delicate. A part of me is thinking a compressor might actually be more what he's needing but I imagine he'd regard this cheating.   

Cheers in advance

[rutabaga bob]

A bass effect I am very interested in building is the Moosapotamus Acoustic 360 fuzz.  Check it out on his website.  There is a nice layout at the effectslayouts.blogspot site.

[slashandburn]

Good shout, looks interesting.  I can only find one video demo kicking around and it sounds remarkably Synth-y at points.  It could just be my pc speakers.

JohnK (of the Tagboardeffects version) seems to prefer the non-Moosapotamus version (without the gate pot?) and also has a deluxe version. I take it this gated version (the decay knob?) is where those synth-like qualities come from?

[bluebunny]

A bass effect I am very interested in building is the Moosapotamus Acoustic 360 fuzz.

Do it.   

I got a board from Charlie.  It's a nice circuit: the blend is a great tool for avoiding nastiness.

[rutabaga bob]

Nice looking build, Marc!   

[slashandburn]

I'm pretty tempted by it, thanks! That enclosure looks awesome too. I can't finish an enclosure anywhere close to that standard.  Is it paint, clear vinyl and then just lacquer?  I'm hung up on just that two-tone black paint/polished aluminium look but I'm feeling I need to try some new things. I'm not etching an enclosure yet though, ideally I'll squeeze it into one of my many failures temporarily and if it works and sound like something he'll get use out of i can sort that out and re-box it.

No love for the Woolly Mammoth then?  It just looks like an easier build and I could see even my own fat fingers managing to squeeze it into the dud etched boxes I have lying around. This looks a slightly bigger project! Once I add the mods I'm looking at 5 or 6 pots. I'm doubtful that's something I could cobble together on a Sunday afternoon with a hangover.

I guess I should probably wait and get an idea of roughly what he's after in terms of tone, what he's used before and disliked etc.

Cheers though! I'll see what this hangover on sunday brings. I was hoping to have started something tonight but it's not going to happen now.

[lukeferg]

I was looking at a wooly mammoth for my bassist too. If I get around to building it I'll let you know what I think of it.

[Ben Lyman]

If you decide to try a Bazz Fuss, I highly recommend the "Deluxe" version. The one extra pot and cap make it very versatile.
I think it's only about a dozen components total.
I put a switch on the diode to change to a red LED; the diode is ultra compressed fuzz with loads of synth-like sustain, red LED makes nice open raunchy overdrive.
I tried to run through all the sounds in this vid: https://youtu.be/sN9T_w9RJeg

[pappasmurfsharem]

I second a wooly mammoth and possibly adding a blend knob... It's simple and killer.


However you could also do a EHX - Bassballs

The build is slightly tempermental, but worth it

[bluebunny]

No magic on that box of mine: metallic silver auto spray paint, waterslide decal (B/W laser printer), clearcoat.  The photo is forgiving.  It's not so perfect when I hold it in my hand and peer closely!