Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
A bit of a classic – the MK1.5 Tone Bender. Some great phots and background information here on Fuzzboxes.org and some great video demos below – who better than Ant Macari to talk Tone Benders. Note that some earlier versions carried a 500k volume pot, instead of 100k resulting in more bass – ultimately bringing it … Read more
One of the most common complaints about a Fuzz Face is the low output level. For such a famous circuit, the usual output tricks do not seem to be especially well documented. The good news is that none of them requires changes to a standard layout. The key thing to understand is that the usual … Read more
I feel like a Skreddy layout/build is overdue – the Lunar Module is a silicon Fuzz Face variant with a boost stage in front. Does that almost make it a Tone Bender MKII variant? Maybe not. The Schematic can be found here. SKREDDY LUNAR MODULE – VERO LAYOUT LUNAR MODULE VIDEO DEMOS
So it’s another Fuzz Face variant – but no doubt. good one. The Earthquaker Devices Erupted is a one-knob Fuzz Face with a single-knob controlling bias. Quite a few layouts included volume pots; if you prefer to have one, I’m sure you can work out how to do it. Signal path: buffer > pickup simulator (transformer) > … Read more
I saw this Gray Bench teardown video the other night, and the values looked a little different to what I’d seen on other Sun Face schematics, so here it is. If you don’t feel like watching the video, the key difference: 51k resistor on the collector of Q1. The rest is all pretty standard for … Read more
I started copying the original layout for veroboard and gave up toward the end as it’s a cramped mess – this is a similar but more practical version. The germanium John Hornby Skewes Zonk II is similar to a Fuzz Face but without the 100k feedback resistor, and note that the output cap is taken … Read more
Since I’m on a Fuzz Face thing at the moment – the JB Fuzz Face is basically Soviet-era germanium transistors with trimmers. Soviet transistors definitely have a slightly different texture to them when it comes to fuzz. DUNLOP JOE BONAMASSA FUZZ FACE – VERO LAYOUT
FUZZ FACE VARIANT SCHEMATIC, INCLUDING MK1.5 & VOX TONE BENDERS The schematic includes room for components not present on a standard fuzz face, as some variants have additions. I thought I’d keep it relatively simple and not venture into circuits with input blends or the various trimmers substituted for resistors (at least for now … Read more
After realising I had the “right” transistors for this, I thought I should have a crack at a Vox Tone Bender. I’ve done a generic vero layout with room for mods, with some common values listed – I guess the most obvious is the external bias pot, which could be replaced with a standard 8k2 resistor. The D*A*M … Read more
A nice easy one – the Analog Man Sun Face Fuzz, which is, of course, just a fuzz face with a couple of trimmers. One for bias, the other to help pull back on the input level, as a kind of false volume pot cleanup. Yes, it is a big layout for a fuzz face… … Read more