HOT FUZZ -The build thread

[CTN]

A short while back, I posted that I was in the process of building a fuzz face clone to play some dirty blues with.

After a couple of weeks of tweaking the basic Fuzz Face circuit, I ended up with a set of components that I was quite happy with and one that sounded its absolute best to my ears.

So here's the build!

Woke up this morning and started soldering away at the perfboard that will contain the effect circuit.

Here is the perfboard, partially wired up.


And the other side


Most of the nitty gritty done.


9V power cables hooked up, all ready for off-board components


This one's for Astrozombie: LED test on the breadboard - SUPER BRIGHT!


Took a pic with the curtains drawn to show how blindingly bright it is


All the off-board components + the board, sitting on top of my drilling template.


Now I have to figure out how to cram all that stuff into that tiny black box along with a 9V battery. Should be a doozy! I'm off to drill some holes!

Check back later for more pics.

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: HOT FUZZ -The build thread

Awesome!

Clips?

[trevorus]

Re: HOT FUZZ -The build thread

No clipping diodes, eh?

[CTN]

Re: HOT FUZZ -The build thread

Awesome!

Clips?

It's not even finished yet! hold yer horses

No clipping diodes, eh?

No siree bob. As far as I know, the basic fuzz face doesn't use clipping diodes. I also had a ***** of a time finding ANY germanium transistors around here. But it didn't really matter much anyway. I was looking to get a harsh, gainy, filthy sounding fuzz.

I used two KSP 2222A transistors which are actually pretty high gain, moreso than what is normally advised for the classic NPN Silicon Fuzz Face, but I didn't care. I changed most of the resistor and capacitor values too. On the breadboard, my circuit sounded full across bass/mid/treb, and has a totally nasty (in a good way) fuzz sound. Sounds killer with my strat.

[CTN]

Re: HOT FUZZ -The build thread

More pics!!

Decided I needed to make a new more tit-illiating drilling template so I'd know how much space each component would need with knobs etc. Drilled pilot holes here.


Mounting holes done.


Cleaned it up a little and did a test fit. I ended up needing to use my file to widen them just a hair.



After the test fit of the topside components, I figured out how much room I had left for the input/output jacks, and made templates to drill the mounting holes.



Holes drilled and did a test fit again.


Here's the guts:


I realized that I'd have just about no room for a battery, so I'd need to power it from my pedalboard's power supply. Used my file to create a little hole for the 9V adapter of my Godlyke power supply daisy chain.


I still gotta mount the circuit board to the back plate, and hook up all the components to each other. Will probably tackle that tomorrow.

[ratherdashing]

Re: HOT FUZZ -The build thread

No siree bob. As far as I know, the basic fuzz face doesn't use clipping diodes.

If you're talking about the Fuzz Face circuit, you're right. The distortion comes from clipping the transistors themselves.

I also had a ***** of a time finding ANY germanium transistors around here.

There are a few places online that sell them, such as Small Bear and Pedal Parts Plus. I doubt you'd find them in any local electronics supply store no matter where you are.

But it didn't really matter much anyway. I was looking to get a harsh, gainy, filthy sounding fuzz.

Silicon transistors are the way to go then.

I used two KSP 2222A transistors which are actually pretty high gain, moreso than what is normally advised for the classic NPN Silicon Fuzz Face, but I didn't care.

Did you measure them? What did they read?

I changed most of the resistor and capacitor values too. On the breadboard, my circuit sounded full across bass/mid/treb, and has a totally nasty (in a good way) fuzz sound. Sounds killer with my strat.

What did you change?

[Agileguy_101]

Re: HOT FUZZ -The build thread

That's awesome man. Gitur dun!

Oh and Hot Fuzz was just on Comedy Central. Funny

[CTN]

Re: HOT FUZZ -The build thread

There are a few places online that sell them, such as Small Bear and Pedal Parts Plus. I doubt you'd find them in any local electronics supply store no matter where you are.

