Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Thomas Greer on November 24, 2016 at 5:02am

I was thinking the same thing. One could always use two diodes to achieve more of a true fuzz tone. I built a muff fuzz clone with unknown transistors and parts harvested from a an old 70's radio. I built an enclosure for it from left over cigar box scraps, similar to Scott aka Ted Farmer's. I had to shield the inside to keep the noise down at full throttle. I'll see if I can post a pic of it.

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Permalink Reply by Timothy Hunter on November 30, 2016 at 1:10am

that is a quick and dirty circuit, He has quite a few more sophisticated kits available. As a bonus all the schematics are there on the website so you can roll your own.

I have just bought 1 kit and 2 other PCB's classic boost, dirt and boost and the last is a surface mount boost kit. going to use the boost circuit as a preamp for a small class d amp board i got off ebay. 

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Permalink Reply by JL on December 16, 2016 at 12:49am

didn't we have another thread here about using diodes in the git to get a clipping effect, a DIY of a magic black cube thingy?

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Permalink Reply by BrianQ. on July 3, 2018 at 8:13am

Yes it does work with any pickups Miranda, but louder & with magnetic pickups. I build my prototypes this way, so I’ll give u some advice about point 2 point wiring with transistors. Always connect an alligator clip (roach clip) lol, to leg of transistor wich u are soldering, this prevents it from getting too hot - too much heat will degrade it & destroys its tonal character. That’s it... I build this circuit quite often & let me tell u, it’s thick n fuzzy, perfect for slide. If u want more high end on your smaller strings then change 100n cap to 47n(.047uF)
Also if u want more/less mud change 2.2uF cap - 4.7uF(more) 1uF- 0.1uF(less)
Another is replace 10k resistor with 10k potentiometer to get some different sounds, this is called biasing the transistor. Most experienced builders bias to 4.5v measured @ collector of transistor, but there’s no law to biasing a Fuzz but what sounds good to your ears. Enjoy this is an awesome sounding & easiest circuit to build.

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Permalink Reply by BrianQ. on July 3, 2018 at 8:56am

Another thing I forgot to mention is the diode can be substituted- 1n4001- bassy/muffled 1n34a,1n270- warm/earthy but audible drop in volume LED’s- saturated, more distorted than fuzzy. The original circuit had 10uF caps for both caps making it an awesome bass fuzz, but mostly liked by guitar players. This circuit was actually created by a fuzz enthusiast named Christian Hemmo some years ago. Get outta here & go build it already......

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on July 8, 2018 at 8:22am

A fuzz works great on a bass.

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Permalink Reply by BrianQ. on April 20, 2020 at 8:49am

Stripboard layout:

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Permalink Reply by BrianQ. on April 20, 2020 at 11:11am

Attention: don’t forget about the trace cuts under R1, C1, C2 ?

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Permalink Reply by BrianQ. on April 20, 2020 at 11:22am

Perfboard Layout:

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Permalink Reply by Southern Ray on April 21, 2020 at 4:57am

 Thank you so much for these drawings, Brian! They are the icing for me in learning this stuff. I have been collecting your designs for later use. Would you recommend buying a "grab bag of transistors,caps, etc. or would I just end up with a few I need and the rest will just take up space?

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Permalink Reply by BrianQ. on April 21, 2020 at 5:18am

Yes, I found out the hard way there’s usually only a few parts in grab bags that will be of use. But most components are cheap enough to buy 5 or 10 at a time. Tayda electronics is very affordable & quick, & ships from U.S. check them out? Cheers :)

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Permalink Reply by Timothy Hunter on April 21, 2020 at 5:39am

i agree, grab bags are what they are for a reason.... to get rid of stuff that doesent sell..lol 

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