A "Three Fuzz" day !

[MartyMart]

OK, so I was "on hold" today, work-wise and it didn't happen so......
First build:
Tim Escobedo's "Tytewadd", used a J201 and a BC459B this is a lot of fun, nice and "high gain" sounding, not so much "Fuzz" as "Plexi roar" !! a definate "keeper" which is quiet as anything, even before being "boxed" up  

Second build:
Doug Deepers "Garage Fuzz" ( why does that name sound like a "porn star" !! )
Nasty little "Fuzz" a bit "nasal" and "tinny" for me but it could have uses on a very "LOFI" track, 2n2222's are the only trannies that work with this circuit.

Third build:
Joe Gagans "EasyFace"
I spent some time "hfe checking" a batch of AC128's that I got fairly cheap from "Bardwells" UK, to use in Q2, Q1 being a 2N3906.
Tried first one with hfe of 148, it was "splatty" and impossible to get "right" with the bias trimmer.
Then found one with hfe of about 265 ..... WOW this thing really "ROCKS"
very much a "Hi Gain" Fuzz Monster !!!  and makes my valve amp break up in the most fantastic way, real "Huge Creamy" distortion.
Its my fav' of all the "Fuzz" circuits I've built, including the first "EasyFace"
from a few weeks ago.
Can't recommend this enough, a 10k trimmer and a PNP Ge Tranny with hfe of around 250-280 will sound "Superb"    

I'm one very happy "bunny" !
Thanks to those mentioned and "Torchy"/"Dragonfly" for the vero-layouts


Cheers,
Marty.

[Paul Marossy]

Dude, you are a monster! I was never able to my Garage Fuzz to work...  

[nightingale]

The EasyFace is very underestimated IMO.
I mostly enjoy the sounds of FF's with my guitar volume rolled back a bit. it's more of a spongy overdrive tone.
With the Gagan pre-gain, it is like having an extra guitar volume in front of the circuit, so i can dial the tone that i like and leave my guitar volume dimed.

i guess there is the argument that it messes up the magical FF input impedance a bit. but i think it is worth it.

just my thoughts,

[Dragonfly]

Dude, you are a monster! I was never able to my Garage Fuzz to work...  

the vero layout i posted here should work just fine for ya....

looks like MartyMart "verified" it

[Dragonfly]

Marty...youre unstoppable

hope those layouts worked fine for ya !

andy

[Paul Marossy]

Marty...youre unstoppable

I think the poor guy needs some help...  :wink:

Maybe I'll try that veroboard layout sometime.

[MartyMart]

Marty...youre unstoppable

I think the poor guy needs some help...  :wink:

Oh man, that makes me sound a bit "Sad"  as in: "Sad obsessive pedal builder"  !!!
I'm sure the missus called me that once....... :cry:

Its starting to pay off though, I've been asked to build a couple of "vintage" things for "Jamiraqui's" guitarist, Rob Harris, for the next tour . . . .

Marty.

[Paul Marossy]

Marty, we are in the same boat. Did you ever read the line under my name at the bottom of my posts? I am a sad fellow, too!  :lol:

[Ge_Whiz]

Lucky dog, Marty - you obviously got a better bunch of AC128s from Bardwells than I did - all low gain and leaky as a bath with no plug.

[MartyMart]

Lucky dog, Marty - you obviously got a better bunch of AC128s from Bardwells than I did - all low gain and leaky as a bath with no plug.

Not so lucky, that was the only "High gain'  out of 30  !!
Still, there's a few pairs for an "FF" between 80-130  

Marty.