Yeah but I didn't see the point of paying like 15-20 bucks for components and then a further 20-25 bucks for shipping to Canada, plus whatever brokerage fees.

Did you measure them? What did they read?

Supposedly the sweet spot for Fuzz Face transistors is supposed to be 80-120, mine were about 250-280 or so.

What did you change?

input cap - 2.2uF to 4.7uF
fuzz cap - 22uf to 4.7uF (I don't know how that makes any sense, but it sounds good!)
output cap - 0.1uF to 0.68uF

I can't remember all the resistor values, but I'll find out from my notes later and post em.

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: HOT FUZZ -The build thread

Wow, thats a lot of gain...

[ratherdashing]

Re: HOT FUZZ -The build thread

Yeah but I didn't see the point of paying like 15-20 bucks for components and then a further 20-25 bucks for shipping to Canada, plus whatever brokerage fees.

If you ever heard or played through a nice fuzz with Ge transistors, you'd understand the point. They are worlds different from a Si fuzz. Especially given that ...

Supposedly the sweet spot for Fuzz Face transistors is supposed to be 80-120, mine were about 250-280 or so.

Holy crap. I'll reserve judgment until I hear it, of course, but that amount of gain in a standard FF circuit is just silly. It's probably going to sound closer to a square wave effect than a FF - nothing wrong with that if that's what you want.

I'm sure you may have come across this in your research, but the Si FF's have quite a different circuit than the Ge ones.

input cap - 2.2uF to 4.7uF
fuzz cap - 22uf to 4.7uF (I don't know how that makes any sense, but it sounds good!)
output cap - 0.1uF to 0.68uF

I can't remember all the resistor values, but I'll find out from my notes later and post em.

Wow ... bringing the fuzz cap down to 4.7 uF is a DRASTIC change. I suspect that lowering this helps compensate for the massive gain of your transistors but I'm not certain on that. I've seen a lot of FF mods and none of them call for lowering that cap.

Generally speaking, raising the input and output caps increases bass response.

In general it seems like you're just playing around with component values without giving it much thought, which is the complete opposite approach I'd take if I were building a fuzz. However, if it works, that's cool. Enjoy it.

[CTN]

Re: HOT FUZZ -The build thread

Awesome mate !!

Did you pull the circuit design off the web or draft it up yourself

Thanks mang! I pulled the basic fuzz face design off the web, did a bunch of research on fuzz face mods, and then started experimenting.

Holy crap. I'll reserve judgment until I hear it, of course, but that amount of gain in a standard FF circuit is just silly. It's probably going to sound closer to a square wave effect than a FF - nothing wrong with that if that's what you want.

I'm sure you may have come across this in your research, but the Si FF's have quite a different circuit than the Ge ones.

I used an oscilloscope to graph how it was changing a sine wave and how it was changing my guitar signal, and it looked like soft clipping with the sine wave and looked similar with the guitar signal, but it would get a little bit harder clipped with harder playing, but definitely not square wave.

Wow ... bringing the fuzz cap down to 4.7 uF is a DRASTIC change. I suspect that lowering this helps compensate for the massive gain of your transistors but I'm not certain on that. I've seen a lot of FF mods and none of them call for lowering that cap.

Generally speaking, raising the input and output caps increases bass response.

In general it seems like you're just playing around with component values without giving it much thought, which is the complete opposite approach I'd take if I were building a fuzz. However, if it works, that's cool. Enjoy it.

I totally agree, I'm just playing around. I have no idea how a capacitor changes the sound of a guitar signal, but I can totally swap out different values and listen and determine what I like best - likewise with the resistors. The research helped a bit as far as giving me a specific direction to go in to get more bass response, getting a harsher, gainier sound etc.

Here are the resistor values btw:

R1 - 470 ohms
R2 - 33kohms
R3 - 8.2kohms
R4 - 180kohms

Pulldown resistor - 1Mohm

Fuzz pot - 1kohm
Volume - 250kohms

[Scott_F]

Re: HOT FUZZ -The build thread

Great movie.