tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624960369080900042024-03-05T10:46:17.198-08:00Fuzz QuestIn this blog I would like to share my experiments and thoughts on DIY guitar pedals, namely, fuzzes, overdrives and distortions. The history of circuit design and the stories behind the pedals are part of the fun. Links, schematics and audio clips will follow soon. Stay tuned or follow.Doron Barnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11002512823760367163noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-162496036908090004.post-15301802123736760012015-04-25T21:35:00.001-07:002015-10-19T21:43:36.952-07:00Rocking in the Plexi world<div style="text-align: left;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfCuXo7lIcf24G3NlmeEhOx9WCqcAjYRIty-a44GdA5jdMJbnPHPj8zU0SJH4UfE2YwkAjER_typex_SKcxXEu1c2zLKVTe-L0D60R0TewUX8yRp6THlEQ65fPDfq-TzVBbJ3KQDglSUvo/s1600/C360_2015-04-24-14-06-23-408-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfCuXo7lIcf24G3NlmeEhOx9WCqcAjYRIty-a44GdA5jdMJbnPHPj8zU0SJH4UfE2YwkAjER_typex_SKcxXEu1c2zLKVTe-L0D60R0TewUX8yRp6THlEQ65fPDfq-TzVBbJ3KQDglSUvo/s320/C360_2015-04-24-14-06-23-408-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Plexi Drive for classic plexi tones</span></td></tr>
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1962 was the year that really changed the face and sound of rock'n roll. Not because the Beatles started gigging in Hamburg and not because Maestro issues the first fuzz-tone. More than anything, it was because Marshall first released their JTM 45 30W model. This early rock monster was heavily based on the Fender Bassman but using a 12AX7 tube for pre-amp and used KT66 tubes for the power amp driving a closed back 4X12'' celestion speakers cabinet. This little differences from the original Bassman had a huge impact on the sound and made Marshall a quick predecessor for the older Bassmans and VOX AC50 which were the power horses for early rock'n roll outfits in the UK.<br />
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Again, not directly related to the world of fuzz but definitely a cornerstone on the quest. Fuzz, as always, is just fingernails on a chalkboard without the right amp to smooth it out. Marshalls with treble boosters, Fuzz Faces, Octave fuzzes and more.<br />
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The JTM name is the acronym for Jim & Terry Marshall. The 45 is for the 45W series which was the upper limit at the time after the 30W series and before the 50W and 100W appeared.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO6xCDco-z1USrefNRyxZN56n3XwcPjsmi9gYzqCgaK83VplHcHX4JyhbrBsdd-aHBiXbJECgd0t4xh9JyocF2-NzPDxPCc5ZRj9cxWKMMrkfVL_12y3vucD2EVn3ma6CUotoQgxZeg3Wv/s1600/marshall-2245-jtm45-555451.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO6xCDco-z1USrefNRyxZN56n3XwcPjsmi9gYzqCgaK83VplHcHX4JyhbrBsdd-aHBiXbJECgd0t4xh9JyocF2-NzPDxPCc5ZRj9cxWKMMrkfVL_12y3vucD2EVn3ma6CUotoQgxZeg3Wv/s1600/marshall-2245-jtm45-555451.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The real deal JTM 45 head MKII</td></tr>
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In the mid-60's The JTM 45 became the staple sound source for blues rock bands across the world due to its long sustain, crunchy leads and edgy cleans. It had this edge over Fender and Vox and continued to develop, giving birth to legendary offsprings such as the Marshall Bluesbreaker made famous by Clapton's sound with the Bluesbreakers on the Beano album (hard driven by his Gibson ES-335 and a Dallas Rangemaster), and the powerfull Marshall 1959 Plexi Superlead. It can be regarded that with every generation of Marshall amps, guitar music evolved, from blues to rock to hard rock to metal and so on. The amps and styles are that much interlaced between them.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCAkAd5B6SAQz8hU6myV0ANILpyfW0mPqpQkkGonJ3EmfaSFClHI7O7FrWvbkEHeYOqaeLtHDSADW1pw42go0onIn-SdwLCDW9gVzaV1VZtTlcuMrRXPbzCMnkdd7z4olfZ_p2Qp7PIqK_/s1600/Marshall-Timeline-1962_cr1920x960px.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCAkAd5B6SAQz8hU6myV0ANILpyfW0mPqpQkkGonJ3EmfaSFClHI7O7FrWvbkEHeYOqaeLtHDSADW1pw42go0onIn-SdwLCDW9gVzaV1VZtTlcuMrRXPbzCMnkdd7z4olfZ_p2Qp7PIqK_/s1600/Marshall-Timeline-1962_cr1920x960px.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Number One - The Original 1962 model which the JTM 45 was based upon. 23 units sold and changed history. Today resides in the Marshall museum.</td></tr>
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Hendrix used the JTM as his main amp between 1968 and 1969. Angus Young of AC/DC relied heavily on the JTM 45 for his signature guitar tone on early AC/DC albums and live concerts (though he also used the 100W Superlead). Early Gary Moore and Early Peter Green sounds also rely heavily on the JTM 45/100 as the source for their glass shattering solos. It seems that regardless of whether it were humbuckers or single coils, the JTM delivered great clean tones and super dynamic crunch. It takes pedals very well especially if those have a low cut like the Tube screamer or any treble booster. With the bass heavy Fuzz Face it seems strange that Hendrix could get what he got out of this pair,but I guess he did, didn't he? The strat definitely sounds better than the Gibson using this setup.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hendrix, Page, Yardbirds, The Who, Blackmore and Angus Young.<br />
All of them used a lot of Marshalls and at some point during their early life and their better days played a JTM 45.</td></tr>
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The Plexi name came from the plexiglass panel which covered the front side panel on the early models since 1962. In 1967 this panel was replaced with a brushed aluminum panel but the name "plexi" remained as the one-word-description to describe that signature tone to this very day.</div>
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Some really great info can be found around the web and here are a few examples:</div>
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<a href="http://www.legendarytones.com/marshall-shoppers-guide-1/" target="_blank">http://www.legendarytones.com/marshall-shoppers-guide-1/</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.marshallamps.com/history/" target="_blank">http://www.marshallamps.com/history/</a></div>
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Anyway, Since I first built the Runoffgroove Thor I have been trying endlessly to nail those early rock tones using various pickups and various rig setups. I did succeed getting a lot of that crunch I wanted but something still kept me up at nights.</div>
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1. I couldn't get those clean glassy tones from the Thor, probably because it was a high gain pedal meant to emulate the Superlead 1959 tones.</div>
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2. It had some hiss which made it hard for me to use it as the last link in the chain using fuzz pedals or other overdrives.</div>
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I had a 2 year tour around every forum known to man, played a lot of MIAB (Marshall in a box) pedals and spent many YouTube hours in order to really understand what pedal I want to build for that particular crunch. I ended up with several candidates all of which try to emulate the Plexi mid-gain overdrive and eventually decided to build the Wampler Plexi-Drive. The reason was two fold: </div>
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A. I had more experience building the Plexi-Drive having built it in the past for a friend and it sounded great what I tested it against the Thor, although not as powerful, of course.</div>
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B. It uses standard components like J201 FETs and biasing them using trim pots made it easy to build without too much voodoo.</div>
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So, after waiting about a year after, finishing several other DIY projects I came around to this project and after a few evening selecting parts, soldering, assembling and paintings it was done.</div>
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Now the Plexi-Drive has a younger brother called Plexi-Drive Deluxe which is even more flexible and has more tone control. The schematic is still not around so I decided to give my Plexi-Drive some mods after searching the forums for some help.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Gut shot of the Plexi Drive based on the TagboardFX layout with biasing trimmers for the JFETs</span></td></tr>
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The first mod I did was lowering the bass boost cap which emulates the 4X12'' cabinet. I ended up using a 1nF cap instead of a 2.2nF which makes the bass less heavy and more transparent. I guss it's a matter of taste and you can also use a 3 pole switch for more than two modes but for me it is enough.</div>
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The second is a 1uF cap bypassing the 1st gain stage by pulling the J201's source down to the ground. Although this seems like reducing the amp's gain, it actually boosts the gain up by increasing the volume and preventing the 1st stage from clipping the signal.<br />
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Now Brian Wampler indicated that this pedal is somewhere between the lower gain 18W tone and the mid gain JTM 45. I really couldn't tell the difference never having played any of the real deal amps but I can tell you for sure that this is the pedal that I was looking for when I started this Marshall quest. I wanted clean sparkly tones at lower GAIN settings and strong crunch at high GAIN settings with the TONE control compensating where needed. Usually this means that lower GAIN demands higher TONE. The LEVEL control gives you plenty of boost way way above unity and the extra switches give you some more versatility. Different pickups and different boosters really give you a lot of options here.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJAUsjccILLMq-isLZxbHXKsAOaKp2mIzqwrClFif4cVF16mRf0m7efQZVqO6KHGNdvvg7mWlq9pj3R5WC9zZTzT4LcMSy_dWHRVi9HZS8CR8jNAiAZGNu_-a99662DYky4e3skIZ23_Pb/s1600/C360_2015-04-24-14-05-10-038.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJAUsjccILLMq-isLZxbHXKsAOaKp2mIzqwrClFif4cVF16mRf0m7efQZVqO6KHGNdvvg7mWlq9pj3R5WC9zZTzT4LcMSy_dWHRVi9HZS8CR8jNAiAZGNu_-a99662DYky4e3skIZ23_Pb/s320/C360_2015-04-24-14-05-10-038.jpg" width="229" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Mug shot of the modded DIY Wampler Plexi-Drive</span></td></tr>
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I tried to give the pedal the same clean looks which the amp is known for with black and gold colors. I called the bass switch "Cab" and the 1st stage bypass switch "Boost" and now I have a modded Plexi-Drive giving me some great vintage classy tones. Finally I decided to go with a red LED which gives it some extra vintage Marshall looks.<br />
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It sounds great with other pedals in the chain. A treble booster or an overdrive are great to drive it harder and it takes up fuzz pedals very good and probably best with single coils.</div>
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So there you have it. A really really great pedal with minimum noise, hiss and unwanted artifacts.<br />
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Below you will find 2 tracks that for some reason the Mixcloud shows only one and you can choose "next" to move on to the next one. The first one is to demonstrate the pedal with strong PAF humbuckers and the second with single coils. I play around with the volume knob, various pedal settings, bridge and neck pickups and even some wah or a treble booster in front on a few cases.<br />
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You can find the layout I used here:<br />
<a href="http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.il/2013/09/plexi-drive-with-trimmers.html" target="_blank">http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.il/2013/09/plexi-drive-with-trimmers.html</a><br />
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The schematic is shown on the Revolution Deux page:<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAQlxZl1hMAz3UIwJYt9sUP9SkSAYqJKNbal_nigm2Uko5C1dopC5odZy8zuG8TOXNA-3ms9-x45urWOD_W42-uKIxhNA5FlnTKX6l_0Ysu8H_UqKFU1K94x4WcwD8Sfx4e_U09-Nt0YU/s1600/plexi-drive.PNG" target="_blank">https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAQlxZl1hMAz3UIwJYt9sUP9SkSAYqJKNbal_nigm2Uko5C1dopC5odZy8zuG8TOXNA-3ms9-x45urWOD_W42-uKIxhNA5FlnTKX6l_0Ysu8H_UqKFU1K94x4WcwD8Sfx4e_U09-Nt0YU/s1600/plexi-drive.PNG</a><br />
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Enjoy!</div>
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.mixcloud.com/widget/iframe/?embed_type=widget_standard&embed_uuid=4d2ba8c0-c052-4e51-98d8-e7c426f3a02b&feed=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mixcloud.com%2Fdoronbarness%2Fplaylists%2Fplexi-drive%2F&replace=0&stylecolor=ffe000" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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<a href="https://www.mixcloud.com/doronbarness/playlists/plexi-drive/?utm_source=widget&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=base_links&utm_term=resource_link" style="color: #ffe000; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Plexi Drive</a> by <a href="https://www.mixcloud.com/doronbarness/?utm_source=widget&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=base_links&utm_term=profile_link" style="color: #ffe000; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Doron Barness</a> on <a href="https://www.mixcloud.com/?utm_source=widget&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=base_links&utm_term=homepage_link" style="color: #ffe000; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"> Mixcloud</a></div>
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Doron Barnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11002512823760367163noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-162496036908090004.post-30181180693078112422015-01-10T10:18:00.005-08:002015-01-10T10:18:57.754-08:00A new K. Zustang music video all played through ZUS pedals built over the past 3 years.Posting my new music video - When You Want to Fly.<br />
Needless to say all overdrive and fuzz parts are played on DIY pedals I built over the past few years.<br />
Particularly bursting with character is the Buzzaround clone playing on the opening solo. The Azabache, WIIO clone, and the Ginger bass all appear throughout the track on all 4 guitars tracks.<br />
The ending solo was played with an Octavia clone but I am not sure this is what is was.<br />
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Anyway this is what I was aiming for, having my sound playing on my tracks.....<br />
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ENJOY!!! <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/115431117?title=0&color=ff9933" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe><br /><br /> <br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/115431117">K. Zustang - When You Want To Fly Music Video</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/snowdrum">Snow R. Shai</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.Doron Barnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11002512823760367163noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-162496036908090004.post-47510607215920570262014-11-14T13:48:00.000-08:002015-04-30T10:02:27.959-07:00The Tide - The looney Tremulus Lune super tremolo<div style="text-align: left;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">The Tide - A Tremulus Lune adaptation</span></td></tr>
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It seems that every pedal fiend on the planet has dozens of overdrive, fuzz and other noise making pedals. The ratio of overdrives and fuzzes to that of other effects is on the asymptotic curve towards infinity. There's no doubt that other sound manipulators are important, and are regarded as crucial components of some legendary guitar tones but there is no comparison when you start digging deeper in the numbers. If you combine all the phasers, choruses, tremolos, envelope generators, filters, delays and compressors together you wouldn't reach the plethora of noise pedals available on the market, and there's a good reason. While the modern guitarist uses about 4 overdrives/distortion/fuzz pedals on his board, he usually has only one of each of the above mentioned modulators. A good delay, a good phaser and a good chorus would suffice the average pedal board. Wahs are an exception as people like to have two of those to get the versatility of having a wah either before or after a fuzz without pulling out patch chords every time.</div>
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So, after this lengthy introduction it is obvious that this post is gonna tackle a non fuzz/overdrive pedal. This blog had seen some non noise pedals in the past. Recall the incredible Mutron III clone a while back which is still a fantastic sounding envelope filter in every sense and the Tri-Vibe from Runoffgroove which is one of the most versatile vibratos you could imagine.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 1948 Gibson GA-50T (above) and the<br />
1947 Multivox Premier "66" add (below).</td></tr>
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A great addition to any fuzz, and certainly to some 60's relics is the tremolo which used to be a very common addition on some classic Fender amps. These used to sit at the end of the amplification stage right next to the reverb (if there was a reverb) and with the fuzz on (or off for that matter), you could get that surf-rock sound identified so well with Dick Dale, The Ventures and the likes.</div>
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As far as I understand, tremolo was first used in classical music during the 16th century. The effect was used either as a way to sustain notes, chords or intervals (trill was a sustain between adjacent notes) by percussive repeating or by alternating notes to create tension and all kinds of psycho-acoustic effects. Vocals, organs, bowed instruments all used this effect to great extent.</div>
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The DeArmond Co. from Ohio owns the patent for the original design from 1946 which was the model used for the Story & Clark electric pianos. It was the first stand alone effect unit ever created (16 years before the Maestro Fuzz Tone !!!) and was based on an electro-mechanical motor shaking a conductive liquid in a canister with each shake it grounded the instrument's signal so that it was damped in a soft watery manner before reaching the amp. Sounds quite unbelievable. While Hammond had tremolo units in their organs since the 1930's, Danelectro in 1947 were the first to really stick them on a guitar amplifier. The effect was originally meant to get the guitar to sound like the modulation effect heard on the Storytone electric pianos which came out in 1941. During 1947 Multivox issued the Premimer "66" (Gibson joined in 1948 with the GA-50T) which also featured this early style of tremolo. Later in 1955 Leo Fender issued a Tremolux amp and then quickly changed it to Vibrolux in 1956. Magnatone also issued their model in 1955 featuring a tremolo unit.</div>
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Although we all call this amplitude modulation effect a tremolo, it seems strange today that Fender coined the name Vibrato on their early amps. There was a big mix-up over the years between pitch modulations and amplitude modulations both called vibratos at some point. Today the vibratos are known as pitch modulators while tremolos - volume/amplitude. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC46jErJqAUuNyS6lzkiwPIptpqkkx2tRZbCfzhA0G3ru9pGbwg1JY0UEXvKVJU2CT1zh4OmhlWRIrWuqOj9REgAUoUc2iRQIYSPBLFINrT_a_pRZ8gX6u2Kgbn4G97Phc4qclrSyE89of/s1600/Tremulus+Lune+(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC46jErJqAUuNyS6lzkiwPIptpqkkx2tRZbCfzhA0G3ru9pGbwg1JY0UEXvKVJU2CT1zh4OmhlWRIrWuqOj9REgAUoUc2iRQIYSPBLFINrT_a_pRZ8gX6u2Kgbn4G97Phc4qclrSyE89of/s1600/Tremulus+Lune+(3).jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 1956 Vibrolux with it's simple electronic design</td></tr>
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The first tremolo recorded on a guitar was probably made by Big Bill Broonzy on some Roosavelt Sykes recordings (it is assumed that these recordings were made using organ tremolo units). In the mid 50's it was Muddy Water (Flood) and Bo Diddley (Bo Diddley and Pretty Thing) who were using the mechanical DeArmond 601 Tremolo to shape their bluesy sound. It was only in the late 50's that the tremolo became a staple sound for surf rock and country rock. A major change in the tremolo design appeared in 1963 with the Fender Blackface amps which featured a photocell (opto-coupler) to modulate the voltage instead of modulating the bias of a vacuum tube (Link Wray's 1964 hit Rumble, Doors' Riders on the Storm). Nancy Sinatra recorded a lean version of the song Bang Bang in 1966 featuring a duet with a mandolin-like guitar and vocals. The song became an instant hit. The eruption of psychedelia around 1966 took the tremolo a step further from mere dynamic enhancement to a complete tripped out mind blowing effect. It complemented very well the vibrato/tremolo effect which was already a big part of the Hammond, Vox and Farfisa organs sound. Take for example the garage psych classics like The Electric Prunes with I Had Too Much To Dream, The Standells - Medication, Codine Blues by The Charlatans, Q65's Ridin' on a Slow Train, The Velvet Underground on Train Round the Bend, 13th Floor elevators with Earthquake. The southern sound of CCR also got it's share of surf sound as heard on Born on The Bayou. Many riffs are stuck in the back of my mind and I can't recollect their names. Bummer! Tremolo was also used a lot on vocals, as on Plastic Factory by Captain Beefheart (Harmonica) or on the Hurdy Gurdy Man version by The Butthole Surfers. Far out...The tremolo sound sort of faded away during the 70's and became a niche sound for those seeking either country or retro-surf psychedelic sounds. During the 80's the tremolo made a comeback with shoegazing bands like My Bloody Valentine and Ride (listen to Polar Bear).</div>
