Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
You might look at this and think, “Gee, it’s just another Fuzz Face,” when in actuality, this pedal pre-dates the famous Dallas Arbiter stombox. (This is different from the Sola Sound ToneBender Mk I, as the Sola Sound has 3 transistors.) It was made in Italy for Vox and sounds like a Rangemaster and Fuzz … Read more
The Sonic Titan creates amp-like distortion through the use of a JFET preamp stage, followed by LM386 power amp stage. The JFET stage creates the clipping and the LM386 amplifies the signal generated by the JFET. Original units use a 2N3819 JFET with DGS pinout, so I’ve also included an layout for DSG JFETs like … Read more
I realized after posting the Meathead Deluxe I hadn’t made a layout for the one-knob Meathead. Anyway, the Meathead is one of most well known 1-knob silicon Fuzz Face variants, thanks to the like of Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age, among other guitarist. Q2 is a BC182L, which has an ECB pinout … Read more
Here’s yet another Fuzz Face circuit as they say. This is basically the one-knob Meathead with a Filter control that pans between 2 different input caps, and an Attack control which is the standard Fuzz control on a Fuzz Face. Good sounding silicon fuzz.
This is the silicon version of the GB-80. The darlington pair of transistors in the GB-80 aren’t needed as silicon transistors have enough gain, and the rest of the circuit has just been tweaked for the silicon transistors. One problem people seemed to have cloning this circuit over on FSB was biasing the transistors properly. … Read more
Here’s the germanium version of D*A*M’s GreaseBox fuzz. It’s based on the Tone Bender Mk. III but without the tone control. Q1 and 2 form a darlington pair to amplify the signal, and Q3 provides the fuzziness. The original units are positive ground effects and use PNP germanium transistors. That is reflected in the perf … Read more
This is DAM’s take on the silicon FuzzRite. Loud, snarly, and nasty fuzz tones in this circuit. Q1 is a KSP42, which seems to be pretty similar (if not the same) to a MPSA42. I’ve read of MPSA18s working in that spot as well. Q2 is a 2N4401, which should be easier to track down, … Read more
Thanks to beedotman for the schematic on FSB. This uses a 4 position rotary switch to swap the output cap, but none of the values used in the switch are confirmed, so as usual with anything like this it’s a much better idea to use the values which suit your taste and gear better anyway … Read more
Request. Info about the hugely expensive final price “can only buy in limited numbers from eBay auction” David Main take on the MK1/ Zonk (7 out of 10 of which are probably in glass cases and haven’t been plugged in yet). I am the fuzz box system demon ~ FZ-673 The beginning. I’ve been brewing … Read more
Request. This is just to add the requested Black Arts Toneworks Ritual Fuzz to the library, but i just couldn’t resist rewriting Dr. Tony Balls’ “Universal One-Knob Silicon Fuzz Layout” and adding the Black Arts’ version of this classic to it. So here are 5 currently known adaptations of the almighty 1-Knobber. Adventurous minds could … Read more