Happy Fuzz Friday, everyone! Hope everyone is having a good end of the year and holiday season.
Here's the Suhr Rufus Fuzz. If you ever wanted a Fuzz Face with an input buffer and big ol' ton stack at the end, this would be right up your alley. Here's the schematic for reference. Should be able to squeeze it into a 1590B.
Here's Jackson Audio's MOSFET boost, the Amp Mode. Pretty simple MOSFET circuit with a BJT output buffer. Easy fit in a 1590B.
Here's a very cool Rat variant now out of production. Fairly straight forward Rat with a variation of the Ruetz Mod, LEDs for clipping and a switch to toggle a feedback loop. On the original this is a toggle (SPST), but would be fun to put on a momentary footswitch. Couldn't confirm the IC in the original, as the markings were painted over. Might be easy to assume the IC is an LM308 or OP07 since it's based on the Rat, but it's missing the compensator cap (30pF cap across pins 1-8 in a normal Rat) so I'm guessing a TL071/LM741, but an OP07 would work too. Fits nicely in a 1590B or 125B. Schematic here
The Slow Gear emulates a guitarist riding the volume pot or a volume pedal, creating a swell effect. This will fit comfortably in a 1590B or 125B, though with the 1590B you'll probably want to wire the pots off board or use long-leg right angle pots mounted on the component side. Here's the schematic for reference.
Thought this one was interesting so I gave it a go. It's a fairly typical Rockett overdrive (.45 Caliber, Animal, Blue Note, etc.) with a fairly typical MOSFET boost (AMZ Booster, EQD Black Eye, etc.). Fits in a 125B with dual footswitches. Schematic and discussion found here. Fabricated version available on the store.
Happy Fuzz Friday, all! Here's a cool silicon Tone Bender style fuzz from Solid Gold Fx. Aside from using silicon transistors, the first stage is a JFET. When the switch is closed it adds in a 4.7uF input cap in parallel with the 330pF input cap. You could replace the switch with a B100k pot (lug 1 to Sw1 pad, lugs 2-3 to Sw2 pad) to blend the two values. Set the trimmer to 4.5v for the JFET and adjust by ear as needed.
The blog needs more modulation, so here's the classic EHX Small Clone chorus. Made famous by Kurt Cobain, the Small Clone has a wide range of chorus tones. I've laid it out two ways, one stock, and one with the Depth switch replaced with a pot. You can probably squeeze this into a 1590B, but I'd stick with a 125B if you want the board mounted to the pot(s). Schematic for reference.
Here's an interesting take on the classic DOD 250/MXR Distortion + circuit. It's pushed by a simple BJT boost and has an added presence control and tone switch. Schematic here. Easy to fit in a 1590B or 125B.
Happy Fuzz Friday, everyone! Here's a very cool Big Muff variation designed by Zzoyd. Zzoyd lives in Kyiv and named the circuit after the famed fighter pilot defending the Ukrainian skies from Russian aggression. It reminds a bit of the Musket but with a 2-band EQ and a germanium pre section. Should fit nicely in a 125B.
Almost didn't draw this up since it's just another Electra variant, but they almost always sound good, so why not? This one claims to emulate the sound of EL34 tubes, which sounds like marketing gibberish to me since it's just a diode-less Electra. Originals are all hand wired, point to point, floating in the 1590BB enclosure. Super cool looking, but a major labor of love to produce, hence its hefty price tag. This will fit in a 1590B, but has 2 footswitches, so the drill template reflects a zVex-style of layout. Schematic and cool teardown vid on FSB here.
Happy Fuzz Friday! Here's a big one that hopefully makes up for my absence lately. Sounds great on bass and guitar. From Darkglass:
The Duality is a unique fuzz pedal that contains two discrete fuzz circuits—a gated saw-tooth wave and a raunchy high-gain sound—which can be mixed together to yield a vast selection of distinct sonic textures.
Happy Fuzz Friday, all! Recently I got a request for the new EQD Hizumitas. Found a schematic for it over on FSB and it's just a BMP. The values are tweaked, but the topology is the exact same as a standard Muff. If you've hung around here for really any length of time you know how many times I've laid out the BMP. There are so many clones out there dating back to the early 70s, most of which I haven't really explored here on the blog. So using Kit Rae's fantastic Big Muff site, I put together a BOM of 6 versions of non-muffs, including the Hizumitas and the Elk Sustainar the Hizumitas is derived from. So for your building and experimenting pleasure, here's the Not A Muff. (BOM, schematic and drilling templates linked below)
Happy 2022, everyone! Here's a buffer/booster from Fulltone. Engaged it's a booster with an interesting controllable germanium soft clipping setup, and when bypassed the diodes and gain control are shorted, creating a buffer. If you're just after the boost and want to skip the buffered bypass, just ignore the two Bypass pads and wire it normally. The original uses a 3PDT still for bypass, but you should be able to get away with a DPDT (just wire the bypass pads to lugs 1 and 2 of a DPDT, LED- to lug 4 and lug 5 to ground). Discussion and schematic over on FSB.