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The complexity of these circuits are usually intimidating for the average DIYer so people didn't experiment with these circuits too much, although the basic effect is pretty simple and straightforward. It's only during the past two decade that tremolo regained its popularity thanks to some enhanced designs that transformed the pedal from a simple modulation effect to a full blown variable envelope shaping tool. Take for example the Tremvelope by Pigtronix and the Pulsar by EHX, Pentavocal Trem by Red Witch. All excellent pedals with some serious synth-like manipulation capabilities. The digital age of sound enabled most big companies to issue some serious tremolos all of which look highly interesting but very pricey, too.</div>
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Premier guitar has some great info about tremolos history:</div>
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<a href="http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/19777-a-brief-history-of-tremolo?page=1">http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/19777-a-brief-history-of-tremolo?page=1</a></div>
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For me, as a fuzz freak, I knew I had to have a good tremolo for some classic tones but I am also a big synth lover and I love weird psychedelia all together, so getting a regular tremolo was somewhat of an underwhelming experience. I then decided to tackle a serious, creative and a more mature tremolo to give me some artistic freedom.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTgz4Kvn3bHKxb629rU3RztoZpaD3TmJngTzhKe8mkVOveZaAghLRiQyZyzLqYZliiABoQW_RPRJMKSGxY3qqzP62DDQWXtHEjj1yTGgfGGudvbTjxgUTpcPy8pnHjEYCIcaasCM4nM64g/s1600/Tremulus+Lune+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTgz4Kvn3bHKxb629rU3RztoZpaD3TmJngTzhKe8mkVOveZaAghLRiQyZyzLqYZliiABoQW_RPRJMKSGxY3qqzP62DDQWXtHEjj1yTGgfGGudvbTjxgUTpcPy8pnHjEYCIcaasCM4nM64g/s1600/Tremulus+Lune+(2).jpg" height="288" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of the tremolo effects available to<span style="font-size: 12.7272720336914px;">day on the market</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12.7272720336914px;">(well, not the DeArmond 601 Tremolo).</span></td></tr>
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Again, I took on a long web research to understand the tremolo world. Seems that every pedal company on the planet has a tremolo, either a simple DEPTH, SPEED, VOLUME unit which is very very simple, sometimes with the addition of a shape switch/knob or a pompous design with many knobs and switches to enable every possible amplitude modulation known to the human ear.</div>
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As opposed to the great selection of names of fuzz/drive pedals, tremolo pedals have pretty lame names, usually just Tremolo or some other take-off on the trem word (Pulsar and Shape Shifter are great names, though). After a year of reading, listening, playing and estimating circuits I narrowed down the options and focused on a little-known circuit called the Tremulus Lune by Dann Green. The circuit is available on the web from Commonsound and TonePad which are known to many DIY builders. I couldn't find too much info on the circuit origins but it seems that many have experimented with it and had very good results. Another version of that circuit was Culture Jam's Shoot The Moon design which became very popular over the years and seemed like a good candidate. A simpler version from Runoffgroove - the EA Tremolo - was also considered.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQcmlqSJQStF7Xbo9bfMBHHJJhUZ9ZtNx6Egmp5p-ejEGeh5CGZez1n4p_GgA5XsjjWpfycaMnwvilRf7CSUPQA92QkJdfmYcE24ZUjm5b06MVEjvIokLii5l5oi0bcBdq_s77uOB8qGOz/s1600/400px-Waveforms.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQcmlqSJQStF7Xbo9bfMBHHJJhUZ9ZtNx6Egmp5p-ejEGeh5CGZez1n4p_GgA5XsjjWpfycaMnwvilRf7CSUPQA92QkJdfmYcE24ZUjm5b06MVEjvIokLii5l5oi0bcBdq_s77uOB8qGOz/s1600/400px-Waveforms.svg.png" height="276" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some basic periodic modulation functions</td></tr>
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From my experience and listening it seems that two major factors should be considered when picking up a tremolo, either for building or buying. The most important is the modulation smoothness. Amplitude modulation can be as sharp as a square wave, linear as a triangle or smooth as a sine wave. Getting real sine wave smoothness is not trivial and most pedal will offer the shape variability. The modulation circuit usually considered as having the purest sound would be an optical LFO (low frequency osicllator) which affects the circuit via a light dependent resistivity (LDR) which mean the modulation circuit is electronically isolated from the signal path and thus offer a cleaner, pristine tone. I don't know how correct this statement is, but building the Mutron envelope filter I learned a few things and the idea of doing my own LDR this time got me excited. The second factor was versatility. Sure I wanted a round vintage trembling effect, but getting more shaping options is very interesting, and inspires creativity. I knew I wanted a wide frequency range, a way of getting both sharp and smooth modulations, sawtooth shapes and some live playing mods.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDH9b7tzmQrMNyWKMwX7t3qMUwKZ_b4kIeQEz4bSIcoY4xpGT0YU9n0s2f98rgE_sMaKkW_8-1862UXvgHDCQ4mESuMSSEDYCeNB7aCi22rOMuWO08JRD8kWXuj7nqGV9NbEaD0uZed4nk/s1600/Tremulus+Lune+-+The+Tide+-++(21).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDH9b7tzmQrMNyWKMwX7t3qMUwKZ_b4kIeQEz4bSIcoY4xpGT0YU9n0s2f98rgE_sMaKkW_8-1862UXvgHDCQ4mESuMSSEDYCeNB7aCi22rOMuWO08JRD8kWXuj7nqGV9NbEaD0uZed4nk/s1600/Tremulus+Lune+-+The+Tide+-++(21).jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.7272720336914px;">The Tide artwork with other name candidates<br />and my knob scheme</span></td></tr>
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And now...to the build report, right. The Tremulus Lune, in its full complexity offers all these and more. It even offers "duty-cycle" controls affecting the off time between periods which could get you a very unique pulsing effect at low speed levels. After going through some of the layouts and mods available I took the complete 5 knob version shown on the GuitarFXLayouts blog and modded it some more to add a 6th knob for the FINE speed, and two momentary switches for extra action during live playing scenario. The circuit basically employs the regular DEPTH, RATE configuration but adds much more versatility through the SMOOTH, SYMMETRY and SPACING pots. The basic idea of the design is to create to signal paths, one for the passing audio signal, and one for the LFO (low frequency oscillator) which is the modulator. The modulator generates an oscillating voltage which modulates a red LED. The LED is hooked up face to face with an LDR which is in series on on the audio path. This way the modulated LED modulates the LDR and this modulates the audio signal in a clean isolated manner through light. I covered the optocoupler/photocell/optoisolator, call it whatever you like (LED-LDR) with a heat shrink and it was really a piece of cake, and sounded great on first fire-up. The LDR I used was 5k-500k and was very cheap too.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjAdYjcL1caNXE2zrEhKx5svAarEOlCjMqGo8oK4HXDHx0qc2XihznRXO0m_pjbtJISl4Il1-8Bq2NGnoVak_c9wbddGmPMqxhYWHX9hO67Zopx-Ab6Uqvkyc18egJHOjTiN82-38iJOfb/s1600/Tremulus+Lune+-+The+Tide+-++(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjAdYjcL1caNXE2zrEhKx5svAarEOlCjMqGo8oK4HXDHx0qc2XihznRXO0m_pjbtJISl4Il1-8Bq2NGnoVak_c9wbddGmPMqxhYWHX9hO67Zopx-Ab6Uqvkyc18egJHOjTiN82-38iJOfb/s1600/Tremulus+Lune+-+The+Tide+-++(2).jpg" height="253" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Tide complete</td></tr>
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It took me some playing to figure how everything works but I think I've got it and it is a super able pedal:</div>
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<u>DEPTH</u> - Modulation depth, from zero to full 100%. That's the ratio between the ON and OFF levels.</div>
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<u>SMOOTH</u> - From sharp rectangular modulation to smooth linear slopes. Between these two there is a pseudo sine-like area.</div>
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<u>RATE</u> - This is the speed knob which ranges on a very large range.</div>
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<u>FINE</u> - Fine tuning the speed for easier tweaking - I though I didn't need it, but playing for 2 hours on the circuit made me understand how much I needed it.</div>
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<u>SYMMETRY</u> - This is one useful mod that enables some unique versatility but it's very interactive with other knobs so it takes time to understand how to use it. With the SMOOTH at minimum the SYMMETRY behaves like a duty cycle control, meaning that it can take you from a long ON and a short OFF to a pulsing ON and a long OFF. This effect is stronger at low RATE settings and with the SPACING knob at max. With the SMOOTH at max it shifts the envelope from a triangular shape to sawtooth. At minimum SYMMETRY the shape is a positive sawtooth (slow rise) and at max it's a negative one (slow fall). The middle positions are symmetric slopes. This is an interesting knob because it dramatically changes the sound, giving fast and slow attacks and can get you that pulsing sound which normal tremolos are not supposed to have. It really take the pedal into new territories.</div>
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<u>SPACING</u> - This is also a tricky mod and while it really just changes the OFF time between periods, and hence the duty cycle, it also affects the RATE, because the period is made up of the ON + OFF times, and thus it is also very interactive with other knobs. I found this knob extremely useful for either getting really nice pulsing sounds and also to get the modulation depth all the way to complete silence between periods.</div>
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Now let's go to the fun part:</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXdysrQ1W8kzDrQ1wEtx8louT9uOH5s3Sm7LdJsA6tbKXcrFyNkyRjSIsLhOp4KPTeFFEAcRfADj8L2VKHLTzBzwG1ewlsoUt8rm_Q7i4Ydkeo_kC5DPiSFlZC34FTW6nUbeJggRNxccgc/s1600/Tremulus+Lune+-+The+Tide+-++(14).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXdysrQ1W8kzDrQ1wEtx8louT9uOH5s3Sm7LdJsA6tbKXcrFyNkyRjSIsLhOp4KPTeFFEAcRfADj8L2VKHLTzBzwG1ewlsoUt8rm_Q7i4Ydkeo_kC5DPiSFlZC34FTW6nUbeJggRNxccgc/s1600/Tremulus+Lune+-+The+Tide+-++(14).jpg" height="251" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gut shot - Inside the Tide...</td></tr>
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<u>BYPASS</u> switch - I added this momentary SPST stomp switch for hooking up the FINE lug 3 to ground which enables you during live playing to quickly move between bypass and non-bypass so that you can actually step on it while playing without using the hard latch 3PDT. It's great and makes tremolo a great fun pedal which you want to bypass during riffs.</div>
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<u>DOUBLE</u> switch - This is another very useful SPST stomp momentary switch which changes the RATE to half speed (not double....I know). During live playing any changes to the tremolo speed is a great addition. Tapping my feet for the slow/high rate and the bypass give the tremolo a whole new dimension of playability. The mod can be done by hooking up a cap from SMOOTH lug 3 to ground through the switch. Only problem is that the cap value changes the speed ratio. While 100uF was originally recommended, I got the half rate using a 10uF cap. You can change the ratio according to the cap but I couldn't find a value that gave me actual double speed. Just slower.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUt8UEQpUNpB0OBgsKJSAwZD7LDddF7qHi6St9ElO6c3D_mUtbvH2nSqk-_Jts6QMvL_BtiaPrIXKbr9fnSJntGKlPI-BYfvlvBKiuct_y5feBF3iybFBVZm2_3j0E2Uh8qQ_b4D6E4r3X/s1600/Tremulus+Lune+-+The+Tide+-++(7).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUt8UEQpUNpB0OBgsKJSAwZD7LDddF7qHi6St9ElO6c3D_mUtbvH2nSqk-_Jts6QMvL_BtiaPrIXKbr9fnSJntGKlPI-BYfvlvBKiuct_y5feBF3iybFBVZm2_3j0E2Uh8qQ_b4D6E4r3X/s1600/Tremulus+Lune+-+The+Tide+-++(7).jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
Another issue I had with the build is the use of the RATE/FINE pot. While the layout recommends 10k/1k respectively, the results on the range of speeds I got with a 100k/10k pair were much better. Don't know why. I used the schematic on the Commonsound page and it looked OK and par with the layout on the GuitarFXLayouts except for some really minor changes. Though my build is definitely along the layout shown on GFXL.</div>
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Anyway, a really amazing circuit for anyone seeking a great sounding tremolo and wants to play with it more than the occasional CCR Bayou rhythm guitar. Experiment and adapt, let the pedal lead you on. I could really live without a GAIN knob and set the trimmer slightly above unity to give the pedal the extra meat it needs when it's engaged to overcome the volume drop from the less RMS of the amplitude modulation. Other than that each control here means the world.</div>
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Get the layouts for the various versions on:</div>
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<span style="color: #eeeeee;"><a href="http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.il/2013/03/tremulus-lune.html" target="_blank">http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.il/2013/03/tremulus-lune.html</a></span></div>
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Get the schematic here:</div>
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<span style="color: #eeeeee;"><a href="http://commonsound.org/tremulus/pcb2.4.1/schematic.pdf" target="_blank">http://commonsound.org/tremulus/pcb2.4.1/schematic.pdf</a></span></div>
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The 4ms schematic upon which the GFXL layout is from:</div>
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<span style="color: #eeeeee;"><a href="http://fuzzcentral.ssguitar.com/tremulus.php" target="_blank">http://fuzzcentral.ssguitar.com/tremulus.php</a></span></div>
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And the entire info page on:</div>
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<span style="color: #eeeeee;"><a href="http://www.commonsound.com/kits/doku.php?id=commonsound:tremulus" target="_blank">http://www.commonsound.com/kits/doku.php?id=commonsound:tremulus</a></span></div>
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Also verified and always trustable is the Sabrotone layout:</div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc;"><a href="http://www.sabrotone.com/?p=2448" target="_blank">http://www.sabrotone.com/?p=2448</a></span></div>
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Notice that the LFO monitoring LED is hooked up in a way that keeps the light blinking even when the pedal is OFF. Sort of to let you set the pedal before you fire it up. You could change that by getting the (-) soldered from the 3PDT instead. Also notice that the SPACING is backwards. Longer spacing is with the pot at CCW. I switched the lugs so that CW is longer spacing.</div>
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So if you want a really really great sounding, flexible, versatile don't look any further. Once you start playing around with the controls getting from sweet, vintage country blues trippy vibe to hard, spiky, futuristic retro pulsations - You'll ask yourself 'How come I never got more into this?'.</div>
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The hardest part here was really the artwork and name choice. I wanted an original name for this one which doesn't have the word Tremolo in it and I had to give some respect to the original Lune so I was looking for something that has to do with the moon. It seemed good to use the idea around the tides, waves, oceans because the pedal is so watery (as they described the original 1941 mechanical DeArmond 601), and the tides and tidal waves are, in nature, a lunar based phenomenon. I dropped all the technical terms like amplitude, oscillations, pulsations and modulations, and I didn't even go for the cool idea of the word waves with a 'z' like WaveZ. In the end I went for The Tide as simple as it is great. Once I decided on the name I started looking for tides and waves art on the web. I came across this famous Japanese image of 'The Great Wave Off of Kanagawa' which I really love (and my wife does too) and tried to paint it using my, almost dried out, set of ceramic paint bottles. With blue, black and whit, and a hint of yellow I started mixing colors on my palette and got these beautiful tones for the great wave and the night skies. I really started liking my artwork as a really important thing lately and I think it really got some of that painter artist hiding in me from my very early childhood. Who knew? </div>
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So before you start, if you wanna listen to it, there are a few clips over the web. And below are 4 which I recorded on my MIM Tele through The TIDE with some pedals and amps. You get a clean vintage style on track 1, A more fuzzy clip with some really classic riffs on track 2. Track 3 is to demonstrate the great live options with the real-time foot switches. Track 4 blew me away. I don't know how many people tried that before but the idea of the tremolo going into the Nu-Tone (Mu-tron III clone) is simply brilliant, I think, and the fact that it's a 15 minute clip just shows how much fun I had with it.</div>
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Enjoy! and comment if you gotta something to say.</div>
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<br />Doron Barnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11002512823760367163noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-162496036908090004.post-50692922911706554132014-10-31T04:41:00.001-07:002015-03-07T09:30:42.177-08:00"Maestro..., master Your Fuzz and You Shall Get...Your Satisfaction"<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGCQJODBmykIV1mvfMQzmBnTznx_ELLQn396ayNhyne2JsSUVM2nhLH5iK9aO3ukkxOuCruCtNMdBtUrJa1vHugvlDJ0wBGL3ywG1TwKK2G0HGwKsaPiaasrh4w2tym6MHERWgz2JB0-AL/s1600/Choc'late%2BFuzz%2B%2B(4).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGCQJODBmykIV1mvfMQzmBnTznx_ELLQn396ayNhyne2JsSUVM2nhLH5iK9aO3ukkxOuCruCtNMdBtUrJa1vHugvlDJ0wBGL3ywG1TwKK2G0HGwKsaPiaasrh4w2tym6MHERWgz2JB0-AL/s1600/Choc'late+Fuzz++(4).jpg" height="230" width="320" /></a></div>
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Ladies and Gentlemen, silicons and germs, the moment we have all been waiting for. For the first time on the list of successful projects after laying on the operation table for nearly a year of searching and digging all over the ethereal cyber space. The psych monster, the acid master, the fuzz maister, the fuzz-a-delic, satisfuzzy, buzziest, Maestro Fuzz Tone.</div>
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probably the first stomp box that was designed to sound like a distorted amp, or in that specific case, a burned-out recording channel. It's funny that this pedal was promoted as a novel sound technique to imitate the timbres of reed, wood and brass wind instruments like a sax, a tuba or a clarinet, string instruments like a cello or a violin, and could also create a new never-before-heard "Fuzz Tone" sound.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Fuzz Tone Patent (1965)</td></tr>
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The story goes that it took 3 people to invent this crazy world-shattering sound during a recording in Nashville back in 1960. Country artist Marty Robbins recorded a song called "Don't worry" which featured a solo part played by Grady Martin on a 6-string bass. Grady Martin was known for playing guitar country music like crazy through amps, often reaching high level of distortion. Other blues artists did that as well probably much earlier. Nevertheless, Grady was lucky enough to play the bass solo on Robbin's recording into a busted recording channel which was operated by a session engineer called Glen Snoddy. The solo recording came out heavily distorted (and imagine that on a peaceful country prairie love song), but quite miraculously it was kept and released as is. I can't help thinking that it was Grady who liked the way it sounded and convinced the producers to keep it. And what a distorted sound it was. It was a sweet reedy buzzy solo that proved to be a good gamble as the song became an immediate hit. Snoddy decided to keep the busted channel on the mixing board and recorded more tunes using it. Realizing the potential of the sound technique he goes to the Gibson Guitar Corp. and sells them his idea of a Fuzz Tone effect unit. They probably investigated the busted channel and two years later, in 1962, the Fuzz Tone was available as the first Fuzz or Distortion effect box. So it too three people to discover the fuzz, really, and then a forth dude, Revis Hobbs, the co-author and co-inventor who shared the patent with Glen Snoddy, applied for in 1962, probably, and approved by 1965.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The original Fuzz-Tone</td></tr>
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The story also goes that in spite of its early success in country music, it took something else to turn this tone shaping monster into a world-wide fuzz mania. By 1962 over 3000 units were manufactured By Gibson through the Maestro brand in Kalamazoo, MI. By 1965 only a few hundreds were sold and it seemed it was over for the Fuzz era. Only they didn't know that the British invasion, which started a year earlier, brought the one and only Rolling Stones' Keith Richards to Los Angeles, to record a second version for the Stones' new single, Satisfaction. Richards was looking for something new to flavor his guitar tone and the session technician ran over the corner to get a new little box which would make his guitar sound like a brass section which they planned to include later in the recording. He came back with a Maestro Fuzz Tone in his hand and they forgot all about the brass section they planned....When Satisfaction hit the streets the entire Maestro Fuzz Tone stock was sold in a few months. It quickly became the staple tone of the garage scene in the US, rock'n roll on both sides of the Atlantic and then the defining tone of psychedelic, acid and hard rock around the world.</div>
