The next fuzz...

[oldrocker]

Hi Yun,  well I guess I'll have to build the Whisker Biscuit now.  You've convinced me that it's worth building.  I had the schem laying around for some time now and I always wondered about it but never tried it.  Are there any substitutes for the trannys that will work in place of some of the ones on the schem?  I might be able to breadboard it up soon if I can get the trannys.  I always socket them but I was wondering if you experimented with this circuit at all and tried any different ones.

[Meanderthal]

 Oh, the whisker biscuit sounds great(really very BMP like, with a different personality, less wool), but mine's noisy as hell bcompared to a BMP. Also, ya did say you wanted something NOT compressy< Well, if you DON'T want sustain, then the whisker biscuit will not make you happy, but if you want a BMP like sound this will make you smile!

[Branimir]

Heh, I like to play with dynamics a lot and usually use my pedals with volumes maxed so I get the amp pushed into distortion, not to mention I play in a band and output tubes are pushed hard all the time, so I don't usually worry about pedal's own higain setup, since I try to get the most from the pedal and the amp interaction!

I turn the vol pot on guitar to get cleaner tones and use lighter picking to get less distorted sounds, I know my guitar ain't much good, but LP with p90's is on the way so more dynamics fun to come!

With BMP you can't get softer distortion with turning down the volume on the guitar and picking lighter, it's all been maxed out heh, though the sound is actually cool, I'm sort of a weird midrange dude that likes to have mids very present, and BMP just doesn't do it.

Rat is a cool pedal because it's not an overdrive in a typical sense, it's a bit fuzzy and sounds fat, without being able to chugga chugga palm mute like metal dudes like (hehe).

I'm not really interested in the Whisker, because it's got a BMP tonestack, I know I could throw it out, but I don't think that a smart idea, since BMP sounds as it sounds, because of the tonestack, and I've tried different variants, and it just destroys the BMP's sound - it's great, but I'm not that kind of player, nor my band would benefit from it!

I'm intrigued to get the bosstone working properly, since it's the only fuzz for now that had that ugly, thrashing, breaking up tone, but it works only when the gain on the pedal is maxed, and then it's just over the top with everything, and with gain a bit lower, it just oscillates... darn

I had success with BC549c in the green muff, so I guess 2N5088 could be substituted with BC549c (pinouts are different, actually just reverse the orientation of the transistor!)

[Dragonfly]

* a 10k resistor between the attack pot and input cap should eliminate oscillations.

* another cool fuzz...colorsound one knob fuzz.

AC

[Branimir]

I know this is not much, but this is a live video of one of my band's songs performed live:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA7DX3Xn28k

The amps are: my diy pre '74 Orange preamp + LTP + 2xEL34 pushpull into a 4x12" slant marshall cab (the jcm900 default one - yuck)
                      Sunn concert lead into a 4x12" loaded with v30 (excellent speakers)

Seen on the right of me in the video - that marshall on the top of the stack is not mine heh

I usually use my 2x12" with v30s for band practice and such, but for gig occasions I use whatever cab other band has that's 16 ohm wired (my amp has only 16ohm secondary output). I really like v30 speakers, they are great, and the ones that come in a marshall stock cab are a bit harsh, but the do the job okay

The pedal used is a DIY Rat, with 741 instead of the original chip.

The guitar is a butchered squier that I got 8 years ago, the bridge pickup is DiMarzio Air Zone... I like thick strings, tune to dropped C#, I think 12-52 are on this video, now I'm using 13-56

So you could hear what I like, the only time I play with the Rat bypassed is the intro before the drums kick in, afterwards it's all volume pot/picking dynamics..

[Branimir]

* a 10k resistor between the attack pot and input cap should eliminate oscillations.

* another cool fuzz...colorsound one knob fuzz.

AC

I'll try that! And I'll check out the colorsound too!

Thanks!

[pyrop]

I know this is not much, but this is a live video of one of my band's songs performed live:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA7DX3Xn28k

Cool, I love it...
You got more?

pyrop

[Branimir]

Heh not really... Actually there's one more song from that show recorded with a camera, but it's full of me, missing frets and stuff (couldn't see the fretmarkers, and actually I'm a quite sloppy guitarplayer, so I need to see where are my fret markers from time to time), but I think our bassplayer didn't put that one up on youtube...