[jmusser]

Where is this "Garage Fuzz" schematic in which you speak of? The Easy Face is a really creamy and thick, and I like it a lot. I had someone in our ITT group find me an AC128, and it just happened to work, so I guess I got lucky. The trimmer pot I'm sure was the key to that though. What you were saying about Tim's Tytewad circuit, I've found to be true of all his stuff I've built, there is NO noise. I don't know what his magic formula is, but you can take something as insane as the Ugly Face, let the note die off, and set the guitar down, and you'd never know that box was on, unless you happen to brush it with your pant's leg going by. I've built the Orange Sunshine, and the Buzz Box in the same day ("A Two Fuzz Day" topic 24672"), but most of the time I'm too mentally spent to build more than one at a time. I need to build something this evening, although I'm not quite sure what. I have half a notion to rob the transformer from the Jawari, and build the Psychtar, because I've never heard of anyone else building it. I have probably 10 projects bagged up and waiting on parts at this point

[Dragonfly]

Where is this "Garage Fuzz" schematic in which you speak of?

i m pretty sure he used my stripboard layout...just search "stripboard" and "garage" and you'll find it...easy build, trashy sound

andy
dragonfly fx

[jmusser]

Thanks for the Garage Fuzz layout. I was checking to see if I'd got a response before I went to bed (another part of the addiction). I just got done building the Jordon Boss Tone tonight, and hope to put it through it's paces in the morning.

[MartyMart]

Thanks for the Garage Fuzz layout. I was checking to see if I'd got a response before I went to bed (another part of the addiction). I just got done building the Jordon Boss Tone tonight, and hope to put it through it's paces in the morning.

Glad you have the same addiction !!  :wink:
I didn't like the "Garage Fuzz" so much - a bit too "LoFi" for me :-)
I might have a "play" with the circuit to "beef" it up a little.
Where's the "Orange Sunshine" schem ? I'd like to vero-board that one
and seem to have lost mine somewhere !!

Cheers,
Marty.

[Dragonfly]

Thanks for the Garage Fuzz layout. I was checking to see if I'd got a response before I went to bed (another part of the addiction). I just got done building the Jordon Boss Tone tonight, and hope to put it through it's paces in the morning.

Glad you have the same addiction !!  :wink:
I didn't like the "Garage Fuzz" so much - a bit too "LoFi" for me :-)
I might have a "play" with the circuit to "beef" it up a little.
Where's the "Orange Sunshine" schem ? I'd like to vero-board that one
and seem to have lost mine somewhere !!

Cheers,
Marty.

check your pm's in about 5 minutes...i'll send you the orange sunshine schemo....

andy

[Dragonfly]

pm sent.....

btw...you can  just use a npn fuzz face vero layout, change the values, and use a resistor instead of a gain pot...
andy

[jmusser]

I know Aron and RDV neither one cared for the Orange Sunshine that much, because they said it was too harsh I believe, but I like the sound of mine, and it doesn't sound that harsh to me. I used some massive sized, high voltage caps in mine, because that's all I had in that value. I have no idea if that had anything to do with smoothing it out or not, but mine sounds better than the sample. Sometimes you get lucky. I decided to tackle the Jordon Boss Tone last night, and as yet it's dead, so I need to see what I did (or probably didn't do). I'm going to redraw the schematic and take it to work with me tonight to go through. I put switches on the input and output caps to go between the original value and the suggested bassier value, so maybe I'm not making the transition there very well in my head. It'll probably do me good to redraw it before going through with a highlighter, and also add the bypass switch to it at the same time. if mine sounds anything like the sample, it'll be well worth the effort.

[jmusser]

I redrew the Boss Tone schematic to include the bypass and cap switching, and then went through it with a highlighter. It was worse than I thought.....there were no wiring errors! I went back and looked over the component values, and they were correct, and then I reread the note on a resistor and cap. I had substitued for the original values, when I should have stayed with the ones on the updated schematic :roll: So, I have a 50uf in place of a 50pf, and a 150 ohm in place of a 150K. Oh well. No big deal. That's about a 10 minute change out. It makes me feel good that I did the wiring right, even including the cap switch mods. I'll give you a run down on it sometime this week. I'm doing 12 hour night shifts right now