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Already in 1965 manufacturers like Sola Sound (Macari's Ltd.) Baldwin-Burns, Sam Ash and Mosrite started issuing their own versions of a fuzz pedal, each using different architecture to achieve fuzz sweetness. The Tone Bender MKI from Sola-Sound is probably the only one which really relies on a similar design. The Fuzz-Tone was also known as the FZ-1 using 3V and soon afterwards was relased again as FZ-1A using only 1.5V on a single AA battery. Other variants followed like the FZ-1B and the Maestro MFZ fuzz , but they were already different beasts operating on 9V batteries and sounded quite different than their predecessors. </div>
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Relying on germanium transistors, 3V batteries (1.5V<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">X</span>2) and a very tricky design which was heavily dependent on the transistors' unique characteristics, it is no surprise that the design soon proved to be inefficient in producing a massive rocking sound, and new versions quickly topped the original, leaving the original design in the shadows for decades. The story behind the evolution of the Tone Bender is another interesting story.... but, we'll leave it to the <a href="http://fuzzquest.blogspot.co.il/2012/11/bending-your-tone-for-page.html" target="_blank">Tone Bender post</a>.</div>
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Check out the YouTube video below for the original Fuzz Tone commercial which actually makes more use of a bass guitar for fuzz tone than for the electric guitar.</div>
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The great story of country music and the Fuzz Tone, as well as many sound clips of country tunes incorporating fuzz guitar can be found here:</div>
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<a href="http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/11/country-fuzz-sp.html"><span style="color: #999999;">http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/11/country-fuzz-sp.html</span></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Lennon with the Maestro at his feet</td></tr>
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While 1962 was not the year that marked the birth of the Fuzz era rock, 1965 indeed marked the birth of evolution from rock'n roll to all out rock. After the Stones it was the Beatles turn to stick the Maestro fuzz (and other fuzz pedals too) on Paul's bass line on the 1965 hit "Think For Yourself" from the Rubber Soul album. 1965 saw other bands like the Yardbirds (with Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page) put the fuzz to good use (although it was a Tone Bender usually). From 1966 it was a race to the top as almost every band on both sides of the Atlantic used a fuzz on guitar or boss or both. The Doors used the Maestro FZ-1 exclusively into an acoustic amp to get their unique splattering trumpet-like sound (Hello I love you, When the Music's Over, Spanish Caravan and many others), and even Hendrix used it on Voodoo Chile slight return. In fact, it seems that the whole garage psych revolution was heavily based on the Maestro beast and bands like the 13th Floor Elevators, The Seeds, The United States of America, Strawberry Alarm Clock and others had their staple sound based heavily on the Maestro Fuzz Tone, though many think that some of those sounds were achieved using fuzz guitars like the Vox teardrop. The debates about who used what are still goin' on these days and the mystery will probably never be completely revealed. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSAQzyADXlnf5R1B2hKUeuHk34JKYHfIfz7fAvr6izBrqbY7O_M7mXtFFDlQupwAjg8O-5OJMv-0M4ovLYMtPIVpIIk6DvRI64aJ4E3NNjO2Er_Xc4D7bb0-t8dvViYyLWtI8B3rGXP54z/s1600/fz-1_ZUMMO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
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Now, when I started Fuzz Quest this was what I wanted. I got shivers listening to The Seeds, Roky Erickson, Strawberry Alarm Clocks, Ennio Morricone spaghetti western classics, and I couldn't understand what was so different about these tracks that made me loose sleep over. Later on I also realized that prog legends like Hackett and Howe also used the FZ-1. After building the Fuzzrite I was pretty happy but I knew my mission would not be complete without a true piece of germanium history. The Balwdin Burn Buzzaround was a fantastic build and a true gem but it was really modern sounding circuit and didn't have that delicate muffled buzz so typical of the Maestro Fuzz Tone. Maybe the closest is the Tone Bender MK1 which shares similar architecture but this one was even harder build, bias and tweak without having the right germs. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMmEj6yYUi632Qp8nUsk15FXkjhfwCyUrRgk1bFugSVqDnx7C6vqgvxXg5w7eT1fy5D76iwv1IvQrb0Y9cx-lRZ21tlcGQW8cGvz6cmiaoy7Fz-ZVnWf2bT4G_qAFHwG81AmBEm_5aXR2G/s1600/4329619267_54c3aae2c4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMmEj6yYUi632Qp8nUsk15FXkjhfwCyUrRgk1bFugSVqDnx7C6vqgvxXg5w7eT1fy5D76iwv1IvQrb0Y9cx-lRZ21tlcGQW8cGvz6cmiaoy7Fz-ZVnWf2bT4G_qAFHwG81AmBEm_5aXR2G/s1600/4329619267_54c3aae2c4.jpg" height="195" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A typical stock FZ-1 schematic</td></tr>
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The circuit in itself is no secret and many schematics are available, most of them correct nowadays. The only magic going on in the circuit are the germanium trannies. It seems that they got to be leaky and low gain and I had a bunch of AC128 running around the table from my early builds (Fuzz Face, Fuzz Factory, Buzzaround etc.) and after measuring them I had a pretty good idea which ones would fit the circuit. My first attempt was building a circuit with many trimmers for biasing all the germs and I did get it to sound pretty good but it was just to hard to bias right so I ditched it. I researched the forums some more and waited until the DIY community shared some more info and after a while I went and did it again. This time I didn't have any trimmers at all. Just the right germs. Well, almost. I guess the leakage of my germs were a little out of spec, cause it didn't work...AT ALL.</div>
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So I went in again and dug little deeper and found out that it was Q2 that didn't open up right. I added a trimmer on the 1k5 biasing resistor and once I lowered the value down to about a hundred Ohms.....VOILA.... I heard what my ears so longed to hear....Fuzz heaven. I tried a lot of amps, reverbs and pickup scenarios and indeed this pedal is the psychedelic time capsule. It is sweet and aggressive at the same time, it's soft and mean, buzzy and smooth, opened and compressed, clean and dirty and all the contradictions you want in a single pedal. The ATTACK pot goes from almost clean but a little gated to smooth and mean. The VOLUME gets you above unity but not a whole lot more. The VOLUME also has some effect on the sound itself with a fuller body as you dime it. I really wanted to use a 9V power supply so I added the TagboardFX layout for the inverter from 9V to 3.3V and then to -3.3V. I added a STARVE knob to get the voltage tweaked between -2V and -3.3V. At -3V and above the sound is better, stronger, fuller. Below -3V you start getting that nasal buzzy compressed sound that made me build it in the first place.</div>
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So the recipe is - build the pedal add a 2k trimmer for Q2. Pick out germs that have above 400uA of leakage. and gain between 60-90. Actually I have Q2 at 600uA leakage and it sure increases the hiss noise but the biasing can really help clean it a lot.</div>
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Now....it was time to box it.</div>
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There aren't many fuzz pedals with boring names. FZ-1 or Fuzz Tone is probably one of the most boring uninspiring names in pedal history. The graphics of the pedal is also quite lame. It is all negligible next to the awesome wedged enclosure.....which I don't have. I have a regular 125B enclosure which is small and straight. So I had to have a good name and good graphics. A long time ago I decided to name it Chocolate Fuzz (Fudge...got it?) and now that the space is so small I shortened it to Choc'late Fuzz. Good name, I think. I changed ATTACK to TASTE in light of the chocolate thing. For the graphics, I tried to completely recolor the black enclosure to chocolate brown. It came out so bad so I wanted it off. I used a rought sand paper to wear it down and the effect was so great that I left it as it is. Amazing vintage look. When I painted it I added some glitter sparkle to the color which didn't look good at all. After the sandpaper work the glitter became so vintage looking and so inspiring that I just completely fell for the design. I really have to thank my wife for helping me out with this one. She's a designer and all and she knew that the vanilla white with the pale turquoise would work perfectly with the rusty vintage brownish background. She also gave me the glitter powder. </div>
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So to sum things up, I never actually played an authentic Fuzz Tone FZ-1 before and I probably never will. Thanks to the invention of stereo recording and mixing in the 1930's and the first LP in stereophonic sound, released in 1958, many records in the 60's were released with a hard stereo panning which enables one to completely isolate certain tracks by playing only one channel. Check out the Doors as a great example for that (Hello I Love You has the fuzz guitar only on the right channel). After many hours of listening to separated stereo channels I've been able to find setups which sound very similar to many of my favorite recordings.<br />
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The pedal has 3 knobs, VOLUME, ATTACK and STARVE. The ATTACK goes from very mild boost which sounds amazingly similar to the "clean" punchy sound on Roky Erickson's early albums (Tried to hide comes to mind) to full on fuzz-a-delic mayhem. The STARVE is what really gives the pedal it's distinct tone. With the STARVE maxxed out the sound is very full and modern-like but not very garage-psych like. As the STARVE is decreased the pedal comes alive. The VOLUME is straightforward except it does change the sound a bit. The pedal is not very strong in volume and I usually have the VOLUME dimed or close to dimed. I bet that part of my experience and mods were a result of the AC128 germs I used. Obviously, others might get different results with different germs. <br />
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<span style="text-align: justify;">So that's it...do yourself a favor and build this one. If you are a garage psych fiend build this one, a Fuzzrite and the Orpheum. If you are a complete lunatic add the Buzzaround and a Tone Bender to the bunch. And this is only assuming you already have a germy Fuzz Face, of course. Did I say lunatic?</span><br />
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A real milestone on my part here. I think I would slow down my fuzz builds now....ha ha, not really.</div>
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Anyway, a great layout with a lot of feedback can be found on the TagboardFX blog:</div>
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<a href="http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.il/2014/08/maestro-fz-1-fuzz-tone.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cccccc;">http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.il/2014/08/maestro-fz-1-fuzz-tone.html</span></a> </div>
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Below are some clips taken with single coils Tele and ES335-style humbuckers. You'll hear many riffs and pieces from known classic tracks by Captain Beefheart, The Doors, Strawberry Alarm Clock, Stones, Beatles and Ennio Morricone. I loved this pedal so much that I did 5 demos with it. 2 with bass guitar on a Bassman style amp and an old Ampeg amp (all emulations). The two guitar demos are played through the Brittania VOX AC30 pedal emulation and a cabinet emulation. For classic mid 60's psychedelia the pedal works best with the VOX style amps and Fender twin reverb style. The Man with a Harmonica is from the Ennio Morricone's classic soundtrack. I think that the pedal, nails the sound perfectly if played on the right setup.</div>
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/playlists/56832175&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe>Doron Barnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11002512823760367163noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-162496036908090004.post-5143055650246064032014-08-03T21:30:00.000-07:002014-10-31T04:55:41.718-07:00The Super GroundHogs Fuzz<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRlT0s2zOPdfJhr9vw4W_HJanMaDtWt2tS8WzIUOC8tuQbkxPcShTUq4O8v2WCAOYO5bCiODnYVRl-CAKT7FiH-yLXlgutju06qIWTpHDMkSzc9IgstltavEJanVJVaQ6wzL1HxCQxACwO/s1600/McPhuzz+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRlT0s2zOPdfJhr9vw4W_HJanMaDtWt2tS8WzIUOC8tuQbkxPcShTUq4O8v2WCAOYO5bCiODnYVRl-CAKT7FiH-yLXlgutju06qIWTpHDMkSzc9IgstltavEJanVJVaQ6wzL1HxCQxACwO/s1600/McPhuzz+%25282%2529.jpg" height="320" width="232" /></a></div>
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During my last few years hunting for that "one fuzz to rule them all" perfect fuzz sound, I investigated literally hundreds and hundreds of albums, setups, schematics and actual pedals looking for those magical sounds that we all know and love so much. It's no secret that most of the fuzz hype and plethora of versions come from the seed designs of the early Fuzz Tone, Fuzz Rite, Fuzz Face, Big Muff etc. Once you hear a sound that you think you never heard before, and like it, you start digging in deeper, trying to understand what was going on during that recording that made the guitar sound so damn good. Over the years I've had some success tracking several epic guitar sounds which I truly admire like those created by legendary players like Dave Allen, Dick Dale, Robbie Krieger, Harrison, Clapton, Hendrix, Fripp, Gilmour, Page, Blackmore, Allman, Lee, Howe, Hackett, May, Barre, Iommi, Corgan, and many others. Each one with his own playing style, modified amps and the insane voodoo stories around the use of secret arsenal of fuzz and booster pedals.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyX03I1o1McHVLIXkGzFY6u4zEuYCSWMLVRw4jdl-6K-Vs4kBH0k4uLLWEpNZlOxzC0g631g3QTugRzzromVcGPFoRVCd1eTBJfUnXmPMu7e40cOJobD3voqma1QHi7h6VLM5IR3w3UPBj/s1600/download.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyX03I1o1McHVLIXkGzFY6u4zEuYCSWMLVRw4jdl-6K-Vs4kBH0k4uLLWEpNZlOxzC0g631g3QTugRzzromVcGPFoRVCd1eTBJfUnXmPMu7e40cOJobD3voqma1QHi7h6VLM5IR3w3UPBj/s1600/download.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #141414; color: white; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.8181819915772px;">Townshend using his Super-Fuzz</span><br style="background-color: #141414; color: white; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.8181819915772px;" /><span style="background-color: #141414; color: white; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.8181819915772px;">into the legendary Hi Watt stack</span></td></tr>
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A few years ago I ran into the Groundhogs. I didn't know anything about them or about Tony TS McPhee the guitarist-vocalist-bluesist mastermind behind the band. What started out as mild appreciation quickly grew to hard core admiration. The sound produced by McPhee on albums like Split and the live albums completely blew me away and this was after I thought I heard it all. Boy was I wrong. McPhee's bluesy finger-picking style along with his massive use of fuzz, octave-fuzz, wah-fuzz, and modified amps is a demonstration of true hard rock personality: Inventive, powerful and lean. And I didn't say the word 'punk' yet. I tried everything from vintage fuzzes, octave fuzzes and different amp combinations and couldn't get anywhere near this crazy tone of his. He founded the Groundhogs after a song by John Lee Hooker. In 1965 they were his backup band during his English tour. Imagine that! </div>
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Anyway, running around the web and trying to mimic his incredibly extreme and experimental sound I ran into a few interviews and forums suggesting that much like Pete Townshend, his setup included a few fuzz pedals. One which seemed most interesting, most over-the-top and most promising, was the Japanese Univox Super Fuzz. Definitely the most intense sound I've ever heard.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEjjYfBnWeZq2q2Lc1l6OOL9mxw1k3-lWmfAlMWNTxBVprXDrRStmprHEVBM1dL_-6dC7w2HLDWHjt12RC82YlwqyxcBeajxQ-0azQatV-HYkgY4rJEmfXhQI6ygoUgaX_MrfQFWOKAKJb/s1600/T.S+McPhee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEjjYfBnWeZq2q2Lc1l6OOL9mxw1k3-lWmfAlMWNTxBVprXDrRStmprHEVBM1dL_-6dC7w2HLDWHjt12RC82YlwqyxcBeajxQ-0azQatV-HYkgY4rJEmfXhQI6ygoUgaX_MrfQFWOKAKJb/s1600/T.S+McPhee.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">TS McPhee finger style on a Strat</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnUIN1KJke_MxpaTek8wFaRJox9LN87KmsX1tmJS0o4DgHH924mCaQqSaq_his5-RDiksfcjiwlOW4Hf7KLWMjkUEBmuHRd6niPictcu728baKppQYEYbJJkGivW73257lpPfqTx6677_Z/s1600/Groundhogs+McPhee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnUIN1KJke_MxpaTek8wFaRJox9LN87KmsX1tmJS0o4DgHH924mCaQqSaq_his5-RDiksfcjiwlOW4Hf7KLWMjkUEBmuHRd6niPictcu728baKppQYEYbJJkGivW73257lpPfqTx6677_Z/s1600/Groundhogs+McPhee.jpg" height="200" width="141" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">TS McPhee finger style on an SG</td></tr>
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Without offending any Townshend and Who fans I must admit that Tony McPhee, although maybe not as huge as Townshend, does a much better job ripping apart your ears and guts with his playing and sound techniques. His got a very bluesy fingerpicking style that shows how deep his playing is connected to traditional blues.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja37F12AhIx0aGpFEpN-IBLasw8OWtSZNs5_IgL4Dd3en2bP2gkGnKpl8LT6-dIgPX9aJyOdaK6xiidoWwwH_TSccyN01YOI6F050SuX5QAslh6daxgBViXbJXK3g3d5dt-A6iNUPU60Z4/s1600/superfuzz2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja37F12AhIx0aGpFEpN-IBLasw8OWtSZNs5_IgL4Dd3en2bP2gkGnKpl8LT6-dIgPX9aJyOdaK6xiidoWwwH_TSccyN01YOI6F050SuX5QAslh6daxgBViXbJXK3g3d5dt-A6iNUPU60Z4/s1600/superfuzz2.jpg" height="299" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Super-Fuzz controls</td></tr>
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The circuit was designed in the late 1960s by the Japanese company Shin-ei, (who also produced another well known fuzz box, the Shin-ei Companion FY-2 and manufactured in Japan by Unicord. The first Super-Fuzzes were made in 1968, and production continued until the late 70s. The original Super fuzz had two knobs and a Tone switch, apart from the huge bypass switch. The BALANCE knob is a Master volume knob and the EXPANDER knob is like your regular FUZZ GAIN knob. The TONE control is a mid scoop switch which adds a whole new dimension to the pedal. Most of the layouts and schematics I found suggested several mods to the circuit for some added functionality and versatility.</div>
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And so, even though the circuit looks too big for a fuzz, I decided that once I get a chance, I'll build it. For a year or so I was just eyeballing the circuit not knowing if I was capable of the task, and it took me a long time to go through all the possible versions, layouts and schematics until I decided to go for the layout suggested by Mark at TagboardFX layouts which which was verified by numerous builders. However, as always, I could not resist the suggested mods which aimed to enhance the sound and versatility of the pedal.</div>
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I used old layouts by Derringer and by Mike Livesly which suggested a mod for reducing the clipping effect on the clipping OA-90 germanium diodes and even completely replace them. I added a switch to change the clipping from stock to mild and named it "SAT". When clipping is suppressed the volume of the pedal increases and the saturation is reduced. Overall this means less compression, a trimmer on a switch gives you a better control over the sound.</div>
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Another mod suggested by Derringer was to add a trimpot which can bias Q4 and Q5 to get a better matching of the trannies so that the octave effect is better controlled.</div>
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Also suggested by Derringer and others was a TONE pot which replaces the TONE switch. This switch is designed to give a mid-scoop tone option and using a switch and a pot you can actually move from natural to mid-scoop using a switch and with the pot you can move continuously between full mid-scoop and no mid-scoop. The only reason I kept both switch and pot is that the no-scoop mode doesn't sound exactly like the mid-scoop with knob fully CW. They do sound alike but not exactly the same.</div>
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All these mods really give the pedal a new life and with such a large scale circuit it only serves it right.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpK1J8VMFm1iLVw7Pu6SvX9pYjS73a-MtPOa_tzbeEMkWACo2XZfuRkmlOEV8hiNfaitQffYBFwm4lcQGoROJY_8Bkb-lDVhpNLt24AiElPxSjoO568THZ18MB-4xlJK1zWVIi-IUsuakF/s1600/McPhuzz+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpK1J8VMFm1iLVw7Pu6SvX9pYjS73a-MtPOa_tzbeEMkWACo2XZfuRkmlOEV8hiNfaitQffYBFwm4lcQGoROJY_8Bkb-lDVhpNLt24AiElPxSjoO568THZ18MB-4xlJK1zWVIi-IUsuakF/s1600/McPhuzz+(1).jpg" height="320" width="243" /></a></td></tr>
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The Super Fuzz - gut shot.</div>
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Notice the switch connected to Q5.</div>
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And last but not least is the choice of NPN transistors. I went and ordered the 2SC828 with the twisted pinout and had to go through twisting the ECB to fit in the CBE layout. I also tried various combinations with 2N222A, 2N5088, MPSA18 and even BC108. The differences were not really significant and not worth the time. Super saturation, nasally, slightly gated and mean was the character no matter what I stuck in there. It even sounded less nasally and more crunchy without Q4 at all !!!! The Q4-Q5 giving you that octave sound can be defeated by taking Q4 out and leaving the circuit pure. A cool mod for the future. I also tested single coils and humbuckers. With different amps and different playing techniques.</div>
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I don't think this circuit is for everyone. It is really one for the fuzzoholics, fuzznatics and fuzzophiles. I might name this one Fuzz-o-phile instead too. But after 3 months of trying out different settings and different styles of playing I think I understood what was missing....</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgenY-7jchsLbw8e4k3xk1lVUOUoAF4PzoAnV9N5Sb_ByNqWPwb9Z8RFsEQdk9P7vUK9QzHOCN6fzSO0mQ2zLdebyJbSJsgW5kekE_A56_BDlTJSELDLDDfaH5Py3cId05zYMnDdCWpU5Ah/s1600/McPhuzz+(4).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgenY-7jchsLbw8e4k3xk1lVUOUoAF4PzoAnV9N5Sb_ByNqWPwb9Z8RFsEQdk9P7vUK9QzHOCN6fzSO0mQ2zLdebyJbSJsgW5kekE_A56_BDlTJSELDLDDfaH5Py3cId05zYMnDdCWpU5Ah/s1600/McPhuzz+(4).jpg" height="320" width="243" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Super Fuzz with some added tweaks</td></tr>
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The Q4-Q5 pair is really the essence of this pedal, and tweaking the 10k pot between them is really what gives it that nasal octave effect which is so unique to this pedal. So after trying various configurations I decided to drop the SATURATION switch and use it for toggling Q5 emitter (could have been Q4 instead) in and out the circuit. The SAT control is not an OCTAVE switch. This did miracles to the pedal because it gave me that fuzzy crunch without the rich harmonics which, although sounds good on riffs and solos, i.e. single notes, did not sound good but actually too muddy on chords and arpeggios. The back to back diode pair which was on the SAT switch are no hardwired as per stock. It is worth noting that when Q5 is disengaged, no SAT, the EXPANDER control is less effective. </div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKN3jpqyCFYCUJyO3RK-G585he5vkzMIE025FHkiEaAz0yZ8bUnu6Wl9PjN0z1Epm5-6RkKDHyfUGSDRxU6SrUTvA4vew72GaJMmcAY0DjrDeg36goB6i0pctwdoEMrKHf4MSSN-KFoW_v/s1600/McPhuzz+(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKN3jpqyCFYCUJyO3RK-G585he5vkzMIE025FHkiEaAz0yZ8bUnu6Wl9PjN0z1Epm5-6RkKDHyfUGSDRxU6SrUTvA4vew72GaJMmcAY0DjrDeg36goB6i0pctwdoEMrKHf4MSSN-KFoW_v/s1600/McPhuzz+(3).jpg" height="320" width="217" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">McPhuzz - what a name!</td></tr>
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Now it was time for the pedal's name:</div>
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Super Fuzz, Fuzz-o-holic, Groundhog Fuzz, McPhuzz. I had to decide. I think this pedal is closer to the TS McPhee's sound rather than the Pete Townsend sound. Being such an underrated player as he was and probably still is, I decided to name the fuzz - McPhuzz after TS McPhee. Really proud of that name...</div>
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Anyway, you can get the schematic of this pedal with the added controls on:</div>
<a href="http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc241/guyatron/superfuzzMyMods.jpg" target="_blank">http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc241/guyatron/superfuzzMyMods.jpg</a><br />
The original schematic on:<br />
<a href="http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j6/IvIark_2006/Layouts/Schematics/UnivoxSuperfuzz.gif" target="_blank">http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j6/IvIark_2006/Layouts/Schematics/UnivoxSuperfuzz.gif</a><br />
The Layout I used for 2SC828 trannys is that on:<br />
<a href="http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.il/2012/01/univox-super-fuzz.html" target="_blank">http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.il/2012/01/univox-super-fuzz.html</a><br />
And if you use regular transistors, use:<br />
<a href="http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.il/2013/12/unicordunivox-super-fuzz.html" target="_blank">http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.il/2013/12/unicordunivox-super-fuzz.html</a><br />
You can also use the layout from Derringer:<br />
<a href="http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc241/guyatron/SuperfuzzVero090630.gif" target="_blank">http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc241/guyatron/SuperfuzzVero090630.gif</a><br />
Or that by Mike Livesley:<br />
<a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v48/MikeyJazz/superfuzz.gif" target="_blank">http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v48/MikeyJazz/superfuzz.gif</a><br />
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All of the above layouts and schematics are confirmed. :)<br />
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So here's a sizable clip (24 min. long!) demonstrating all the Yings and the Yangs of this pedal with and without the Q5, with the SCOOP tone switch off and with the switch on and the accompanying scoop TONE control. The Q5 switch can be named OCTAVE or SUPER or something like that. The demo is played on a MIM Telecaster through a simulated amp.</div>
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="180" src="//www.mixcloud.com/widget/iframe/?feed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mixcloud.com%2Fdoronbarness%2Fsuperfuzz-clone-demo%2F&embed_uuid=3c7d58e2-0150-42b7-81b4-b7aef6daa292&replace=0&stylecolor=f98b59&embed_type=widget_standard&hide_tracklist=1" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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<div style="color: #999999; display: block; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 3px 4px; width: auto;">
<a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/doronbarness/superfuzz-clone-demo/?utm_source=widget&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=base_links&amp;utm_term=resource_link" style="color: #f98b59; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Superfuzz clone demo</a> by <a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/doronbarness/?utm_source=widget&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=base_links&amp;utm_term=profile_link" style="color: #f98b59; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Doron Barness</a> on <a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/?utm_source=widget&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=base_links&utm_term=homepage_link" style="color: #f98b59; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"> Mixcloud</a></div>
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Doron Barnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11002512823760367163noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-162496036908090004.post-81527418725397453442014-06-03T05:55:00.002-07:002014-06-03T06:03:30.457-07:00Britannia - The new British Channel by Runoffgroove<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3ggHYrpiQaR2EOpAfskiQNWiB0aeX64mlew7n8k2E4BZ9GYjl_CLtd3KEul05McpbUm-8lLFaL6Nm25qVXqIbsaGA69BcrCOWGjcgxTYfjbcxuPBWTMf8oEuPf9Bb6K435QBFrSizPtuo/s1600/2014-05-17+17.47.44.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3ggHYrpiQaR2EOpAfskiQNWiB0aeX64mlew7n8k2E4BZ9GYjl_CLtd3KEul05McpbUm-8lLFaL6Nm25qVXqIbsaGA69BcrCOWGjcgxTYfjbcxuPBWTMf8oEuPf9Bb6K435QBFrSizPtuo/s1600/2014-05-17+17.47.44.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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In 2004 the Runoffgroove team released their famous <a href="http://fuzzquest.blogspot.co.il/2012/04/crossing-english-channel.html" target="_blank">"English Channel"</a> pedal version for the VOX AC30 Top Boost amplifier. Their acclaimed JFET take on the tube overdrive sound was a big part of the amp-in-a-pedal mania that soon flooded the guitar world with boutique vendors releasing pedal versions of every amp known to man. What started as a unique way to generate the tube gain stage using silicon transistors was slowly replaced by new techniques which replicated the tube sound better but was not necessarily based on the original amp schematics. Using the new technique, Runoffgroove updated their schematics starting with the fabulous "Azabache" circuit to replace the "Professor Tweed" as the Fender style circuit. "Britannia" is their new approach to achieving the famous sound of the VOX AC30 Top Boost. The "English Channel" was a very good overdrive in my opinion. I built it in 2011 and I was quite happy with the results. I even compared it several times with a software version of the amp and I was always satisfied.</div>
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When the "Azabache"came out, I built it right away ("Tweed Palette" on this blog). Immediately it was obvious that the ROG team has made great progress in understanding the overdrive character of the tube amp, so it was no surprise that when they released Britannia, it instantly reached the top of my list.</div>
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I decided to go with the 1776 Effects PCB this time just to check out this path as I usually build the circuits on pref-board or vero. I was really pleased with the PCB because it was built so well, with so many small features to ease the work of the builder. I highly recommend these PCB layouts for everyone who is interested in building his pedals faster and safer. The features I really liked about the PCB:</div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;">Clear and logical layout.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Clear printing for each part, including pots, trimmers, grounds in/out and 9V supply.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Tips on the drain voltage for each transistor with the voltage values printed next to the biasing trimmers.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Location for soldering test points.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Great value</li>
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So, back to the VOX AC30 Top Boost story (f<span style="font-family: inherit;">rom <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VOX_AC30" target="_blank">wikipedia</a>):</span></div>
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<i>"The Vox AC30 was originally introduced in 1958 as “big brother” for the 15W AC15 model at Hank Marvin's (The Shadows) request because the AC15 was not loud enough with the screaming fans at Cliff Richard's concerts. Vox's original flagship amplifier. The Original first generation AC30, or AC30/4, had only a single 12" Goodman's 60W speaker in a "TV Front" cabinet, as opposed to the later, conventional twin 12" speaker configuration. The AC30/4 sported two channels with two inputs – hence the “4” in the model name. The amplifier used a GZ34 tube rectifier, three ECC83s (12AX7) for the Normal channel and it had EL34 tubes in the power amplifier circuit.</i></div>
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<i><i>In 1961 the "Top Boost" (or "Brilliance") feature became available as Vox's optional addition of a circuit that introduced an extra gain stage and tone controls for bass and treble (as opposed to the single "tone" control of earlier AC30s). The unit became so popular that its features were soon incorporated in newer AC30/6 models, and the controls moved from the rear panel to the control panel.</i></i></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Wa4ouqWcmosG6vu0VBldUt9-Mm9UvWKGtVoV68mnD07sPMGr-kep-gLjX6JnZtSR4AN4ZV0C4F-BXbPaUlVE5JYUpZY-nNZmHyeb0W13ANxhx6AR3qapadXt1B1BmTvRr83rpPwgEyy0/s1600/19_vox_9x9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Wa4ouqWcmosG6vu0VBldUt9-Mm9UvWKGtVoV68mnD07sPMGr-kep-gLjX6JnZtSR4AN4ZV0C4F-BXbPaUlVE5JYUpZY-nNZmHyeb0W13ANxhx6AR3qapadXt1B1BmTvRr83rpPwgEyy0/s1600/19_vox_9x9.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The classic VOX AC30 Top Boost</td></tr>
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<i>Vox AC30/6 amplifiers from around 1963 had already implemented the top boost, and therefore had 3 tone controls. People began to refer to these amplifiers as AC30TBs. In addition to the "Normal" version without the Top Boost, and the Top Boost version (which was a Normal version with the "Brilliance" unit added), Vox, with slight circuit modifications, created two more versions that were “voiced” in Brilliant (Treble), and Bass styles. Of all the different models that came around many consider the AC30 "Super Twin" to be the ultimate AC30, with a "trapezoid" shaped head and separate speaker mounted on a trolly."</i></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigdhq9RFpRpypngjZkmcdyJmSiCAEweVYzE5XVpEpe7KgfKERsasqY8kftTdIJowqovfghyphenhyphenA1fA4uWzBRYfC69fES-dxGcoxEMtj9SdtTiiSZNylDCWrnWWX87vCjwquqgS_HsuwQNyE8t/s1600/VoxBrianMay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigdhq9RFpRpypngjZkmcdyJmSiCAEweVYzE5XVpEpe7KgfKERsasqY8kftTdIJowqovfghyphenhyphenA1fA4uWzBRYfC69fES-dxGcoxEMtj9SdtTiiSZNylDCWrnWWX87vCjwquqgS_HsuwQNyE8t/s1600/VoxBrianMay.jpg" height="305" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brian May and his VOX wall of AC30 amps</td></tr>
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Those early 60's TB models became the tone of choice for many legendary musicians and bands. To name just a few, we are talking about The Beatles, The Byrds, Hank Marvin (The Shadows), Brian May (Queen), Vic Flick (James Bond theme), Rory Gallagher, Tom Petty, Noel Gallagher (Oasis), Johnny Greenwood and Thom York (Radiohead), The Cure, The smiths, Muse, R.E.M and almost every band who wanted that sweet British crunch. Vox was quite an amazing music company which developed many solutions for musicians and had VOX organs, VOX wah pedals, Vox guitars, VOX PA systems and each one of those lines became a legend of its own.</div>
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More info can be found on the VOX website: <a href="http://www.voxamps.com/history/">http://www.voxamps.com/history/</a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9T9yAC1k5E2WL04sr2Sy4sPZwntMB3crw2fRcHL9QS5X8Ss1ZRqke4ie22jTa28m1fQgIYKsS5wnctxGcImNopZdvvB5WnhIZ6MeeZWbJMUXld7M0vbdY8NatooDc2swRbA5moFlJmQF3/s1600/vox18j.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9T9yAC1k5E2WL04sr2Sy4sPZwntMB3crw2fRcHL9QS5X8Ss1ZRqke4ie22jTa28m1fQgIYKsS5wnctxGcImNopZdvvB5WnhIZ6MeeZWbJMUXld7M0vbdY8NatooDc2swRbA5moFlJmQF3/s1600/vox18j.jpg" height="206" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inside the original VOX AC30</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6QxA1BlqJQ7RhioHnYsKq9ippPnZ0jiigMaYOIi9hAIK3FZ2eWTRg30p2WV7fQDpNoGUkPvngWhlFNyFkTW-7B0bJlOODJDcG8mHWciykgZZgqmbFUCWr_wiQ4qzY2GnSHym1di-RTBGc/s1600/vox18q.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6QxA1BlqJQ7RhioHnYsKq9ippPnZ0jiigMaYOIi9hAIK3FZ2eWTRg30p2WV7fQDpNoGUkPvngWhlFNyFkTW-7B0bJlOODJDcG8mHWciykgZZgqmbFUCWr_wiQ4qzY2GnSHym1di-RTBGc/s1600/vox18q.jpg" height="251" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The front panel and tubes of the AC30</td></tr>
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All I can say is that this amp-in-a-box completely blew me away and it rocks soft and hard at the same time. I love the range of the GAIN pot which really goes from completely clean to jangly crunch to ooomph power drive. The TONE controls are BASS and TREBLE which are super effective. With high GAIN settings and high BASS you can really rock hard a la Brian May, while low BASS gets and mid GAIN gets you to Rory Gallagher territory. Guitar volume is effective too. Putting a Treble Boost in front or a fuzz will give you ultra tonal flexibility. An additional overdrive on wither side will be super cool also. The coolest sound I got so far was with my Tele in neck pickup, volume knob on the guitar backed off a little and GAIN at noon. What a sweet smack in the face. I used my former ENGLISH CHANNEL enclosure and changed the knobs so the pedal looks quite similar, but underneath the hood it's a whole new beast.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFXREMpAlqwStWiXmlB4l5V7Ch9d3nKz5eC3wfOMoGbR2tvmrdlxVmU9u8hmGPBPhjC_Bv33vZwUHlMmXDCl29QOnqzHWwrhFl0LCygy07x1i80FrhTv1jWrnktZDFC75QGIie8hhf2U05/s1600/C360_2014-05-06-09-47-23-588.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFXREMpAlqwStWiXmlB4l5V7Ch9d3nKz5eC3wfOMoGbR2tvmrdlxVmU9u8hmGPBPhjC_Bv33vZwUHlMmXDCl29QOnqzHWwrhFl0LCygy07x1i80FrhTv1jWrnktZDFC75QGIie8hhf2U05/s1600/C360_2014-05-06-09-47-23-588.jpg" height="207" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All this magic in a small PCB - The Britannia on the "1776 Effects" PCB </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5HiHORbnqRrQOCuUYIozjhRZuAd6ne0RozJXtUxtqG8vShJh6tpZaO1lwg1Dt2QoYCE6n8XLEjJwJjoIriyzoGJJsuKnv_GFhYsPDgCANzmrgBOp_bsAVy43QhkCvWW8fCC0AXTI19oIw/s1600/2014-05-17+17.45.59.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5HiHORbnqRrQOCuUYIozjhRZuAd6ne0RozJXtUxtqG8vShJh6tpZaO1lwg1Dt2QoYCE6n8XLEjJwJjoIriyzoGJJsuKnv_GFhYsPDgCANzmrgBOp_bsAVy43QhkCvWW8fCC0AXTI19oIw/s1600/2014-05-17+17.45.59.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And the amazing pedal in a unique enclosure which used to house my English Channel</td></tr>
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The Runoffgroove page with all necessary info is found here:</div>
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<a href="http://www.runoffgroove.com/britannia.html">http://www.runoffgroove.com/britannia.html</a></div>
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The 1776 Effects website:</div>
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<a href="http://1776effects.com/">http://1776effects.com/</a></div>
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Below is a long demo of the pedal with my MIM Telecaster through a Dr. Z MAZ 18 cabinet.</div>
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Just listen to the vast amount of sounds obtained by tweaking the guitar's volume knob, the GAIN level and the TONE controls. Just dime that GAIN knob and start those Tom Petty chords or those open arpeggios. Add a fuzz in front and you are in 60's heaven. </div>
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="180" src="//www.mixcloud.com/widget/iframe/?feed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mixcloud.com%2Fdoronbarness%2Frog-brittania-demo-telecaster-britannia-dr-z-maz18%2F&embed_uuid=b25c4093-8270-4300-8032-64a4623a1da3&replace=0&stylecolor=040889&embed_type=widget_standard&hide_tracklist=1" width="100%"></iframe><br /></div>
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<a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/doronbarness/rog-brittania-demo-telecaster-britannia-dr-z-maz18/?utm_source=widget&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=base_links&amp;utm_term=resource_link" style="color: #040889; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">ROG Britannia demo - Telecaster-Britannia-Dr. Z MAZ18</a> by <a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/doronbarness/?utm_source=widget&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=base_links&amp;utm_term=profile_link" style="color: #040889; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Doron Barness</a> on <a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/?utm_source=widget&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=base_links&utm_term=homepage_link" style="color: #040889; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"> Mixcloud</a></div>
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Don't miss out this great pedal. It quickly became on my top 5 all-time overdrive/tone pedals.</div>
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Doron Barnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11002512823760367163noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-162496036908090004.post-56576614514740868732014-03-21T08:15:00.004-07:002014-03-21T08:15:47.441-07:00King Watt - The HiWatt grinder king<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoMAlA26jo_Z33A1-saNMJ2c8VcNSCTCdwINCfrby-IogJvNyc4X4XZXd-Kk-sUOwLQClrAJat8BnsHeMwzFfuzXLVcYAeUVLKmLCqNUSOCBcqoAf91SZHOgyKjsx-6X_PjG90CvC9H8dC/s1600/King+Watt+%25285%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoMAlA26jo_Z33A1-saNMJ2c8VcNSCTCdwINCfrby-IogJvNyc4X4XZXd-Kk-sUOwLQClrAJat8BnsHeMwzFfuzXLVcYAeUVLKmLCqNUSOCBcqoAf91SZHOgyKjsx-6X_PjG90CvC9H8dC/s1600/King+Watt+%25285%2529.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The WIIO clone - KING WATT</td></tr>
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When the fuzz era began in the early sixties most players hooked up their fuzz pedals to the amps which were available at the time. The best names on the market were Fender, Marshall, Vox, Gibson and maybe a few small boutique companies. The combinations of the guitars, fuzz pedals and amps defined what we all know today as the sound of the 60's. By the end of the decade new sounds started emerging due to the demand of leading players trying to extract more juice, grind and power from their amps. Live shows of super bands like The Who and Led Zeppelin were all about modified amplifiers which made their shows thrilling and ear piercing as ever.</div>
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The 70's started off with a totally different sound with Marshall issuing their powerful JCM-800 amps and Orange amplifiers infiltrating the heavier rock scene. Fuzz pedals still remained very popular but now it was more about overdrive and smooth distortion and less about buzzy fuzzy noises. One name on the British scene stood out as <i>the</i> amp for high power rock with a very distinctive tone and grit which had incredible dynamics and picking sensitivity as opposed to the compressed Marshall stacks so popular with heavy metal.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsN9ozHf09n9uP5QkFajB1EJxA_AAcGAPGWU8IlDWJBFD1WZTcJDOY_HRQUA1kbqFOVfDZ45P1jfCxIPgwC-WB9tcvMveo6TAbXiu5PNVG4j8nFDceqU5FD_JBG6-7qaS4xCrdYjuTwc1e/s1600/images+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsN9ozHf09n9uP5QkFajB1EJxA_AAcGAPGWU8IlDWJBFD1WZTcJDOY_HRQUA1kbqFOVfDZ45P1jfCxIPgwC-WB9tcvMveo6TAbXiu5PNVG4j8nFDceqU5FD_JBG6-7qaS4xCrdYjuTwc1e/s1600/images+(1).jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Sound City amp prior to the HiWatt brand</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii7660a-1eue0Zb5olgSyG4ltxlewHq4RjAWPfiKHeYpz6QyejjR1y_ukYt1ctlggTjg-Ei2l08WbvpRRxx-lIfX72N4ovWpBtobsT0UrbZbt162RkLHACvv_uxdMqx8P65WxX898JlflX/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii7660a-1eue0Zb5olgSyG4ltxlewHq4RjAWPfiKHeYpz6QyejjR1y_ukYt1ctlggTjg-Ei2l08WbvpRRxx-lIfX72N4ovWpBtobsT0UrbZbt162RkLHACvv_uxdMqx8P65WxX898JlflX/s1600/images.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hylight Electronics issuing the first HiWatt amps</td></tr>
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HiWatt was started by Dave Reeves in 1966 building amps for Ivor Arbiter's store Sound City (yeah, the same Arbiter who sold Fuzz Face pedals). In 1968 Reeves started building his own designs with 50W (DR-504), 100W (DR-103) and 200W (DR-201) amps which gained huge popularity.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP1S0_MWgY2kuHzVwHWj2Bp5sbxh9EjCAnSFUy6qXoEPqzMEHyktZvDFN0npq____fC4Pri7Vl9nG1E7oO99k-TXKmTeOHFE3Ya3gXGqpxZ-zIG5Esly1aQSb_-jneBE3zeVUDYW1-uUxR/s1600/The+WhoPS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP1S0_MWgY2kuHzVwHWj2Bp5sbxh9EjCAnSFUy6qXoEPqzMEHyktZvDFN0npq____fC4Pri7Vl9nG1E7oO99k-TXKmTeOHFE3Ya3gXGqpxZ-zIG5Esly1aQSb_-jneBE3zeVUDYW1-uUxR/s1600/The+WhoPS.jpg" height="236" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First users of the HiWatts - The Who</td></tr>
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The HiWatt golden age began when Pete Townshend (and bassist Entwistle), responsible for promoting the Marshall 100W Superlead (created for him in 1965 in order to get a Fender sound with higher power), started using Sound City amps around 1967 because they were cleaner and sounded better. Reeves modified the Sound City amps under his own brand called Hylight and the Hiwatt line was born. By 1970 leading guitarists like Jimmy Page, David Gilmour, Martin Barre (Jethro Tull), Robert Fripp and Townshend himself redefined the British sound by moving to HiWatt amplifiers. Even Hendrix added a Hiwatt stack next to his sacred Marshall stack to get bigger sound. Many others were spotted using HiWatt amps like Steve Hackett of Genesis (1971), Manfred Mann's Mick Vickers, Peter Banks (Yes, Flash) and the list is probably much longer.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihbHDNGLzhvvrfM0b04va3hTktNlzaLwNIho6q7WvoPONCeu3H5o1LCqt4H-949rAkvj9vT1ZqFao54oq0wwl2DAyth5wL9lj5aWngrxOIYMTdazASq6hvN9dT9FgSJscLJizhjW0p-exq/s1600/p1_uamyivr1r_so.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihbHDNGLzhvvrfM0b04va3hTktNlzaLwNIho6q7WvoPONCeu3H5o1LCqt4H-949rAkvj9vT1ZqFao54oq0wwl2DAyth5wL9lj5aWngrxOIYMTdazASq6hvN9dT9FgSJscLJizhjW0p-exq/s1600/p1_uamyivr1r_so.jpg" height="143" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Classic Custom HiWatt 100W head, similar to the DR-103</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn0UyALsDddrhdUhuPGltJGz44IwS42y3i4ab1G20PLJUedo2A2daFKBs2nPcqYAsyXSGnoV-o0iP73LsTLjRUo-4E0bCk8FSxqjpHZnC8dRCTcaMXLhCsW6693MMxQPX8AAFI_azQVE1W/s1600/Fripp1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn0UyALsDddrhdUhuPGltJGz44IwS42y3i4ab1G20PLJUedo2A2daFKBs2nPcqYAsyXSGnoV-o0iP73LsTLjRUo-4E0bCk8FSxqjpHZnC8dRCTcaMXLhCsW6693MMxQPX8AAFI_azQVE1W/s1600/Fripp1.jpg" height="200" width="168" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Favorite HiWatter - Mr. Fripp</td></tr>
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When it came to the sound everybody had their own noise box hooked up and a booster of some sort (Echoplex, Rangemaster, etc.). Pete hooked up his HiWatt with a Univox Superfuzz and got the most powerful tone in guitar history. Gilmour with a silicon Fuzz Face (after giving up on the germanium version) and later with a Big Muff ruled the scene with his melodic, smooth, compelling and irresistible force. Jimmy Page used a Tone Bender mkII and had the best riffs in town. Fripp allegedly used a Baldwain Burn Buzzaround re-invented prog metal and avantgarde prog. And then there's Hendrix....well with Hendrix there was no place left to walk on, and his sound was like a train and a jet colliding at full speed while an army of alien robots in the jungle are trying to destroy the galaxy. I think that's pretty close.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWEi6XjejH1vDI7A68WvnWIQyznn3ym-vdhee3e6zQQpBHm4wwVSGseUetwdID6BZYp0nS8MHyVRrV6T7ESVOfyZZXlVg8Ievnq-SWEt93XxjNOz4_EbPgRM0s0dcYWDiJGXvsaXmZVydl/s1600/PN014578.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWEi6XjejH1vDI7A68WvnWIQyznn3ym-vdhee3e6zQQpBHm4wwVSGseUetwdID6BZYp0nS8MHyVRrV6T7ESVOfyZZXlVg8Ievnq-SWEt93XxjNOz4_EbPgRM0s0dcYWDiJGXvsaXmZVydl/s1600/PN014578.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The legendary Crimson line-up. Even Wetton is using a HiWatt</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8dnXjSuEj5HdmSfbgs9u4jE2d5GeXh5WCHZFkseaI4QvD1yN0j5GUtQkILNLVAzTRFiR2WHrPskGbr3nVYyL-nJ_VTqA3RhsjTAy3lqznKWPNH8ay4TqauQ_oXXdwMsL2Kx0XcGwiHSsX/s1600/JT-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8dnXjSuEj5HdmSfbgs9u4jE2d5GeXh5WCHZFkseaI4QvD1yN0j5GUtQkILNLVAzTRFiR2WHrPskGbr3nVYyL-nJ_VTqA3RhsjTAy3lqznKWPNH8ay4TqauQ_oXXdwMsL2Kx0XcGwiHSsX/s1600/JT-2.jpg" height="241" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The best Jethro Tull incarnation (1969) had Martin Barre and Glenn Cornick using HiWatts </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj04yiXcCndN8F1hMTzMw2n1iYoflq18UJpmaryYnqlvO9JgnwlGpV1Lx-Jqkhc-dJlJIa-su-Ta-n9Kk_ILCn0csHv_h-K5w4xgTDOH1rdZElZBGMiaOlq4oKL1D8qZrgL8uVKhyphenhyphenyCki77/s1600/download.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj04yiXcCndN8F1hMTzMw2n1iYoflq18UJpmaryYnqlvO9JgnwlGpV1Lx-Jqkhc-dJlJIa-su-Ta-n9Kk_ILCn0csHv_h-K5w4xgTDOH1rdZElZBGMiaOlq4oKL1D8qZrgL8uVKhyphenhyphenyCki77/s1600/download.jpg" height="200" width="193" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gilmour and his HiWatt.<br />
He had 6 in parallel</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXIvRVsAY_JyIOlhXeYP9mBxuhNxhfr1ArbzSEga_rJJU6LegCeoQrAc87hPpbkWTKgdB7HHBYXZx6znioaHB_k3UPy6Ai7D0QM__5y0AKH1RBqxCe0z26EsLIoFEf4Em2XwTQ6CHd1znt/s1600/jimmy-page-hiwatt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXIvRVsAY_JyIOlhXeYP9mBxuhNxhfr1ArbzSEga_rJJU6LegCeoQrAc87hPpbkWTKgdB7HHBYXZx6znioaHB_k3UPy6Ai7D0QM__5y0AKH1RBqxCe0z26EsLIoFEf4Em2XwTQ6CHd1znt/s1600/jimmy-page-hiwatt.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Page bowing away his Gibson on a pair of HiWatts</td></tr>
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With an iconic piece of history like that you can't really rest your mind until you played one of these monsters. Well buying one is not an option and a software simulation is not really good for a live band situation. So I thought I would build an overdrive pedal which would get me near that sound. Turns out that Catalinbread had 2 pedals to get the job done. A modified Hiwatt version of the amp Page was using during the Royal Albert Hall concert in 1970 (RAH) and a classic HiWatt DR-103 version (WIIO). Aiming more for that classic DR-103 tone I started getting parts to build the WIIO circuit using a schematic I found on the freestompboxes.com forum and the great layouts by GuitarFX Layouts (http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com) and Mike Livesly's.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAlwRNr5FEZ51WL3Ee_kFfutx0SfvCz6neqRw9ZB0cSYfjVZcltidnch8p5m9U09cMMi3ZEjOX_sHww51StHABc9EqwrDUUF5Hza0cmmrSKeFP45HDtXJV2_jLvO5xehAWAyiV5vgvR950/s1600/jimi_sc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAlwRNr5FEZ51WL3Ee_kFfutx0SfvCz6neqRw9ZB0cSYfjVZcltidnch8p5m9U09cMMi3ZEjOX_sHww51StHABc9EqwrDUUF5Hza0cmmrSKeFP45HDtXJV2_jLvO5xehAWAyiV5vgvR950/s1600/jimi_sc.jpg" height="167" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hendrix using a Sound City stack next to his Marshall one</td></tr>
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Catalinbread is a great boutique pedal company and they have some great designs for fuzz, overdrives, boosters and what not. Probably their most revered designs are the amp emulation pedals and the Dirty Little Secret (DLS) Marshall-in-a-box pedal is probably their best. When it comes to fuzz pedals I really enjoy getting close to the original designs. With amp-like pedals I really dig the Runoffgroove designs. It was in the HiWatt that I first realized that I had no where to go but Catalinbread.</div>
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Being such a big circuit I knew I didn't want to make mistakes and I spent hours reading and listening to demos before I decided to build the WIIO clone. I knew that Townshend's sound was not very interesting for me and was just plain loud. On the other hand, Robert Fripp and Martin Barre are exactly the sort of sound which I like. Barre for its great tone and Fripp for its complexity and dynamics. For me that was enough and I went ahead and got everything I needed.</div>
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Whenever special resistor values are in shortage I get two in parallel or series and get the desired value spot on. same goes for capacitors although I try to avoid ceramics for anything above 1nF and use mylar or polypropylene types. For the 9.1V Zener I used 1N4739A which are excellent and for the BS170 I just bought them from Mammoth. Although I don't like the vero-board designs I trusted the layout and used a regular pref-board and soldered the parts like it was a vero-board.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcV5tywqfWFR_FFw3jlDFa8c6ERBerBqttAtKmqAnqLLy6MVIOpsDaAi9UoE8v7ZQ5zEGyJjRdfG7wp82WBNVhPrtp74CJyvBWekKLHITi2vO63p7ZY1W1BKzDTNMb8xcgj1_dhbf_he8W/s1600/WIOO+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcV5tywqfWFR_FFw3jlDFa8c6ERBerBqttAtKmqAnqLLy6MVIOpsDaAi9UoE8v7ZQ5zEGyJjRdfG7wp82WBNVhPrtp74CJyvBWekKLHITi2vO63p7ZY1W1BKzDTNMb8xcgj1_dhbf_he8W/s1600/WIOO+1.jpg" height="127" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The WIIO board on the bottom (right) and on the top side (left).<br />
The soldering is actually point to point and no connection.</td></tr>
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I love when I hook up the pedal's pots and switches and it works on the first attempt with no audio quirkiness. The first chop with the GAIN cranked and I knew this was it. That rich complexity and sharp grit. Really is different than any other pedal I ever played. None of that smooth Vox and Marshall and none of the Fender sagginess. Sheer raw power. Not easy to comprehend. Now, after a few hours of playing and trying all sort of nasty combinations, I am starting to get the hang of it. Playing it clean isn't all that interesting. With the GAIN high and TREBLE above noon you really start enjoying it. This is a definite keeper for me and highly recommended for any prog fanatic. Sounds better IMO with humbuckers than with single coils but once you fire up a fuzz in front - it really doesn't matter what pickups you play.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTOIZi2JU3sAXBZ612nbcz1Xq2VSuyZje8yw3QufFvJuxY23OXIjQmX_6vpS_0CAQ4vQ32-IRUMj-zcZhr5k5CYlGQW9BYFkxPTzHNcfM3ap0xDkwlzqYERQPP0-cscPCSueVD1zJp1lcX/s1600/King+Watt+%252811%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTOIZi2JU3sAXBZ612nbcz1Xq2VSuyZje8yw3QufFvJuxY23OXIjQmX_6vpS_0CAQ4vQ32-IRUMj-zcZhr5k5CYlGQW9BYFkxPTzHNcfM3ap0xDkwlzqYERQPP0-cscPCSueVD1zJp1lcX/s1600/King+Watt+%252811%2529.jpg" height="200" width="143" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Enclosure covered in masking tape,<br />and sketched on</td></tr>
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When boxing the unit I used my successful method of covering the enclosure with a paper masking tape which really facilitates the drilling process giving clean and smooth holes. I also draw some designs on the tape to decide what hole configuration I should use.</div>
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After that I mount the circuit with the knobs, jacks and switches and then I start thinking about the how it should really look. For this pedal I really didn't want to use the original WIIO name because I just think it's not a very good name and because I built this pedal thinking about Robert Fripp, David Gilmour and Martin Barre rather than Pete Townshend. I thought of 10 names until I decided to stick with KING WATT. Pretty good, I guess.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkhyphenhyphenbvBz90mI9rvOChyc33jQb6QwqQ5ncbREHUm6Wsn-rA03Wu9Vcu0lx2eKrLavYHzji8SQlGHwOtL5Lc-1regZd6vf3WTOxqHM-kvvWeypR5ER4F8_2TGfpopn3GabxxymkVHDmMXQuG/s1600/King+Watt+%25283%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkhyphenhyphenbvBz90mI9rvOChyc33jQb6QwqQ5ncbREHUm6Wsn-rA03Wu9Vcu0lx2eKrLavYHzji8SQlGHwOtL5Lc-1regZd6vf3WTOxqHM-kvvWeypR5ER4F8_2TGfpopn3GabxxymkVHDmMXQuG/s1600/King+Watt+%25283%2529.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRLV7n4pBqTlZSnhGLavT0UkSGbKtV4tKSNwJJm45FRWr094v1lKIWgYajKLWaOIrPJkBoQoFD1dUjkLLpobVp6kbhGl1UfcH8f9nJJMsYRDlJPwS0x5ePx8W6gqtV21H-s2u4H5c_8dTe/s1600/King+Watt+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRLV7n4pBqTlZSnhGLavT0UkSGbKtV4tKSNwJJm45FRWr094v1lKIWgYajKLWaOIrPJkBoQoFD1dUjkLLpobVp6kbhGl1UfcH8f9nJJMsYRDlJPwS0x5ePx8W6gqtV21H-s2u4H5c_8dTe/s1600/King+Watt+%25281%2529.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The finished pedal after painting and testing</td></tr>
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So that's it. Hope you build it and enjoy it,<br />
<br />
Get the schematics and layouts on:<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6AdN3AaptdFzVlBs_UWXdjPIvtrSxNUkLcaNJRgYow8gYvCe2fd2aLdxm85jszzT8XoiES1uvUf_7mbKmB3i682oM5HLAs6tctT8XUa0Pn5MDs54eifWfXC3dTNZ7cLKCnvewjSd_SeI/s1600/wiio.gif">https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6AdN3AaptdFzVlBs_UWXdjPIvtrSxNUkLcaNJRgYow8gYvCe2fd2aLdxm85jszzT8XoiES1uvUf_7mbKmB3i682oM5HLAs6tctT8XUa0Pn5MDs54eifWfXC3dTNZ7cLKCnvewjSd_SeI/s1600/wiio.gif</a><br />
and<br />
<a href="http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.il/2012/04/catalinbread-wiio.html">http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.il/2012/04/catalinbread-wiio.html</a><br />
<br />
A nice video demo from Bobby Devito<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb5lUnvCUPQ">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb5lUnvCUPQ</a><br />
and the Gearmanndude WIIO demo:<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoiE1JfIEgY">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoiE1JfIEgY</a><br />
<br />
and my own clone with ES humbuggies and singies:<br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="180" src="//www.mixcloud.com/widget/iframe/?feed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mixcloud.com%2Fdoronbarness%2Fplaylists%2Fwiio-demo%2F&embed_uuid=db7cafbd-d504-4c64-afa2-04d18012d17b&replace=0&stylecolor=191919&embed_type=widget_standard&hide_tracklist=1" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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<div style="color: #999999; display: block; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 3px 4px; width: auto;">
<a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/doronbarness/playlists/wiio-demo/?utm_source=widget&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=base_links&amp;utm_term=resource_link" style="color: #191919; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">WIIO demo</a> by <a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/doronbarness/?utm_source=widget&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=base_links&amp;utm_term=profile_link" style="color: #191919; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Doron Barness</a> on <a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/?utm_source=widget&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=base_links&utm_term=homepage_link" style="color: #191919; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"> Mixcloud</a></div>
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Doron Barnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11002512823760367163noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-162496036908090004.post-80486536807813392422014-02-21T06:50:00.001-08:002015-04-07T06:12:23.149-07:00Fuzzway '67: Revisited<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNCOJsm9MZYnb0k4PSGkNi403vWYibiVjt1tqydBuiZHaVtketkQ8if92ToO7wV45UZETSvx3m_k8DeGgTfHayhpW5ipj9YvCrJmWyUjn1W0tRTNMTJXga7VsEGeO8R9TF72G9OugtfkE9/s1600/%252767+Fuzz+%25284%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNCOJsm9MZYnb0k4PSGkNi403vWYibiVjt1tqydBuiZHaVtketkQ8if92ToO7wV45UZETSvx3m_k8DeGgTfHayhpW5ipj9YvCrJmWyUjn1W0tRTNMTJXga7VsEGeO8R9TF72G9OugtfkE9/s1600/%252767+Fuzz+%25284%2529.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Well it has been a long time since I last revisited the Original 1966 Arbiter PNP Germanium based Fuzz Face. I posted here a while back about my experience with the Fulltone '69 using AC128 trannies which is an enhanced PNP version of the original:</div>
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<a href="http://fuzzquest.blogspot.co.il/2012/04/once-i-had-few-germanium-tranny-lying.html">http://fuzzquest.blogspot.com/2012/04/once-i-had-few-germanium-tranny-lying.html</a></div>
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It was a short post and I didn't really use this pedal a lot, mostly because it didn't sit well with my band and because our lead guitarist (although a Hendrix fanatic) could not cope with the over-the-top nature of the pedal. On top of that he plays humbuckers and that made things even worse.</div>
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Next I explored the Silicon path and got into building several versions before settling on a slightly revised version of the Fulltone '70. While with the Germanium PNP version I only had a bag of AC128 which I tested for hfe and leakage, tweaking the Silicon NPN with many trannies was a lot of fun and easier due to the vast amount of options at hand. </div>
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<a href="http://fuzzquest.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-pink-face.html">http://fuzzquest.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-pink-face.html</a></div>
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If you wanna understand the differences in sound between the Silicon and the Germanium versions try to think about the differences in sound between the early Hendrix Experience era (Ge) and the Gilmour '70s sound (Si), although using different amps and different playing style. Other comparisons are the Hendrix sound of the Experience vs. Band of Gypsys, or Gilmour's sound of '68 vs. '73. It's the rough, bloomy, creamy and deep fuzz of the Germanium trannys vs. the sharper, smoother and edgier sound of the Silicon. Both classic, fantastic and work well with single coil pups, wah pedals and British style cabinets.</div>
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Lately I felt that I have neglected the PNP version Fuzz Face and after tinkering with it a bit I decided that it was time to revisit the circuit and see what else could be done to really get that elusive sound and to achieve this critical milestone on my fuzz quest.</div>
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So as you know or heard before, the fuzz effect was first accidentally obtained during recording a country song in 1960 by Marty Robbins. Check out this outstanding page for some cool country fuzz recordings including the legendary 1960 bass fuzz using a fried pre-amp channel:</div>
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<a href="http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/11/country-fuzz-sp.html" target="_blank">http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/11/country-fuzz-sp.html </a>. In 1962 the first Maestro Fuzz Tone was sold to achieve all kinds of voicing effects for the guitar, but nobody really got the idea. Once the Rolling Stones released "Satisfaction", fuzz-mania hit the streets and everybody were buying fuzz pedals. Maestro Fuzz Tone (FZ-1, FZ-1A and FZ-1B), Mosrite Fuzzrite and Sam Ash Fuzz Box were the first commercial units on the west side of the atlantic while the Sola Sound (Gary Hurst) and Vox Tone Benders, The JHS Zonk Machine and the Baldwin Burns Buzzaround were the first to emerge on the British island. A year later, in 1966, Arbiter released the first Fuzz Face which was really a clone of the early 1966 Vox Tone Bender (MK1.5) and from all the units around, this was the simplest one. I think this was the first fuzz unit to use a double transistor feedback loop rather than multiple gain stages to achieve the saturated fuzz tone. The Fuzz Face's round shape was conceived by Arbiter while looking on the base of a microphone stand....ok....</div>
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Now, it's a simple circuit and because of that each element is critical. Every value makes a difference. 2 coupled transistors working in a voltage feedback biasing mode. Only 3 caps: in, out and the third on the feedback loop. 4 resistors: 2 for biasing the trannies, 1 for the feedback and 1 for the output and biasing together. The basic 2 pots controlling FUZZ and VOLUME are further enhanced by 2 more giving some extra functionality like BIAS which is a pre-gain control and a CONTOUR which controls the body of the output signal.</div>
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If you wanna read about the various Fuzz Face designs:</div>
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<a href="http://fuzzcentral.ssguitar.com/fuzzface.php">http://fuzzcentral.ssguitar.com/fuzzface.php</a></div>
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If you wanna read about the cicuitry of the Fuzz Face you should really check this link: </div>
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<a href="http://geofex.com/Article_Folders/fuzzface/fffram.htm">http://geofex.com/Article_Folders/fuzzface/fffram.htm</a></div>
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More about the history of Fuzz pedals:</div>
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<a href="http://www.kitrae.net/music/Fuzz_Big_Muff_Timeline.html">http://www.kitrae.net/music/Fuzz_Big_Muff_Timeline.html</a></div>
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For the circuit I used and tweaked here's the best schematic out there:</div>
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<a href="http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/pdf/ggg_ff5_sc_b69.pdf?phpMyAdmin=78482479fd7e7fc3768044a841b3e85a">http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/pdf/ggg_ff5_sc_b69.pdf?phpMyAdmin=78482479fd7e7fc3768044a841b3e85a</a></div>
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A great verified and compact layout is given by mark and mirosol at:</div>
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<a href="http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.il/2013/01/fulltone-69.html">http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.il/2013/01/fulltone-69.html</a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Psych '67 Fuzz Face clone</td></tr>
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I played around with a lot of the values on this one and ended up using the basic Fulltone design as shown on the GGG website. I really enjoy the overwhelming possibilities given by the addition of the BIAS and CONTOUR controls. While the FUZZ pot sounds best at it's max, the true versatility of the sound comes from these extra controls. The BIAS is similar to rolling down your guitar volume which is the most elusive and sweetest spot of the Fuzz Face. It is what Hendrix sounds like when you think he's playing clean but it's so sparkly and biting that you know it ain't clean. The CONTOUR is like a tone or a body control which gives you more control over the spectral envelope of the sound. I like to keep it low so that the fuzz doesn't get too boomy.</div>
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What really got me going again with this pedal was changing trannies and re-biasing the 10k pot which had a huge impact on the sound. Low leakage trannies with Q1-70 hfe and Q2-110 hfe gave me the best results which in my opinion is a milder and smoother tone (far away as possible from a muff sound). The 10k pot was tweaked to get about 5.5V at Q2's collector-to-drain with the CONTOUR knob at halfway. </div>
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Other options for tweaking were using a PNP 2N3906 Silicon tranny at Q1 which really gave me surprisingly good sound, lowering the VOLUME pot to 250k which sounded brighter, adding 33pF caps from collector to base on Q2 as suggested by R.G. Keen, and lowering the 100k feedback resistor to get milder effect. None of these options lasted on my build but they are good and are working. I would, however, add a STARVE pot for a dying battery emulation effect and a BRIGHT switch to change the input cap. Maybe later this year.... </div>
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Among the many myths around the Fuzz Face some are true, namely, single coil pickups do seem to work best with this circuit. Also, Marshalls, Vox and HiWatt amps sound better than Fenders as far as I can judge. I also found that the Fuzz Face stacks rather well with overdrive pedals behind it and, surprisingly, sounds even better and tighter when I used a treble booster in front of it, although driving it too hard will change the fuzz character. I always thought it was a no no thing, but, it really adds focus and crunch that the original pedal lacks. It made me think of the Keeley Fuzz Head which looks like a Fuzz Face with an added treble booster stage pumping it.</div>
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So that's that. Listen to it and build it if you still haven't. It's the real deal. The classic combination </div>
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of Single coils-Fuzz Face-Marshall sounds even better when using a Marshall overdrive pedal like the Runoffgroove Thor. The cabinet emulation is a HiWatt 100W which is really the most transparent classic rock cabinet out there. I tried to cover all bases with the knobs at various positions and playing around with neck and bridge pickups and various volume levels on the guitar. You'll get the idea.<br />
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If you wanna turn your Fuzz Face '67 to an AnalogMan Sun Face just use the GGG Boutique '60s Fuzz Face schematic with the following 7 changes:<br />
1. Replace 2u2 input cap with a 1uF one.<br />
2. Replace the 100nF output cap with a 10nF one.<br />
3. Replace 500kA VOLUME pot with a 250kA pot.<br />
4. take the Q2 bias trimmer outside to an external knob for the Sun Dial. Use a 5k pot in series with a fixed 2k2 instead of the 1k fixed with the 10k trimmer.<br />
5. You can leave the 50k input pot or use a trimmer internally like the one in the Sun Face.<br />
6. You can leave the Contour pot or replace it with a fixed 470R instead of the 220R in series with the 1k pot.<br />
7. Try to find the NKT275 germs instead of the AC128 which I normally use.</div>
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Doron Barnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11002512823760367163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-162496036908090004.post-35649251692279790932014-02-15T14:59:00.005-08:002014-10-31T05:04:05.132-07:00The Peachy Fuzz <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii2WOHB50BX1YX9LfVcpTtgoM9nm7r42T83UNTA1ieKsKZsiVJ9h5OHK8Vg3x70Qhg2rsbniXBVpj7iPcxsJ72CtkczeKRZaBZ2edJJJfIAADOXGt7YlFDT7IeUA5uCkfe3-AFJfF0qm91/s1600/Peach+Fuzz+1+(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii2WOHB50BX1YX9LfVcpTtgoM9nm7r42T83UNTA1ieKsKZsiVJ9h5OHK8Vg3x70Qhg2rsbniXBVpj7iPcxsJ72CtkczeKRZaBZ2edJJJfIAADOXGt7YlFDT7IeUA5uCkfe3-AFJfF0qm91/s1600/Peach+Fuzz+1+(3).jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Peach Fuzz clone</td></tr>
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This one is a little off my main path (or the king's highway) towards the ultimate fuzz. The PeachFuzz is one of those new boutique, over-the-top fuzz boxes which you see by the hundreds. Actually, some of the best pedals you can get today are made by little boutique companies which have an enormous amount of pedals or at least update their catalog quite often. Because a lot of them are hand made or partly hand made they can change their designs quite fast and have a new pedal on the market every month, be it a modern clone of a classic fuzz, a newly designed fuzz, vintage overdrives, delays, you name it. To pay some tribute to these great manufacturers, here's a short and partial list of boutique pedal brands:</div>
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D*A*M , Analog.Man, Keeley Electronics, El Nano, Frantone, Skreddy Pedals, Wampler, Catalinbread, Devi Ever, ZVex, Fulltone, Love Pedals, Way Huge and the list goes on and on.</div>
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All these boutique brands sell top quality, great sounding pedals and they all have some unique designs which make them stand out. Some focus on their own designs while others focus on getting that vintage tone of the great legends of the past. Luckily you can't start a pedal company without having a killer fuzz box on the shelf, so the number of fuzz circuits and variants grew over the past few years from dozens to hundreds, hence...the fuzz explosion, or as I call it, fuzz-plosion.</div>
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One company that had some great designs but went out of business is Frantone and for a long time I have been looking at their offerings and always wanted to build a "Cream Puff" clone which sounded very interesting to me. As my want-to-build list just got longer I forgot about it for a while until I stumbled upon an article which ranked the best 50 distortion, overdrive and fuzz pedals of all times. Needless to say, every pedal I have ever built or wanted to build was there: Big Muff Pi, Tube Screamer, Fuzz Face, Tone Bender, Klon Centaur, Maestro Fuzz Tone, Pro-Co Rat, Range Master, Tycobrahe Octavia, Hot Cake, Fuzz Factory, Boss BD2, you name it. Wow....what a list....you should really check it out, I have building noise boxes for a while now and I can safely say that the most important pedals in rock history are definitely there:</div>
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<a href="http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/50-of-the-best-overdrive-distortion-and-fuzz-pedals-398998/1">http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/50-of-the-best-overdrive-distortion-and-fuzz-pedals-398998/1</a></div>
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Going over the list it turns out that the Frantone PeachFuzz, which I've never heard of before, reached number 47! very nice. Had to listen to it a few times on Youtube before I set my mind on building one. I figured it's kinda like a Big Muff style of sound, but the Schematic looked different and I thought I maybe I can learn something new. Took me a long time to get around to it, and decide on the layout and version to choose from.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.7272720336914px;">The Frantone Peach Fuzz. Entered the top 50! all-time distortion pedals </span></td></tr>
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Well, for the good things: It's a fuzz, it's tight and focused and it sounds like a good mid gain BMP clone...but......, it's just not that much of a fun-to-play with pedal. It has limited versatility with it's best with the FUZZ knob over half, and working the TONE knob can get you some Big Muff Pi op-amp style from the 70's. Not bad. But that's it. I figured it might be good to get some wicked sounds putting the fuzz in front of a real Muff or an overdrive so I decided to keep it and box it. After pairing it with some amp-like overdrive pedals I can say that I finally got it to sound good, focused and interesting.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blue knobs, blue LED, blue texts and peachy gradients</td></tr>
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Yellow faced and Blue "fonted" as on the original, Blue "knobed", blue LEDed and turned vertically for smaller rig footprint. I used the original circuit so there was no real way to change the name of the pedal. I just had to add some "peachy" texture so I painted the enclosure to give it more peach gradients.</div>
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Over the past few years I have tried a lot of circuits which didn't get boxed and remained naked in a drawer. This one got boxed because it's just a good sounding fuzz. It behaves well in a band setup and it gives great chords and solos.</div>
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So, the verified layout can be found on the Tagboardeffects blog:</div>
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<a href="http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.il/2012/03/frantone-peachfuzz.html" target="_blank">http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.il/2012/03/frantone-peachfuzz.html</a></div>
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The schematic I used is given here: <a href="http://i50.tinypic.com/1zc1eg4.jpg" target="_blank">http://i50.tinypic.com/1zc1eg4.jpg</a></div>
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The fact that this pedal is extinct by now makes it a better collector's DIY item and I think that recently I have grown more and more fond of its thunder.</div>
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FuzzBoxGirl's youtube video was removed for some reason so I added this video as there aren't many other PeachFuzz videos on the web anymore: </div>
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And if you can handle the power of this pedal, just listen below. I played a single coils tele through the PeachFuzz clone on a HiWatt 70's emulation amp. Listen to the various settings and then with a ROG Thor just behind the fuzz. Some of the riffs are also played with a treble booster in front of the PeachFuzz. This baby really roars. Take care, rock on!<br />
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<a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/doronbarness/peachfuzz-demo/?utm_source=widget&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=base_links&amp;utm_term=resource_link" style="color: #ffe000; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">PeachFuzz demo</a> by <a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/doronbarness/?utm_source=widget&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=base_links&amp;utm_term=profile_link" style="color: #ffe000; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Doron Barness</a> on <a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/?utm_source=widget&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=base_links&utm_term=homepage_link" style="color: #ffe000; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"> Mixcloud</a></div>
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Doron Barnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11002512823760367163noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-162496036908090004.post-29068245794608593662014-01-04T05:05:00.000-08:002016-06-02T21:42:50.482-07:00The Rites of Fuzz - The Ritefuzz: revisited and enhanced<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Green Spirit FuzzRite clone</td></tr>
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Ever since I started this blog I had this sound in my mind which I knew I just have to understand. I was always attracted to those elusive grainy buzz stutters of the early fuzzes. The problem with early fuzzes is that no one really knows what really happened in those studios back then.</div>
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Even after devouring every piece of information on the web, there are some unsolved mysteries regarding who used what and how and exactly when. The combinations are endless with the amount of differences the guitars, pedals and amps had back then. Transistors and components changed a lot and a lot of the stuff was customized.</div>
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As an example, think of the "Spirit in the Sky" by Norman Greenbaum which played a modified Tele with a fuzz circuit build inside the guitar, or the sound of Davie Allen and the Arrows which used parked wah in front of his Fuzz like Mick Ronson during the Spiders era. If you really want to understand those sounds, you have to start buying or building stuff.</div>
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Well, some of the best fuzz sounds ever recorded were never really confirmed as to how the sound was created. When I started building stuff, one of my first fuzz builds was the Orpheum Fuzz which was a simple silicon version which I decided to box. The sound was so far out and I really got to hear my guitar play Sky Saxon's incredible fuzz sound which was so sax-like. I was in heaven. Today I can really verify that the Orpheum Si fuzz played with a tele, volume knob a bit low, and through a VOX AC30 amp or sim cab, can be amazingly close to the sound I was after. I guarantee anyone who loves those ripped mid 60's garage sound will love this combination. It beats the Jordan Bosstone by a 1000 miles.</div>
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Yet, the Orpheum is so far out, that it won't give you the end of the scale which is Ennio Morricone's classic spaghetti western fuzz. For that you probably need a Mosrite Fuzzrite or a Maestro Fuzz Tone, and yes, you still need a tele and a Vox cab.</div>
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So I built the RFNR Green Bomb which was great but in 2 years of having it, I never really played it live a lot and I always ended up using the mighty Orpheum. After revisiting the circuit for the 20th time I finally ran into the John Kallas modded version which implemented some enhanced features. Now, the Fuzzrite is such a simple circuit that it would be really hard to achieve all those sounds in my head without some additions which would only do the circuit justice.</div>
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So, the simple circuit, shown below, just goes to show how closely related all these garage fuzz schemes. A few value changes can have a strong effect with such a small part count Although very close to the Fuzzrite design, the Orpheum is a much stronger design with many similarities in sound to the Shinei Fuzz Companion FY-2. If you ever run into Psycho Candy by Jesus and the Mary Chain, you'll notice right at the first chord the FY-2. If you like the Ventures, Dick Dale, The seeds, The Stooges and Garage Psych in general, 80% of these bands, I guess played a Fuzzrite at some point between 1966-1969.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.7272720336914px;">Variations on the basic Fuzzrite design from the Aronnelson gallery</span></td></tr>
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I ended up ripping the guts out of my Green Spirit (RFNR Green Bomb) and replacing it with a true Fuzzrite and then added the mods recommended by John Kallas. These are basically</div>
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<li>22k resistor from 2n2 tone cap to ground.</li>
<li>An extra TONE pot with a 100n cap to control the highs (seems that I like this pot cranked most of the time).</li>
<li>An added J201 gain stage to bring the volume back up at the end of the circuit so you easily get unity volume.</li>
<li>A higher cap value on a switch so that the DEPTH/FUZZ pot can yield fuller and fatter sound.</li>
<li>An extra pot for PREGAIN which helps getting the sound of a lowered guitar volume knob.</li>
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The John Kallas version can be found here:</div>
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<a href="http://johnkvintageguitars.homestead.com/Effects/Fuzz-ODs/Mosrite/01-Fuzzrite_with_mods.png">http://johnkvintageguitars.homestead.com/Effects/Fuzz-ODs/Mosrite/01-Fuzzrite_with_mods.png</a></div>
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And, of course, it is always worth to visit the great layouts by Mark and Mirosol on TagboardFX blog: <a href="http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.il/2010/07/mosrite-fuzzrite.html">http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.il/2010/07/mosrite-fuzzrite.html</a></div>
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That's what I really love about building fuzz circuits. Getting the best possible design is part of the fun. So now I have a new Green Spirit, named after Greenbaum and his Spirit in the Sky guitar tone. I could have easily found 10 different names for that pedal based on the words Hoodoo, Seeds, Ventures, Misirlou, Spaghetti Westerns, Devil's Rumble and the list goes on.<br />
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In the demo below I simply played around with the knobs to get some of the tones I was looking for. 2 2N222A trannies were used because the original 2N2926 NPN trannies haven't arrived yet and I couldn't wait. A tele and a VOX AC30 cab sim at both ends of this wonderful beast with some added fender '63 style spring reverb.<span style="text-align: justify;"> </span><br />
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<span style="text-align: justify;">Don't miss out on this one. If you have to build one fuzz to rule them all, one fuzz for all your crazy 60's aspirations, one fuzz - grainy and harsh, buzzy and saxy, zippy and gnarly then this is IT !!! Even the "Satisfaction" riff sounds amazing with this pedal. Don't believe me? check out the demo and skip to 14:36.</span><br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="240" src="//www.mixcloud.com/widget/iframe/?feed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mixcloud.com%2Fdoronbarness%2Fgreen-spirit-fuzzrite-teleac30%2F&mini=&stylecolor=&hide_artwork=&embed_type=widget_standard&embed_uuid=7144757f-7f2a-4650-b3e5-9a802fe68bd6&hide_tracklist=&hide_cover=&autoplay=" width="520"></iframe><br />
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<a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/doronbarness/green-spirit-fuzzrite-teleac30/?utm_source=widget&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=base_links&utm_term=resource_link" style="color: #02a0c7; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Green Spirit - Fuzzrite (Tele+AC30)</a> by <a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/doronbarness/?utm_source=widget&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=base_links&utm_term=profile_link" style="color: #02a0c7; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Doron Barness</a> on <a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/?utm_source=widget&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=base_links&utm_term=homepage_link" style="color: #02a0c7; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"> Mixcloud</a></div>
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<br />Doron Barnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11002512823760367163noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-162496036908090004.post-86463194894504562352013-12-13T03:48:00.000-08:002013-12-13T03:48:37.978-08:00Fuzzquest shares Joe Gore's Fuzz detective videoWow....I just have to share this video as this guy is on a true fuzz quest for 60s Germanium mayham. Take 12 pedals and play the same chain and same riffs, chords, whatever so that you can actually understand the different attitude of each one. I love the extra stuff he puts as what each fuzz was famous for and some of the famous riffs recorded with it.<br />
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Check out his blog and his other related videos. Great job!<br />
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Doron Barnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11002512823760367163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-162496036908090004.post-87793673108695778462013-12-09T14:07:00.003-08:002013-12-09T14:07:55.093-08:00Silicon Tone Bender mkII: Revisited<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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This is the first time I am revisiting a pedal and rebuilding it all over again. As you probably already know, the Tone Bender is one of the most elusive and tricky fuzz pedals around. The Germanium versions are hard to bias and you have to order specially selected transistors. This is not all that difficult once you understand how to measure hfe (gain) and leakage. Nevertheless, I have never built a true vintage Germanium Tone Bender and when I do, it will probably be a Prescription Electronics Yard Box or a true MK I version.</div>
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Anyway, I let the first Led Bender go and now it is happily crushing stages around the Zurich area with a really great band called Rivercash. I couldn't live without it so I had to build another one, and again, I tried starting out with the regular silicon versions which are running around the web. What can I say? another flop. No version sounded good and I couldn't understand why. The next thing I did was go back to the Hot Silicon version which sounded so well with my first Led Bender build. Voila...like magic. Wonderful buzz fuzz duzz muzz nuzz.</div>
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<a href="http://fuzzquest.blogspot.co.il/2012/11/bending-your-tone-for-page.html" target="_blank">http://fuzzquest.blogspot.co.il/2012/11/bending-your-tone-for-page.html</a><br />
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I re-checked some of the biasing issues and ended up going closer to the Yard Box version with the 3.3k resistor attached to the Fuzz pot. All other biasing resistors seemed OK. Next, I changed the input capacitor on the FAT switch from 10uF to 100nF to get the Yard Box input cap. Transistors, as before Q1 and Q4 low gain 2N2369. Q2 2N3904 or some other medium gain tranny. Q3 BC108 or other medium gain tranny. I also tried 2N222A at Q3 and it was equally great. The tone knob was reversed so that cranking it would enable a fuller tone and CCW would make it thin and nasty.</div>
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The real magic with this pedal is on the lower settings of the Fuzz/Attack pot. Between 0 and 4 (on a 1 to 10 scale), the fuzz has some really great sounding crunch with the TONE knob crancked for full body. Lowering the guitar volume knob a little gives you some great unheard overdrives.</div>
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Here are some gut shots:<br />
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And about the artwork: I started with the Gold Glitter BB1590 from Mammoth and started painting using the same concept of the Zoso sign from Jimmy Page and added the other Zeppelin symbols around the sides, and of course, my ZUS logo which really complements the Page Zoso.</div>
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So, don't let this one go unbuilt. It's silicon, so it's guaranteed to deliver. And you know the best thing? When I hooked it up in front of a silicon Fuzz Face? AAAAmmmmaaazzziiing tone. You can really dial those Stoner Rock, Doom, Garage, Noise Grunge, Psychedelic Heavy Rock sound.</div>
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Probably one of my top 5 fuzz combinations!<br />
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Fuzz On.<br />
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<br />Doron Barnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11002512823760367163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-162496036908090004.post-57790807588395926792013-10-05T11:55:00.005-07:002014-02-15T10:54:27.431-08:00The Real Muff Pie<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw1wFtwg4B7oS1gk1t7bUjglC5citNZbxSZOIvnn7JG45vZUMI7fSOb_BaBwFNAZROzUJI3J-vSj2-cVmYdAFLo3eDKQk7dAcAekeoXcVngR7fQUrCUxUUKQWCP9RBAeC8ZWkSH02o5sMN/s1600/Big+Muff++(4).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw1wFtwg4B7oS1gk1t7bUjglC5citNZbxSZOIvnn7JG45vZUMI7fSOb_BaBwFNAZROzUJI3J-vSj2-cVmYdAFLo3eDKQk7dAcAekeoXcVngR7fQUrCUxUUKQWCP9RBAeC8ZWkSH02o5sMN/s1600/Big+Muff++(4).jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Big Muff Pi clone</td></tr>
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OK, you guys, we are very close to getting FuzzQuest blog on a climax this time.</div>
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If I had to choose 3 fuzz pedals to achieve the widest spectrum of fuzz sounds I would say that the 3 top pedals would be the Maestro Fuzz Tone, The Fuzz Face and the EHX Big Muff Pi (of course I could have chosen 3 other pedals if you asked me that question tomorrow morning). The Maestro Fuzz Tone is what you would call an early fuzz sound (1962-1966), similar in many ways to the early Tone Benders, raspy, buzzy, noisy and grainy like the Fuzzrite, Orpheum and the Super fuzz. The Fuzz Face is the legendary Hendrix or Gilmour fuzz sound (1967-1973), very fat, smooth and much heavier. However, when you take fuzz a step further (1971-2013) into metal, doom, grunge, acid blues and other heavy rock forms, there is one fuzz to rule them all. It's almost the end of the journey for you if you are after that kind of sound. After that you can maybe chain 2 fuzz pedals in a row, have boosters in front, make some mods to the design, but it doesn't really get any heavier than this (there are some attempts, though...).</div>
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The Big Muff Pi pedal is <i>the</i> holy grail of fuzz pedals for many rock guitarists. It's very much like the Tube Screamer in its legendary reputation. Both designs were pretty simple and became the source for numerous versions, clones, re-issues and variants. Both designs became cornerstones in rock history and made a huge impact on the development of rock and guitar sound. You could say that the Tube screamer is <i>the</i> overdrive in the same way that the Big Muff is <i>the </i>Fuzz pedal and it's what many people would describe as the sound of fuzz, without going into details too much.</div>
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The Big Muff designed by Bob Myer and Mike Matthews was originally based on the earlier designs of fuzz pedals heavily used by the late great Jimi James, a.k.a. Jimi Hendrix, and was first issued in NYC around 1969. The fuzz that roared out of this pedal was so thick, rich, creamy and heavy that once people started using it, there was no way back. The name Big Muff with the PIE sign is obviously a sex related name (see the <a href="http://fuzzquest.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-fluffy-fuzz-cake.html" target="_blank">22/7 fuzz post</a> on this blog), based on the association of the word muff pie (oh boy) with the words fuzz, fuzzy, fuzz face and the general habit of pedal designers to name pedals after sexist male associations (Ever heard of the Merkin fuzz?). The pedal retained sound consistency due to the use of Silicon transistors and the use of 4 of them meant you had a buffer pre gain stage, a dual gain stage similar to older designs and an active tone control. Luxurious design! throughout the history of this pedal, various transistors and a lot of the passive parts values changed. Sometimes for getting different sound, but mostly due to changes in the parts inventory of the factory at the time. This resulted in a huge amount of variants. The most famous versions became the Triangle (for the arrangement of the knobs) which is the original design with its silver enclosure, the Ram's Head version which had slightly different values and transistors, the Green Russian made in Russia during the mid-90s with its famous khaki army-like enclosure and the 1977 V4 design with its red and black graphics which became the most famous graphical design for the big muffs re-issues.<br />
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Below are two images of typical BMP versions from various eras:</div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju5_KwZH2eRS5HFDGl0WRFNOTKYeWpghfEHuh3OgbP4L-IhBlSyp1eGUqpfecafWeWgfuT81HS_bTovUfO_joVP9wso0wZhKYCq25DwcHVV9LvyuSpFT1FxnqEsIshN9neL_uXE7ojzsBG/s1600/USA+Muff+Collection.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju5_KwZH2eRS5HFDGl0WRFNOTKYeWpghfEHuh3OgbP4L-IhBlSyp1eGUqpfecafWeWgfuT81HS_bTovUfO_joVP9wso0wZhKYCq25DwcHVV9LvyuSpFT1FxnqEsIshN9neL_uXE7ojzsBG/s320/USA+Muff+Collection.jpg" height="189" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">The USA designs from the late 60s through the 70s and the re-issues of the 90s and the 21st century</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY30vMCOIr5FTSfocRMztd_9XU8VE2yBM7Tp9roYhC3u06d_eedzkQ-STKkgtoForWMO6GB-Mb3E8wi7JNne_n0MkH_dgcNXLQxN2yV9tgL2W4fbuSExQuZHHmv8D8SXW98WcQebkeE_AR/s1600/SOVTEK+MUFF+COLLECTION.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY30vMCOIr5FTSfocRMztd_9XU8VE2yBM7Tp9roYhC3u06d_eedzkQ-STKkgtoForWMO6GB-Mb3E8wi7JNne_n0MkH_dgcNXLQxN2yV9tgL2W4fbuSExQuZHHmv8D8SXW98WcQebkeE_AR/s320/SOVTEK+MUFF+COLLECTION.jpg" height="201" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">The Russian designs from the 90s<br />
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It would be redundant to go deep into the history and circuit design of this beast of a pedal as there is so much info on the web already. Just take a look at:</div>
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<a href="http://www.kitrae.net/music/music_big_muff.html">http://www.kitrae.net/music/music_big_muff.html</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.kitrae.net/music/big_muff_history.html">http://www.kitrae.net/music/big_muff_history.html</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.pisotones.com/BigMuffPi/psst/BMP_versions.htm">http://www.pisotones.com/BigMuffPi/psst/BMP_versions.htm</a></div>
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a quick version review can be found on:</div>
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<a href="http://www.kitrae.net/music/music_big_muff_tone_differences.html">http://www.kitrae.net/music/music_big_muff_tone_differences.html</a></div>
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On these pages you can find anything from the transistors used on each design, the schematic nuances, the enclosure changes and the artistic graphic designs. Who played what is also probably very interesting for many people. Hendrix used the original version during in his late career, Gilmour started using Big muffs around 1975-1976 and later on. He used the original Triangle version and the Violet and Ram's Head version from the early 70s .Billy Corgan and his Pumpkins used a 1978 op-amp version from 1978 in the Siamese Dream album. 8 tracks of muffed guitars at once all through a Marshall JCM800 with a Strat or a Les Paul. "Huge Huge Sound" was what Billy called it. After the album came out the price of a BMP pedal sky rocketed from 40 bucks to 200 bucks!!! What a comeback. J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. and Witch used a lot of early BMP versions throughout his career. He likes to put two in a row for super thunderous muff sound. Jack White of the White Stripes has used the BMP quite extensively although he is also known for using a lot of early fuzz pedals as well. </div>
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A huge list of BMP users can be found on:<br />
<a href="http://www.kitrae.net/music/big_muff_users.html">http://www.kitrae.net/music/big_muff_users.html</a></div>
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The list includes so many names it's hard to count but just to name a few: Robert Fripp (Guild Foxey Lady 1972-1974), Steve Howe of Yes (Triangle), Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo of Sonic Youth (Sovtek "Civil War"), Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, John Frusciante of Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Edge of U2, Pete Townshend of The Who, Dan Aurbach of the Black Keys, Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine, Jamie Cook of Arctic Monkeys, Cliff Burton of Metallica, Ace Frehley of Kiss, Jeff Pinkus and Paul Leary of the Butthole Surfers, Stephen Malkmus of Pavement and many many others. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLBSYqie-JTHUJwXuXTyeJ28B3erlxgSs3dJciBhi08ovgPDoZmzKzuziUTlTm8FMLOt4jzrO_-mctf5LSVpOc4fkE5watVk6jMlstDGccgIoo250CLYO7P3tMRF4Nn4SOgHwQSTWuF3Dz/s1600/Big+Muff++%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLBSYqie-JTHUJwXuXTyeJ28B3erlxgSs3dJciBhi08ovgPDoZmzKzuziUTlTm8FMLOt4jzrO_-mctf5LSVpOc4fkE5watVk6jMlstDGccgIoo250CLYO7P3tMRF4Nn4SOgHwQSTWuF3Dz/s1600/Big+Muff++%25281%2529.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The ZUS Pi</td></tr>
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Enough of the Big muff stories and on to the DIY clone build: My build was made with a wedged enclosure and a circuit design very similar to the Violet Ram's Head BMP from 1973, the early Guild Foxey Lady and also similar to the transistor V4 design from the 1977-1978 era. These versions were known for their use of the 2N5133 transistors. In fact the importance of these trannies is most crucial for the sound on Q2 and Q3. Q1 and Q4 are less critical so I used BC238 trannies which are medium gain trannies. The knobs are chicken black and the 3PDT switch enables true bypass. The sound is pretty amazing, rich and smooth fuzz on any setting. The TONE is super effective and on different areas really changes the sound of the fuzz, it's not the regular passive hi-cut we know from other designs. This is why the BMP tone stack became so popular and was implemented in so many different pedals. The SUSTAIN sounds dull on the minimum setting but anywhere above it is absolutely fuzz-a-licious. I used orange rooster knobs and painted the wedge enclosure with some flame-like brush strokes.</div>
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Build any of the versions as shown below:</div>
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<a href="http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/projects/17-distortion/108-big-muff-pi">http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/projects/17-distortion/108-big-muff-pi</a></div>
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or:</div>
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<a href="http://www.tonepad.com/getFile.asp?id=95" target="_blank">http://www.tonepad.com/getFile.asp?id=95</a></div>
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or:</div>
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<a href="http://www.bigmuffpage.com/Big_Muff_Pi_versions_schematics_part1.html">http://www.bigmuffpage.com/Big_Muff_Pi_versions_schematics_part1.html</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.bigmuffpage.com/Big_Muff_Pi_versions_schematics_part3.html">http://www.bigmuffpage.com/Big_Muff_Pi_versions_schematics_part2.html</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.bigmuffpage.com/Big_Muff_Pi_versions_schematics_part3.html">http://www.bigmuffpage.com/Big_Muff_Pi_versions_schematics_part3.html</a></div>
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What a huge selection of schematics, hu? Triangle or Ram's Head if you want vintage style. op-amp if you want the Smashing Pumpkins sound, Civil War or Green Russian for that grungy alternative rock sound. This is a monster fuzz any way you build it. Stack two in a row or one with an overdrive behind it or a fuzz face style pedal in front of it and you can get all sorts of fuzz bliss.</div>
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Here are some noises I made with my version:</div>
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="180" src="//www.mixcloud.com/widget/iframe/?feed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mixcloud.com%2Fdoronbarness%2Fbig-muff-clone-demo%2F&mini=&stylecolor=a5bcd5&hide_artwork=&embed_type=widget_standard&embed_uuid=46acda18-9186-40b3-9ed6-b63ed8a867cf&hide_tracklist=1&hide_cover=" width="480"></iframe><br />
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<a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/doronbarness/big-muff-clone-demo/?utm_source=widget&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=base_links&utm_term=resource_link" style="color: #a5bcd5; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Big Muff clone demo</a> by <a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/doronbarness/?utm_source=widget&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=base_links&utm_term=profile_link" style="color: #a5bcd5; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Doron Barness</a> on <a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/?utm_source=widget&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=base_links&utm_term=homepage_link" style="color: #a5bcd5; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"> Mixcloud</a></div>
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Doron Barnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11002512823760367163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-162496036908090004.post-71692464310467317942013-09-20T06:39:00.000-07:002014-11-14T23:39:09.783-08:00Ginger Bread Bass. Hot from the oven <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb-F3U_3-he7bvehSqz4-BkkgT_ASTcM8k1icbxPJ11nAiSkPcvdswhvQjgkCu6_PKDhhcvsghyphenhyphen9xZf0NgEBNMSbDeSbPkO97ANY1YhfwrBEtsn_hvVyBL-cPJgTaBRzGVKLk8Oz4QSpkQ/s1600/Ginger++%25283%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb-F3U_3-he7bvehSqz4-BkkgT_ASTcM8k1icbxPJ11nAiSkPcvdswhvQjgkCu6_PKDhhcvsghyphenhyphen9xZf0NgEBNMSbDeSbPkO97ANY1YhfwrBEtsn_hvVyBL-cPJgTaBRzGVKLk8Oz4QSpkQ/s320/Ginger++%25283%2529.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
It has has been a while since I revamped my bass sound palette. I have been using bass fuzzes, distortions and filters of all kinds and I was pretty satisfied. I love the RAT clone on bass giving me the Kim Gordon, Sonic Youth style. I love the Mu-Tron III or the Tri-Vibe (Uni-Vibe) on bass for some really wacked synthy filtering sounds, and I always sleep well after a night out with a Big Muff, Germanium Fuzz Face or Fuzzrite for killer chain-saw bass riffs. One thing I never got was that sweet overdrive of those old Ampeg amps. Even the Runoffgroove Flipster was not a constant lodger on my rig since I was just not using it enough although it sounded pretty strong and biting. When Runoffgroove came out with the Ginger circuit and stated that it was an improvement over the Flipster, I couldn't resist and it has been sitting on my wish list for over a year.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.7272720336914px;">The original 1965-1971 Ampeg SB-12 Portaflex.<br />A 12" recording work horse.</span></td></tr>
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Well I finished it and ordered the most beautiful ginger-sparkly-rust enclosure on Mammoth Electronics. When I first played it I knew that it will most definitely replace the Flipster on the bass rig and that just maybe I found that 60's bass sound I love so much. Moreover, what really stunned me was the great overdrive sound it gave me on my electric guitar with humbuckers. Wow, if you want to drive your guitar with some heavy bass fuzz riffs, this unit can really complement a good fuzz for ultra pumping riffs.<br />
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The Project itself was not difficult and the noise was not enough to go and replace the trimmers with fixed resistors once you bias the 2N5457 Q1 and Q2. In fact, I always socket my trannies so that I can replace them or test a few before settling down. I did have to troubleshoot a bit. On the first attempt to bias Q1 I realized that the trimmer does not change the drain voltage at all. I found out the circuit ground was not connected. What a shame. Then I saw it still didn't work after I connected the ground. Found out another connection was not properly soldered or was it a cold soldering case? I don't know but once the little troubleshooting was done I was in bass heaven for about an hour until I realized it was 2 in the morning.<br />
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This build certainly got me going berserk on my bass all over again and that's what I like about it. I don't have a fender P-bass or a J-bass but I am convinced that this pedal sounds even better on fender basses than it does on my Music-Man style bass.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="180" src="//www.mixcloud.com/widget/iframe/?feed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mixcloud.com%2Fdoronbarness%2Fginger-bass-by-runoffgroove%2F&show_tracklist=&stylecolor=ab8354&hide_artwork=&mini=&embed_type=widget_standard&embed_uuid=939bb0f3-e9a3-467a-981c-d971ff4816d7&hide_cover=" width="480"></iframe><br />
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<a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/doronbarness/ginger-bass-by-runoffgroove/?utm_source=widget&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=base_links&utm_term=resource_link" style="color: #ab8354; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Ginger bass by Runoffgroove</a> by <a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/doronbarness/?utm_source=widget&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=base_links&utm_term=profile_link" style="color: #ab8354; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Doron Barness</a> on <a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/?utm_source=widget&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=base_links&utm_term=homepage_link" style="color: #ab8354; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"> Mixcloud</a></div>
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The schematic, and pref-board layout which I love so much from Runoffgroove can be found <a href="http://www.runoffgroove.com/ginger.html" target="_blank">here</a>. It's too bad the guys over there at Runoffgroove have stopped publishing layouts. I really dig their designs and so does anyone I know. I just might print a T-shirt with a "holler" to bring them back to earth.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZe3JLVxGrGZUJUle_xxFXzn6w0m3AGop-iLgddGoZe1Lyu48d-ydh0md_aZBd3IL-b5IdJu2jNry_ejnNfOamzA2O4v5kyXhtKoGsnQhkmaSViPxr8sSTCgNrmF_esVD8UyxUvCuOND7Q/s1600/Ginger++%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZe3JLVxGrGZUJUle_xxFXzn6w0m3AGop-iLgddGoZe1Lyu48d-ydh0md_aZBd3IL-b5IdJu2jNry_ejnNfOamzA2O4v5kyXhtKoGsnQhkmaSViPxr8sSTCgNrmF_esVD8UyxUvCuOND7Q/s320/Ginger++%25282%2529.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Doron Barnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11002512823760367163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-162496036908090004.post-67407570827490223132013-07-27T11:06:00.001-07:002013-07-27T12:47:42.387-07:00Thy Last Screamer <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Landgraff's Tube Screamer Clone</td></tr>
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Well, this was about to happen sooner or later. Once I started this blog I knew that one day I will build a Tube Screamer clone or something like it. However, I never, in my life, would have imagined that I would spend so much time choosing the best version for me and I sure never imagined that there were so damn many versions, variants and clones all built around the same basic topology. The original design was developed by S. Tamura in the late 70's for Ibanez and was issued after a few pilot versions as TS-808 in 1979. </div>
