whats up w/ the fuzzrite???

doug deeper · October 26, 2003, 03:37:18 PM

has anyone built one that sounds anything like the original?

i sure havent....any thoughts???
im thinking i may have used transistors that where to high gain....
resulting in a more metal sound....than the cool farty sound ala "the music machine"...
doug

Ammscray · October 26, 2003, 05:36:29 PM

Quote from: doug deeperhas anyone built one that sounds anything like the original?
i sure havent....any thoughts???
im thinking i may have used transistors that where to high gain....
resulting in a more metal sound....than the cool farty sound ala "the music machine"...
doug

Same with the Sam Ash Fuzzz...I have yet to a hear a clone of that one that sounds right either...gotta find those trannys man!

drew · October 26, 2003, 06:25:18 PM

Someone I know just asked me to make him a Fuzz-rite clone... I saw that someone, somewhere on the web, had consulted an ancient Radio Shack transistor equivalence guide and come up with the fact that the "TZ82" NPNs specified were medium-gain germanium transistors.

Now, I don't know how accurate that is, but if the original sounded good, and it came out a long time ago, it's quite possible that it used Ge transistors....

I have a small handful of AC151s that I pulled from some other gear so I'm going to build up a fuzz-rite on perfboard using the 151s (PNPs) using the switch-the-battery-polarity trick that works on a fuzz face. Maybe I'll make one up with silicon transistors just to compare...

drew
toothpastefordinner.com

petemoore · October 26, 2003, 06:29:29 PM

I know for certain my try [the board] is certainly scavenged 'down'. I remem not being able to get it to work.

Ammscray · October 26, 2003, 06:30:01 PM

Quote from: drewSomeone I know just asked me to make him a Fuzz-rite clone... I saw that someone, somewhere on the web, had consulted an ancient Radio Shack transistor equivalence guide and come up with the fact that the "TZ82" NPNs specified were medium-gain germanium transistors.

Now, I don't know how accurate that is, but if the original sounded good, and it came out a long time ago, it's quite possible that it used Ge transistors....

I have a small handful of AC151s that I pulled from some other gear so I'm going to build up a fuzz-rite on perfboard using the 151s (PNPs) using the switch-the-battery-polarity trick that works on a fuzz face. Maybe I'll make one up with silicon transistors just to compare...

drew
toothpastefordinner.com

The original definitely used germaniums in it...the scheme that's been floating around is wrong as it has it looking like it used silicon devices...

nightingale · October 26, 2003, 07:46:20 PM

doug~
seems that we have similiar music tastes. os mutantes, the music machine,love, and one time i thought you mentioned :"pretty things" one of my fav's... anyway!

i have cloned the fuzzrite and had a similiar experience... metalish tone. i have also built gus 's ritefuzz... and also ritefuzz with mods suggested by brian wenz or gez (can't remember!!!) gus's ritefuzz sounded good, but not like the reissue i played... and the modded one i built was similiar, but better in a loud practice, and it also had a decent octave up... i think i still have the board at my apartment, maybe i'll try to drop some germaniums in it...
best,
~ryanS
www.nightingalesounds.com

drew · October 26, 2003, 10:37:08 PM

Built this up today with sockets for the transistors.

It's not biased right for the Ge transistors I used (AC151) - it has a good tone, but gates out at low signal. Emitter is pulled to 9v, collector to ground thru a 470k resistor, on both transistors. Anyone wanna give me a hint on where to start adjusting bias?

Then I dropped in a pair of TIS93 (PNP - xref 2N4126) transistors, and it sounded brighter, with more gain, no gating (or not enough that I could hear it immediately.)

If you are looking at the schematics, keep in mind that I used PNP germaniums and flipped the battery polarity on the one I made.

drew
toothpastefordinner.com

brian wenz · October 27, 2003, 04:10:50 PM

Hello Hello--
Hey Ryan, how ya doin???
Yeah, that was my "mod". All I did was put two 47K in place of the 470K off the collector of each tranny. [I also used si trannys instead of germs].
I'll have to dig the circuit out of the graveyard and listen to it again, but it seemed to sound pretty good. Yikes, now I remember upping the value of the .002 caps to .o2, too. I'm gonna try some germ trannys in there, too.
Brian.

Dan N · October 27, 2003, 04:56:03 PM

Hi,

I made one based on a trace of this photo:

http://users.rio.com/senorris/junk/fuzzritess.jpg

and it sounded awful. I did not spend any time tweaking, just moved on...

There is also a fuzzrite with a circuit board totally encased in brown gunk that looks like a huge ceramic cap wirh multi wires coming out of it (early integrated circuit). The same IC may have been used in the Rosac fuzzes. Someone here took some dental tools and discected his Rosac fuzz.

http://users.rio.com/senorris/junk/rosac.gif

It would be cool if there were some ideal Fuzzrite copy circuit. I wonder how the Sanner reissues sound? Can the original designer nail the tone?

Dan

doug deeper · October 27, 2003, 05:03:49 PM

i read an interview with mr sanner...he said that only the first 50 or so units used germaniums and the rest used early silicon devices...
(the changs was made because of temp stability)
doug

News:

whats up w/ the fuzzrite???