SATURN FIVE FUZZ

[Dragonfly]

EZ build 60's style fuzz that can get fairly smooth at one extreme and lots of "splat" at the other.

Sound sample starts with "Splat" at minimum, then 1/2 on, then "full Splat"....after that, solo tones...then guitars volume rolled back so you can see how it cleans up....then full smooth fuzz.

This will probably work fine with most silicon NPNs, though I built it with BC108's...

any extra noise is because its on the breadboard, next to a computer, and in front of the TV

Enjoy...and let me know what you think if you build it !

AC

SOUND SAMPLE

[nightingale]

Give me a couple of days or so,
I'll have one boxed up!
ry

I get some pretty good mileage out of my  sanchez, and montezuma boxes btw.

[Dragonfly]

Give me a couple of days or so,
I'll have one boxed up!
ry

I get some pretty good mileage out of my  sanchez, and montezuma boxes btw.

cool...

glad youre liking the monte and the sanchez

you might consider using a 1k pot from Q1's emmiter as a "gain" control...i typically run fuzz full on though

let me know what you think

[foxfire]

god i love your little fuzz's! now i have something to do tomorrow instead of exorcising or paying attention to my fiancée.

[Dragonfly]

god i love your little fuzz's! now i have something to do tomorrow instead of exorcising or paying attention to my fiancée.

Thanks

seriously...the fuzz will fight you a lot less than the fiance, so make sure you pay attention to her too

[Dragonfly]

BTW...this fuzz can be made very compact...you could breadboard it, get your favorite setting on the Splat control, measure that value and use a resistor instead of the Splat pot....

and.....

mount it in a guitar with a toggle on/off switch

(I know...I'm a sick, sick person...)

[Fuzzy-Train]

Sounds a lot like my Tyco Octavia with the octave switch off. But there's something that sounds different, can't really tell what it is.

Very cool man... can't wait to hear your next one.

[8mileshigh]

Cool, this one sounds a lot like the Fuzzrite I built with high gain transistors.  There's quite a bit of compression going on here. BTW, you sure know how to name a pedal !

Chris

[Marcos - Munky]

Cool!!! Another effect to build. And this comes at the right time, I was about to etch two PCBs (guess what, two of your designs ), now I will include this one too. The bad part is that I don't have 500K pots right now, and my amp is in a friend's house, so I will be able to test it in the weekend only.

[tcobretti]

I really love two transistor fuzzes.  For some reason they are probly my favorite build.  I haven't been building anything lately, but this one looks very nice Andy!

Thanks!

[Baktown]

Dude!

That sound sample is AWESOME! Way to go, Gringo!

Axl Bundy

[Dragonfly]

Thanks guys...

I think everyone here KNOWS I love fuzz pedals, especially "old school" transistor based fuzzes.

I hope you guys decide to play around with this circuit...its pretty cool

[Ucho]

Another great little circuit Dragonfly!

The sample sounds really good, and the "SPLAT" control has really the right name!

I think I'm going to breadboard it with 2N5088/89...

I'd like to post a couple of noobs technical questions:
1) what's the purpose of the 1M/470k Collector-Base resistors? What do "they do"?
2) What's the reason (if any) behind the choice of 4k7 collector resistor in q1 vs 100k in q2?

Thanks for sharing all these "simple" circuits. I find them very good sounding AND very interesting form a learning point of view (because of their "simplicity"=low parts count)

Keep on rockin' Dragonfly!

[petemoore]

1) what's the purpose of the 1M/470k Collector-Base resistors? What do "they do"?
   Bias the base.

[foxfire]

and i'm guessing that q1 is biased a bit hot so that you get that compressed saturated sound as turn up the splat, hence the different collector resistors?

[Ucho]

1) what's the purpose of the 1M/470k Collector-Base resistors? What do "they do"?
   Bias the base.

Mmmm... i see... It should have been more obvious to me  it's one of the various ways to bias a bjt...
Now I'm looking at biasing article on Wikipedia for some more infos.
Thanks pete, useful as always

and i'm guessing that q1 is biased a bit hot so that you get that compressed saturated sound as turn up the splat, hence the different collector resistors?

That was my guess too.

PS: Maybe I'm OT and I should not talk about that here?!?

[oldrocker]

Nice.  I like the sound samples.  Actually it sounds like an OD more than a fuzz at certain settings.  I'll have to give this a shot soon.  Thanks dragonfly.

[foxfire]

1) what's the purpose of the 1M/470k Collector-Base resistors? What do "they do"?
   Bias the base.

Mmmm... i see... It should have been more obvious to me  it's one of the various ways to bias a bjt...
Now I'm looking at biasing article on Wikipedia for some more infos.
Thanks pete, useful as always

and i'm guessing that q1 is biased a bit hot so that you get that compressed saturated sound as turn up the splat, hence the different collector resistors?

That was my guess too.

PS: Maybe I'm OT and I should not talk about that here?!?

not talk about it? hell i would have to make real friends and actually talk like, "face to face" with real people if that were true! unless i'm missing something you're dead ON topic asking how and why questions.

[Marcos - Munky]

Yeah, it's on topic. It's a basic question, but applies to this circuit, and a lot more circuits.

[MartyMart]

Sounds great Andy - nice one ..... again !!