[tcobretti]

I like your tone a lot.  I was waiting for the wah to kick on during that last section, but I guess maybe that would be too wanky.

[Branimir]

Heh, thanks!

No wah, I sold it a few years ago, just couldn't live with that bunny hopping on/off switching method, and never knew when to kick it in for solos. It's just barebone sound from then on...

[boogietube]

Speaking of wah's - I use a Morley Bad horsie. It's great with the addition of some mods. Gain, sweep vocal, inductor. No switch . Step on it it wahs step off and it's off. Optical circuitry.  Can't use it as a filter because of the spring-back action. Oh well-no bunny hop though! 

[petemoore]

  The Rocket !!
  Brought this with a 9v to practice, used that clean-ish treble boost to Thick FUZZ TONE effect @ guitar volume all night [I have a treble bleed cap on guitar volume pot]...My Tube Amp sounds great just like that...no real need to even hit the switch.

[Yun]

  The Rocket !!
  Brought this with a 9v to practice, used that clean-ish treble boost to Thick FUZZ TONE effect @ guitar volume all night [I have a treble bleed cap on guitar volume pot]...My Tube Amp sounds great just like that...no real need to even hit the switch.

OOOOOOOH YYYEEEEEAAAAHH, i second that suggestion very much so, man.  the rocket is one of my all time faveorites as well.  in this build- the internal trim-pot is the key here, man.  Just the tiniest little tweak of the trim-pot changes the whole pedal's tone, dynamics, etc. 

When i built my second one, i just hooked up an external trim-pot.  That way- i allways have access to it, obviously. 

[Yun]

Hi Yun,  well I guess I'll have to build the Whisker Biscuit now.  You've convinced me that it's worth building.  I had the schem laying around for some time now and I always wondered about it but never tried it.  Are there any substitutes for the trannys that will work in place of some of the ones on the schem?  I might be able to breadboard it up soon if I can get the trannys.  I always socket them but I was wondering if you experimented with this circuit at all and tried any different ones.

i used an MPS for Q2; the rest were 2N5088's, man.  just like the schematic.  It is a little noisy; however i don't keep my fuzz boxes on when not playing anything- so, i don't have a problem with that. 

I think that any medium, to high gain trannys will work, dude.  It's an excelent alternative to a BMP, man.  It does it all plus more with no BMP drawbacks.  Really touch synsetive as well. 

I might build the GES NOSE-BURNER (a Marcos special) in a minuit.  This circuit allways grabbed my eye, man.....

[Yun]

Also, mr.Oldrocker, If you wanna "Creammy dreammer it"; leave out the 100 Ohm r's , man.  I've not tried it yet- so, i would socket it, dude.....

[Branimir]

  The Rocket !!

Holy Moly!

How did I ever got to miss that one! Cool, three trannies, I could use BC549c's easily (I have a full drawer of those!), great, must add this to the "to build" list.. How I can't wait to this new year thing to pass

Thanks for the suggestion!

[Barcode80]

boogietube: PM me with some details on your bad horsie mods, i have one i need to tweak.

Yun: I SECOND THE ROCKET!!! This is the greatest boost I have ever built. I outfitted my whole band with LPB or rocket boosts, and the dirty tone toward the top end of both is STAGGERING if your setup is keen on it...

[Meanderthal]

 Ok, now I'm confused... Yun's Rocket Booster, or  Aron's The Rocket? I could see using a Rocket Booster for everything, but wouldn't putting The Rocket in front of everything create a wall of noise that would make Phil Spector proud?

[Yun]

Ok, now I'm confused... Yun's Rocket Booster, or  Aron's The Rocket? I could see using a Rocket Booster for everything, but wouldn't putting The Rocket in front of everything create a wall of noise that would make Phil Spector proud?

Haha, i was actually talking about Aron's rocket FUZZ, man.  it's the same as the 3-transistor fuzz, but with a tone control. 

[Yun]

boogietube: PM me with some details on your bad horsie mods, i have one i need to tweak.

Yun: I SECOND THE ROCKET!!! This is the greatest boost I have ever built. I outfitted my whole band with LPB or rocket boosts, and the dirty tone toward the top end of both is STAGGERING if your setup is keen on it...

hey, thanks, man!  i'm glad that somebody has put my hard work to use, dude.  has you seen my V.2 rocket booster eh? 

Not trying to hijack this awesome thread, here.  but i think this booster will proove useful in this thread: