FAT GERMS schematic

[Steben]

Almost ready in practice, I let you guys know whether this thing works and/or sounds good... :wink:
Voltages are pretty theoretical  :?

Point is, I tried to place two rangemaster-alike stages behind each other, in order to get soft stauration at both the emitters as result. Beacuse of the inverting action of the stages, each one soft saturates one half of the signal. At least that's what I want to achieve...

www.angelfire.com/droid/burvenich/fat_germs.htm

[Steben]

Not sure I gonna name it fat germs or fat germans
:wink:

[bobbletrox]

Nah...definitely Fat Germs!  It has an abstract vibe  

[Steben]

Ok, built it, not working, probably need some probing...
Think the 15k and 12k resistors are too big for the biasing.
Need some voltages at the collectors...
to be continued...

sorry guys

[petemoore]

Well to clip like Rangemaster the collectors should be at 7 volts with a 9V supply?

[Steben]

Yes, indeed. It needs some tweaking. Maybe 7.5V would be better for the second Q (more clipping?).

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

higher resistor value for the emitter on the second transistor?

[petemoore]

I did a 'similar' two GE Fuzz, basically a couple seriesed Rangemaster type circuits...definitely Fuzzed and sounded good. Had not much guitar vol rolloff action, but on the other hand had a very 'stable' sustain...even small inputs could make clipping happen.

[Steben]

Hi guys,

Just placed a trimmer across both collector resistors (50k Q1, 10k Q2). Now I have a delicious fuzz actualy. Very touch sensitive... Page and Cream-like tones...mmmm As you can see people: a stompbox DIY'er needs two things: a solderpin and ... trim resistors !!!! ;-) ;-) ;-)

Quite british with the 0.01 input cap. Maybe my favorite fuzz from now on.
Maybe better placing a higher emitter R on Q2, yes, because of the lower consumption maybe ;-) green thoughts... but after all, 3mA isn't that ruining ;-) (hust look at those chorusses and flangers, damn, 30 mA?!?

As soon as I can... sound samples?...

[jmusser]

I noticed you were using AC128s. Are they matched AC128s like in a Fuzz Face? I'm sure we're all looking forward to the sound samples. Congrats on your new circuit!

[Steben]

I noticed you were using AC128s. Are they matched AC128s like in a Fuzz Face? I'm sure we're all looking forward to the sound samples. Congrats on your new circuit!

Thanks. it's great to get something real and DIY on this forum. I lost my virginity ;-).

About the AC128. Now, that's the best part of it all, the first is hFE of 110, second 125. but I didn't check for leakage, though. Btw I bought them for 0.45â,¬ each. That's about 0.55$ I guess. i'm not sure, but I think I guess I'm a bit advantaged because I live in Belgium and I saved on shipping. I don't know where in the US to get those at that price. But I'm sure you don't need matched transistors for this one.

With the fuzz pot down, you get almost clean chords like a solo rangemaster. Full fuzz is low-medium gain like. Great for classic tunes. No shredding, but the hell, we don't need that after all on a touch sensitive one, no?