MORE AXIS

[brian wenz]

Hello Hello--
    I dragged out my modded Axis Fuzz [the Mayer unit..] and started fooling around with it again.....what a good, useable fuzz!  
Awhile back I had installed a 50K pot in place of the 47K res. between the two trannys and found this to be a great mod...lots of tonal and gain variations can be tweaked using this pot and the fuzz control.
Anybody else??
Brian.

[b_rogers]

the axis is the circuit i never seemed to finish...i have it about half built.  
i stopped when i didnt have the correct value resistors (820k 680k).  i tried to etch a pcb for it and couldnt get it happening with the RShack boards..

you would think with me being such a hendrix worshipper i woulda do it by now..

i have played a actual RM model and it sounded pretty damn good.

Brent

[brian wenz]

Hello Brent--
   Yeah, when I built my first one about 2 years ago I had to put a couple of resistors in series to come up with those values.......and then two weeks later I found all the 680K and 820K I could ever use!
I put mine together on perfboard and it works fine.
I was thinking of maybe making an Axis with a hard-wired 20K-or-so res. in place of the 47K to keep the "mush factor" out of the circuit altogether.......
Are you running single coils or humbuckers with yours?
Brian.

[brian wenz]

Hello Again--
   Forgot to mention that my second Axis was built with a BS-170 instead of the 2N3904........works great!
Brian.

[nightingale]

brian~
i love mine! i built mine on a PCB.. i was out of PNP blue.. so i just reversed the layout form fuzzcentral, and used it as a guide to draw the traces with sharpie.. ha! it does have a super vintage look tho.. see for yourself.. i have been finding these eclosures at thrift store/ebay.. they are called bake-rite's they are little hotplates for keeping food warm.. i have collected a few of them for building my own personal fuzz pedals.. they even have a nice post with threads welded into the middle to hold the bottom plate on! if i find another one around.. i will snatch it up and mail it to you..

my pedal sounds amazing, i had to use a 40k pot instead of the 50k, so mine sqeals a little at the end of the fuzz pot.. i've been meaning to change that for weeks..lol! i put off building this circuit for years, and was kicking myself for not building it sooner.. when i finally did 4 or 5 months ago.. so versatile! everything from a bright clean boost to tonebenderish fuzz with the twist of a telecasaster volume knob..

[b_rogers]

that is a really cool enclosure!

even my wife said "thats neat!"


i really need to finish the axis..


Brent

[brett]

Hi.  I've built a couple of Axises (?) and like them.  Main hassle is finding 2k pots.  I've used a 1k pot sometimes, but that limits the range to the "fuzzy" end.  ie not enough feedback.  (Having written that, I've realised that a 1k fixed resistor plus 1k pot might be much better () :roll:  )
cheers

[nightingale]

woops~
i just recalled my last post form memory.. let me correct myself.. like brett, i used a 1k for the fuzz instead of the 2k.. thats why i get the sqeal at the end of the fuzz pot setting.. i also used a 40k for the vol.. probably doesn't help either..

[brian wenz]

Hello Hello-
   RYAN----- Thank you for that offer....that would be too cool for words!
Those things look great.  {wonder how one would look with paint on it............NAH, the natural silver looks great the way it is!
Did you use the standard 2N3904 and 3906 trannys??
Brian.

[puretube]

why not use a 5k pot, and parallell a fixed R, to get 2k ?
(s.th. like 3k3 to 4k7 - i hate math...)

[Steben]

Uhm... guys, what and where is the real schematic for it actually?
I never seemed to find a right one. Can you provide a pcb or perfboard layout?
I know its a dull question though...

[Steben]

why not use a 5k pot, and parallell a fixed R, to get 2k ?
(s.th. like 3k3 to 4k7 - i hate math...)

or 10k pot with 2k7 fixed?
or 50k pot with 2k2 fixed?

[Steben]

One thing goes to show: We really can make nice distortion with solid state devices, can't we?

[Torchy]

Uhm... guys, what and where is the real schematic for it actually?
I never seemed to find a right one. Can you provide a pcb or perfboard layout?
I know its a dull question though...

Not dull at all. You need to go here http://www.geocities.com/j4_student/schematics.htm and scroll down for the schematic AND IMPORTANTLY the list of errors to the schemo.  :wink:

Cant help with a layout though, I might have my stripboard layout kicking around somewhere ...

[brian wenz]

Hello Hello--
    Go to Phillips' Fuzz Central site.  Good schematic and layout!
Brian.

[nightingale]

this site is great~
http://fuzzcentral.tripod.com/

look under the schematics/PCB's button..

steben~
i actually really like transistor distortion.. the axis, and tonebenders , and fuzzfaces of course do a real nice job driving the heck out of lower wattage[18-40watt] amps.. it's hard to beat that king of touch sensitivity in my opinion..

[nightingale]

sorry to leave you hanging brian~

Did you use the standard 2N3904 and 3906 trannys??

yep, i just used what i had in my parts bin.. most likely some fairchilds from mouser..  the 3906 could be from an old radioshack grab bag?? who knows?

i wouldn't mind measuring the Hfe, just for the record..  

do you use any special trannys that sound good to your ears? i just got 25 PN2369A's in the mail today.. just for SI FF's ....man! if you mess with the collector resistance, and add resistance coming out of the emitter similiar to jack ormans YAFF.. just kind of tuning each tranny individually...  i have been getting some of the best FF tones i have ever been able to get lately.. seriously good! and if i boost the FF with my germ rangemaster..[.01uf input cap].. it does a killer  iommi's tone on the 1st sabbath album..

i guess i sould mention i play tele's, and a 68 gretsch corvette [hilotronx2] into an 18watter...

[brian wenz]

Hello Ryan--
    Yeah, I built my first Axis with stock trannys and my second one with a BS-170 in place of the 3904 and it sounds great.  Replacing the 47K res. with a 50K pot REALLY helps to fine-tune the gain and 'mush factor' for any type of guitar.
 I usually mess around with different BC trannys  [Bc 182, 183, 184.....etc]  and they sound real good in fuzz circuits.
Where did you snag those si trannys???  I'd like to get some low-gain si and mess with 'em.
Brian.

[brett]

Hi.
Mouser has some PN2369As.  hFE around 70.  Been too busy to use them since they arrived, but they look like good options for fuzzfaces, tonebenders...etc.

cheers

[brian wenz]

Hello Brett--
  Thanks!
  [Looks like Ryan left the scene....]
Brian.