Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
This is the fuzz section from a big old Italian phaser – the Montarbo PB-2. It’s extremely close to the Montarbo Sinphoton – a few different value resistors here and there, and a different tone section. Apart from that, same same. MONTARBO PB-2 FUZZ – POINT TO POINT LAYOUT MONTARBO PB-2 FUZZ SECTION SCHEMATIC
More two transistor fuzz mayhem – this is the later V2 silicon Mosrite Fuzzrite. If you happen to have an excess of 470k resistors, this one’s for you. MOSRITE FUZZRITE – VERSION 2 – SILICON POINT TO POINT LAYOUT FUZZRITE – WORK IN PROGESS ON THE BENCH Using slightly different parts than on the layout … Read more
The Orpheum Fuzz is a germanium Fuzzrite with larger capacitor values. Bigger caps, so a little less abrasive than the Mosrite. This was sold under a few different names, my favourite being the Wurlitzer Fuzzer Buzzer. ORPHEUM FUZZ | POINT-TO-POINT LAYOUT
So yet another variation on the Tone Bender MKIII… but which one came first? This quite possibly predates the Sola Sound Tone Bender MKIII, and was supposedly designed by Gary Hurst. The originals were built on tagboard, and you can find a very accurate replication of this here NTK213 transistors aren’t essential – like … Read more
The Rosac Nu-Fuzz is an Ed Sanner design, of Mosrite fame, so there’s an element of Fuzzrite happening with the Nu-Fuzz. The Nu-Fuzz was released after the Fuzzrite. ROSAC NU-FUZZ – POINT TO POINT LAYOUT There’s some odd resistor values used, just try the nearest match that you can find, and maybe experiment a little. … Read more
The Mosrite Fuzzrite – two transistor fuzz mayhem. This is the earlier germanium version. MOSRITE FUZZRITE – VERSION 1 – GERMANIUM POINT TO POINT LAYOUT MOSRITE FUZZRITE GERMANIUM ON VISUAL ANALYSER INPUT SIGNAL: 440hz sine wave. 130mv TRMS Q1 Q1 is an OC75 – very leaky and high gain (can’t recall the exact … Read more
Here’s a hybrid Sola Sound Tone Bender MKII using a single germanium transistor at the front, and 2 x silicon at the back – all NPN so it can run off a standard power supply. This is a modern bender, made by David Main from D*A*M, for Sola Sound (Macari’s Music). Apart from … Read more
This one looks like a real oddball on paper, kind of a very strange Big Muff in some ways, but not really… The case is a piece of art in itself – this is where the Italian design aesthetic comes into play. Maybe not the most practical case, but damn it looks cool. The tone controls … Read more
One of the early Japanese fuzz pedals to mark it’s mark with the classic notch filter – the Shin-Ei Companion Fuzz FY-2. The fuzz control is more about texture rather than the amount of fuzz present. They’re notorious for being a little low in level, which is why I have included the second option with the … Read more
Note: Normal power ripple filtering can be added to these. Probably better to add filtering after the IC rather than before (or both ends if you are really keen).