Friday, July 8, 2016
Death by Audio Fuzz War
For Fuzz Friday, here's the original Fuzz War from Death by Audio. It's essentially 5 gain stages going into a Big Muff-esque tone stack, into a clipping stage and a final gain stage. Here's the schematic for reference. Original models have the Fuzz control as a trimmer internally, but I've laid that out as an external control for more versatility. Pots can be board mounted using right angle PCB mount pots and it should fit in a 1590B (though personally I'd put it in a 125B).
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This layout is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThanks! It's probably my favorite single sided layout I've done.
Deleteand the scariest layout you've ever made dude
Delete:D
AWESOME!!
I agree - beautiful!
ReplyDeleteIf i were DBA, you might be getting a job offer...
ReplyDelete;)
Haha not holding my breath ;)
DeleteIt works. Changed 2n5089 to 2n5088 and 1n34a to 1n914, fuzz pot increase gain only in the end of rotation :(
ReplyDeleteThanks for verifying. Try increasing the value of the Fuzz pot. 250k or 500k might give you better control.
DeleteBert the First, I'm having some issues with my build. Mine is supper gated sounding with no note sustain. I have tried 5088's and 5089's with the same results. Could you post your voltages of your 5088's for me. Thanks man.
DeleteI have the same issues.I think that schematic is wrong.
DeleteMaybe this Raw fuzz schematic from fuzzdog is original https://guitar-gear.ru/forum/index.php?app=core&module=attach§ion=attach&attach_id=37043
DeleteOh, you experience gating? It's not the schematic issue, but the transistor.
Delete1st - read this http://www.muzique.com/lab/reverse.htm
Then pick up your multimeter and search for transistors with the lowest capacitance between emitter and base. Reverse hfe of 10-15 and capacitance of 5-10pf should do the trick.
This is why 7 transistor version is always labeled as "faulty", because reversing the trannies make them work weird.
http://pedalparts.co.uk/docs/RawFuzz-V2.pdf
ReplyDeleteThat's the newer version of the Fuzz War. DBA switched the circuit a few years back (and don't worry, a layout for that version is coming).
Delete>and don't worry, a layout for that version is coming
DeleteDOPE!
i did a pcb for this version a few years ago and couldn't get it to work properly. revisited it a few months back and got one going quite nicely. had to use 2n5088 and i swapped out some of the biasing resistors and it sounded great, though still picky and gated at a lot of settings. i'll dig it out and see which ones i swapped if i get 5 mins.
ReplyDeleteThought I would weigh in on this since I've been messing with this design for a while now. All of your comments and issues are pretty consistent with what I've observed for this circuit, the biasing of transistors is way off and works OK with a specific brand of transistors. This is in part due the unstable bias resistors. The gain issue is somewhat ridiculous by design, and I wouldn't expect it to do much anyway. Someone will have to correct me, but the clipping diodes after the tone stack don't do anything, some PCBs I've seen of this have the resistor removed thereby removing the diodes from the path. I put up a couple youtube videos experimenting with the different transistor types/brands to investigate further.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzmzzncXJBU (fuzzwars1,2,3)...
Best,
Lubdar
I'm in love with this fuzz (by the demos on yt).
ReplyDeleteI hope to achieve this thing :D
sound demo?? Does it sound like the original?
ReplyDeleteHI! Im Think that all the transistors in this version are not ruted correctly, in NPN version emisor never goes to +9v and colector either goes to ground. It is just wrong polarization. May i suggest turning back the transistor from its positions.
ReplyDeleteexact
DeleteHelloo! Build this version of fuzz war and even after experiencing some gating in many different trannies , with 3904's it sounds extremelly good , really noisy , but good. It cleans up well with the guitar volume as well. Great fuzz , and even greater layout. Cheers!
ReplyDeletecan you repost the schematic please?
ReplyDeleteYou can find it here. You'll need to login to FSB
Deletehttp://freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2692&hilit=fr&start=80#p121157
There is a mistake...you must reverse the transistors in the layout...C is E and E is C...
ReplyDeletesure?
DeleteNope. That's the way DBA designed this thing. Reverse Beta is what it's called I think.
DeleteVerified, it works!! Used 2N5089 for all transistors and there is no gating like other builders experienced. My only problem is the volume. I compared it to my russian big muff and it is kinda quiet in comparison. Any idea on how to make it louder?
ReplyDeletesame problem
Deletehow to make work it!
ReplyDeleteI used 2n 5088, hfe 550 - any sound on out!!!
I used 2n 3094, hfe 200-220, & it's working, but little gating. I changed resistor in collector Q5 from 390 to 10 Ohm, & germanium diodes there is -wrong way, i changed it silicon. But better resaults was realy without that diodes. Another germanium i left (Q6). Just one question to David: I made according this schem:https://imgur.com/a/EWOj27Z
There are Q6 & Q7 working in normal position, but on David's layout they reversed!
My fuzz war working with reversed Q1-Q5, & simple Q6,Q7.
did you leave all the transistors as 2n5088?
Delete2n3904 or another with low hfe will work!
DeleteLate comment however I finally got this working. Same orientation for all transistors.
ReplyDeleteQ1-Q4 2n3904 Q5 2n5088 Q6-Q7 BC109b. Changing Q5 to a 5088 seemed to remove the noise. This worked with very little noise.
i tried all 5088's and worked but noisy.
5089's did NOT work at all.
Hope this helps... at the end of the day you just need to try different transistors. I tried heaps but someone may come up with a better solution.
we had 2 commendants days because of war.I found pcb with my second fuzz war, which i couldnt makes to work!There are were 2n3904 Q1-Q5! Silent! So, what i made to work it!First of all, solder Q6,Q7, & socket for Q 5. Changing Q5,getting opening transistor (touch pincet to the base) when you hear sound, leave transistor. Do the same with Q4-Q1. This time worked bc 548c, hfe 300-320. d1,d2-si diodes, D3,D4 -ge. working good.
ReplyDeleteGot this one working using BC550 transistors. Sounds huge. Fuzz pot is probably unneccessary though, sounds best on full - better to just roll off the guitar volume if you want less saturation. Using the fuzz pot to roll off just makes it sound... worse somehow. From what I've read on other sites, this specific fuzz war (v1) seems to work best and most consistently using transistors in the 200-300hfe range, give or take. I think the BC550s I used were around 320 or 330.
ReplyDeleteQuick question though - if I wanted to remove the fuzz pot and just have it full blast all the time, would I just solder a fixed resistor (100k, I'm assuming) across the two pads where the pot connects to the board?
Just run a jumper across the pads for lugs 2-3 of the fuzz pot.
Delete