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The schematic basically revolves around the operational amplifier which is hooked up with a diode clipping pair on the negative feedback loop. This is the overdrive section which is very common to all Tube Screamer offsprings. When the diodes go into clipping due to a drop in the forward voltage on the diodes, you get a saturated clipping tone. This is what happens when you crank the DRIVE knob. It increases the gain on a resistor hooked up in parallel to the clipping diodes and thus more juice is fed through to clipping. Various designs of clipping pairs can be used like 1N914 or LED pairs. Clipping can be symmetrical or asymmetrical. It means that if you run a sine waveform through the gain stage you get a distorted waveform which looks more like a rectangular shape. There is also a clever chain of filters designed to get rid of some bass before clipping occurs and then stage.</div>
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Below you can find a schematic of the two stages: The clipping stage with its high-pass filter in front, and the post clipping EQ'ing. </div>
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<img height="68" src="http://www.bteaudio.com/articles/TSS/images/image006.png" width="640" /><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small; text-align: start;">The clipping stage with its high-pass filter in front, and the post clipping EQ'ing with its lo-pass and hi-pass shelving filter.</span></td></tr>
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The filter design is what makes the Tube Screamer cut so well through the mix and it always sound punchy. it's very mid range in terms of equalization. Also the original TS and most of its variants employ an input and output buffers. So, to sum things up the Tube Screamer overdrive style is a very sweet and warm one with plenty of mid-range not a lot of body. The complexity and success of its design made it possible to get a lot of different colors by implementing small changes to the circuit. A lot about the magic within the electronics can be learned from the links below:</div>
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<a href="http://www.bteaudio.com/articles/TSS/TSS.html">http://www.bteaudio.com/articles/TSS/TSS.html</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.analogman.com/tshist.htm">http://www.analogman.com/tshist.htm</a></div>
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Among the endless list of clones and variants you can find: BOSS OD-1, MJM Phantom Overdrive, Landgraff Dynamic Overdive, Green Machine, Little Green Wonder, MAXON 808, Retro Sonic eight o eight, Signa Drive, Maxon OD820, HBE Power Screamer, Toadworks Texas Flood, Visual Sounds Route 66, Xacttone Multi Drive, SBN Lil Screaming Eagle, Pedalworx Tejas, Lovepedal Burst Eternity, Cusack Screamer, Way Huge Green Rhino, Clay Jones OD, Fulltone Fulldrive 2, Love Pedal OD11 and many others, all categorized under the tedious label YATS (Yet Another Tube Screamer).</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYsJ1y-lWUa9gtXgNd3p-xtksYcxaGvhxOmjEJ622KgoOTIRMY2t2iTbzbOA2bB9IZRHpppEsRyn1-UY-MoMWHuMuDA6hyEU7YSl_YP-5F3A8lMz8VdMdX8ipJZO6a1L1YM4U-AZTLayMV/s1600/Scream-a-delic+(5).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYsJ1y-lWUa9gtXgNd3p-xtksYcxaGvhxOmjEJ622KgoOTIRMY2t2iTbzbOA2bB9IZRHpppEsRyn1-UY-MoMWHuMuDA6hyEU7YSl_YP-5F3A8lMz8VdMdX8ipJZO6a1L1YM4U-AZTLayMV/s320/Scream-a-delic+(5).JPG" title="Scream-A-Delic Overdrive" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scream-a-delic Dynamic Overdrive</td></tr>
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After listening to loads of Youtube videos and reading endless reviews and recommendations I built the basic "skeleton" similar to the Runoffgroove <a href="http://www.runoffgroove.com/tubereamer.html" target="_blank">"Tube Reamer"</a> and started experimenting with various designs. I ended up really loving the versatility and tone of the Landgraff Dynamic Overdrive (LDO) which became sort of legendary, maybe because it was a boutique and expensive pedal, but maybe because it just sounds fantastic. I don't know. Anyway this baby rocks so well that I ended up giving it to our band's guitarist and he doesn't plan on giving it back to me. Along with the Boss BD-2 and a Wah-wah in front he has the most creamy and sweet sound you can imagine. </div>
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I built the layout using the JRC4558D op-amp and a pair of 2SC1815 trannies for the buffers. A really nice addition by Landgraff is the clipping switch which let's you choose between symmetric LED clipping, asymmetric diode clipping (1N914) and no clipping at all which makes the unit act as a nice mid range booster. I didn't use any ready made layout and just built the entire thing according to the schematic from beginning to end. Got it right the first time... <br />
If you want to imagine the sound of the screamer think of the SRV blues tone and the sweet Gibson sound of R.E.M. or Oasis. That's the sound. Being such a big psychedelia addict I named it "SCREAM-A-DELIC" to stay in context with the original Screamer but to give it some nice Scottish Primal Scream vibe (and yes, I noticed that I miss spelled the "Scream"...ooops).<br />
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Until I get my audio clip together, here's a review from the best in the business - the Gearmanndude. He's got a few of those videos featuring the LDO amd it's a killer pedal, even next to some boutique legends like the Zendrive and the original screamers.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/eOYeAdBtm7E" width="459"></iframe>
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Don't think twice. Built the LDO or another YATS, and yeah, it is that good! You can find the Clay Jones schematic with a nice layout <a href="http://hotbottles.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/grandlaff.jpg" target="_blank">here</a> or <a href="http://www.cruachan-audio.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/schems/gradlaff.jpg" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
Doron Barnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11002512823760367163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-162496036908090004.post-80856425016140058082013-05-23T13:24:00.001-07:002013-06-01T04:24:25.877-07:00A Nu Tone clone for the old Mu-Tron III<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Mu-Tron III clone - NU-TONE III</td></tr>
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For a very long time I have been interested, mainly, in pedals which gave me sweet fuzz and overdrive crunchy sounds. This is because I use them. It seems pointless to build too many pedals if you don't use them. I did build the wonderful ROG (Runoffgroove) Tri-Vibe and loved it, I did buy reverb and delay pedals and I use them all the time. However, I am always ready to dive into a new sonic adventure if given the proper incentive. Well this time I was approached by a guy who runs a gig-rehearsal room-bar kinda place and he saw our band's pedal arsenal and asked me to build him a pedal which is called Mu-tron III by Musitronics.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stevie and the Original 1972 Mu-Tron III</td></tr>
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This pedal is <i>the</i> sound of funky 70s bass, clavinet, guitar and more. After Stevie Wonder hooked it up to his clavinet and had it do the auto-wah thing for his wah-clavinet everybody from Bootsy Collins on bass to Jerry Garcia on his guitar were wahkin' off their instruments on stage and on albums. It is actually an envelope controlled filter which was made to produce synth sounds from regular instruments. It's quite a unique piece of gear running on 18V and having opto-isolators as the coupling mechanism for the envelope generators. It was built in 1972 by a spin-off company of Guild Guitars who wanted to make a synth for guitars and ended up as Musitronics and built some nice synth-like pedals for a large range of instruments including this crazy auto-wah pedal called the Mu-Tron III. In the 90's Electro-Harmonix used the original circuit to issue their more updated Q-Tron family. </div>
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When I researched it I was super thrilled by the challenge and told him I would make him one. I didn't have a clue where to begin but after a few hours which became days I understood what this legendary pedal was all about and I found the schematics, layouts, manuals and most important a ready-to-solder PCB from JD Sleep at GeneralGuitarGadgets which I love so much.<br />
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The next issue was locating all the parts with 2 key components which I didn't find, the opto-isolators. There were a few options how to go that path and I chose to listen to Steve Daniels at SmallBear who recommended the H11F3 Photocouplers which were supposed to be similar to the Original Hamamatsu ones. Other options seemed less appealing to me and sure didn't want to go into building my own couplers with a LED and an LDR hooked up together.<br />
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<span style="text-align: justify;">From reading about the circuit design it was also obvious that tuning the unit's frequency response with a single resistor would make the unit less versatile and I decided to add a 10k pot instead. This pot gave me an extra frequency sweep control which made the filter pedal even more versatile and playing with it was like a manual frequency knob on an analog synth filter. Great Fun, check out this audio clip below:</span><br />
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Anyway, while building this incredible pedal as an order to a friend who plays bass, I knew I had to have another one for myself. So...I built a second one.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXez1fzCJXwXPFM1-JuxXGf-QtgCJIBL0g14tLWFXOYfoR8v4ZUPhCvaMM-j9TRdguqLgbgA8ReUHHf4TQ1VNWXEkLGBVblV_JzNoMPRTBatCpxd5lFGnhyt8wBG8R-mn912qA_HVzuer9/s1600/Nu-Tron+IV+%25287%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXez1fzCJXwXPFM1-JuxXGf-QtgCJIBL0g14tLWFXOYfoR8v4ZUPhCvaMM-j9TRdguqLgbgA8ReUHHf4TQ1VNWXEkLGBVblV_JzNoMPRTBatCpxd5lFGnhyt8wBG8R-mn912qA_HVzuer9/s200/Nu-Tron+IV+%25287%2529.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The GGG PCB all populated and ready for wiring up</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Experimenting with the unit prior to the artwork</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Planning the Artwork</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The finished Mu-tron clone unit - Nu-Tone III</td></tr>
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Once again, with a fuzz or an overdrive you could get the Prodigy's Voodoo People synth loop or a lot of really crazy riffs with a hard Electro-Rock feel. Fuzz after the pedal sounds good but it is really best to place it before the pedal that makes the envelope filter shine through.<br />
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If you get the PCB you can do it without to much trouble. It would be braver to go at it without a ready-to-solder PCB. Also don't pass on the 9-18V charge pump option, it's a must. One think I am not to certain of was the bypass switch which is accomplished using a FET instead of a normal true bypass configuration. It works, nevertheless.<br />
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There are so many settings with this baby and so many options that it blows me away. Subtle or hard, LP, HP, UP and DOWN, it's really the Endless Enigma (if you know what I mean...ELP...), I just wish I would play more music that demands this kind of sound. I usually use it nowadays on bass more but for a Clavinet or a Rhodes style electric piano it would be a killer.<br />
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GGG have all the necessary technical info right <a href="https://www.generalguitargadgets.com/projects/19-filters-envelope/112-geo-neutron-filter" target="_blank">here</a>. It's off the beaten fuzz track but certainly a worthwhile addition to your fuzz tone arsenal of eccentricities.<br />
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<br />Doron Barnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11002512823760367163noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-162496036908090004.post-1788568953139457002013-04-26T06:49:00.000-07:002013-04-26T21:18:30.909-07:00So ya thought ya might like to...be a DIY dude? <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Basic DIY parts - Boards, resistors, capacitors, semiconductors and wires</td></tr>
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Today I figured I'd do something a little different. Instead of bragging about another Fuzz I built and sharing my thoughts, I thought it would be a good point to stop for a minute and share some of the DIYer's daily routine. </div>
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I've been an electronics geek since I was 9 and by the age of 11 I already had more than a few solder iron burns on my hand. I built mostly DIY kits and I was happy. around the age of 20 I started getting into electronic music and musical gadgets. Over the years I've built PAiA kits which came out excellent and have proven to be very useful and great sounding musical tools. It was only 3 years ago or so that I started really getting into guitar DIY pedals and amps. It all started with the Ruby amp by ROG and the Noisy Cricket from Beavis Audio. The amount of blogs, websites, tutorials and general info I found was so overwhelming that there was really no way back. At the time, I had a few commercial pedals like the TubeWorks Real Tube Overdrive, the VOX 847 Wah pedal and the fantastic Ibanez DD7 delay (which was the best birthday present I got from my wife after it was stolen during a gig). After a few fuzz and overdrive pedals I knew I would never buy another commercial grit pedal and the quest for the perfect fuzz circuit began. One thing I must admit is that I always wanted to build a spring reverb effect and have yet to achieve that. I did get myself this year (birthday again) the TC Hall of Fame reverb pedal which is an excellent addition to my ever growing rig.</div>
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So let's get down to business....If you're a noobe, a rookie, or just a dude who is trying to make a pedal in the real world, here's a short review of what you will need, and what you will need to know to get the job done. I wouldn't call myself a super experienced veteran, but I did build about 40 pedals and other audio gadgets over the past years and I made a hell of a progress over this period.</div>
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My <b><i>10 commandments</i></b> for the DIY beginner:</div>
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify;">You don't need to be an electronic engineer to build a pedal, but you can't built anything right without having some <b><i>basic understanding of electronics</i></b>. You need to know what a resistor is what are capacitors, diodes, transistors, voltage, current, inputs, outputs, switches and potentiometers. All the rest can wait.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">You have to have <b><i>soldering skills</i></b>. Get a solder iron (or gun), watch some tutorials on YouTube and practice a little. It's not rocket science.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><b><i>Listen, learn, read-on</i></b>....there are so many great websites with helpful information, use it! some of the best out there are:</li>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.beavisaudio.com/"><span style="color: #cccccc;">http://www.beavisaudio.com/</span></a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.runoffgroove.com/"><span style="color: #cccccc;">http://www.runoffgroove.com/</span></a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.muzique.com/"><span style="color: #cccccc;">http://www.muzique.com/</span></a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main.php"><span style="color: #cccccc;">http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main.php</span></a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.generalguitargadgets.com/"><span style="color: #cccccc;">https://www.generalguitargadgets.com/</span></a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://fuzzcentral.ssguitar.com/index.php"><span style="color: #cccccc;">http://fuzzcentral.ssguitar.com/index.php</span></a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.geofex.com/"><span style="color: #cccccc;">http://www.geofex.com/</span></a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.tonepad.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cccccc;">http://www.tonepad.com/</span></a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.sabrotone.com/"><span style="color: #cccccc;">http://www.sabrotone.com/</span></a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://circuitworkshop.com/forum/index.php"><span style="color: #cccccc;">http://circuitworkshop.com/forum/index.php</span></a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.stompthatbox.com/byo.html"><span style="color: #cccccc;">http://www.stompthatbox.com/byo.html</span></a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.turretboard.org/"><span style="color: #cccccc;">http://www.turretboard.org/</span></a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.freestompboxes.org/"><span style="color: #cccccc;">http://www.freestompboxes.org/</span></a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php"><span style="color: #cccccc;">http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php</span></a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">and the list goes on....</li>
</ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Decide <b><i>what do you want to build</i></b>, what sound do you want to achieve, don't build something you don't need. You don't want to spend money and time on something that you don't need or don't like. Listen to demos and watch videos of the pedals you are going to build. Almost any pedal you can think of has demo clips on the web. The gearmanndude YouTube channel has an incredible amount of pedal demos, so does Proguitarshop. Want some fantastic blogs except this one?</li>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">tagboardeffects.blogspot.com</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">revolutiondeux.blogspot.com</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">apocalypseaudio.blogspot.com</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">there are so many others too...</li>
</ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Get all the information you need off the web BEFORE you buy any parts and BEFORE you do any soldering. Make sure you have <b><i>the right schematic and a verified layout</i></b>, compare versions and make a list of ALL the parts you need. It's really annoying finding out you need one more 2N5457 and having to wait for it to arrive by mail with your circuit sitting around almost finished. Great sites for buying parts:</li>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.smallbearelec.com/home.html"><span style="color: #cccccc;">https://www.smallbearelec.com/home.html</span></a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.mammothelectronics.com/"><span style="color: #cccccc;">http://www.mammothelectronics.com/</span></a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.fuzzboxworld.com/"><span style="color: #cccccc;">http://www.fuzzboxworld.com/</span></a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.effectsconnection.com/"><span style="color: #cccccc;">http://www.effectsconnection.com</span><span style="color: white;">/</span></a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">and of course....<a href="http://www.ebay.com/"><span style="color: #cccccc;">http://www.ebay.com/</span></a> has a lot of great stores.</li>
</ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Get yourself a <b><i>breadboard</i></b> and make sure you are gonna build something that really works.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">It's harder to debug a non-working circuit than to build a new one. When you build your circuit make sure you are doing it right. <b><i>Check and double check and triple check</i></b> each point and don't move forward until you are sure you are OK. Go slowly and patiently. It will save you time.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Nevertheless, there is always some probability for bugs. Bad parts, bad soldering, wrong schematics or just plain human mistakes. <b><i>Don't loose it</i></b> and be patient. Never give up on a circuit.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Get yourself a simple <b><i>digital multimeter</i></b> and build an <b><i>audio probe</i></b>. The multimeter can test part values like resistance and capacitance but it is a super important tool for measuring contacts and voltage values. About the audio probe, we'll get to that later, but it's really something which helped me troubleshoot a few circuits. Any help you can get from articles by guys like R.G. Keen, Jack Orman, Doug Hammond, Runoffgroove and Mark Hammer can be extremely useful, but sometimes they for more experienced DIYers. I built my audio probe according to the dubugging article:</li>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.diystompboxes.com/pedals/debug.html">http://www.diystompboxes.com/pedals/debug.html</a></li>
</ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Last but not least..... <b><i>Aesthetics</i></b> is really something you should try to improve over time. It is great to buy good enclosures and to choose nice knobs, but what I really mean is keep your wiring neat and tidy. Shorter wires, better layouts, better enclosure and off-board wiring will make your pedal look better, and more important, it reduces noise, hum and can make your pedal sound better in the end result.</li>
</ol>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1LSCm6XpMr-joMNwNc_qKJe52ZH1MDNstMKKVMFEdbpUSi58LOPnErcgvqm5A1f5-F5m9H-JXPqDSepN_UMphHZ3B9K5BsaUznne_nUiMM-cFkTBzkcv8bZJLvXtM-IfVaF98_JSwF0iL/s1600/Tools.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1LSCm6XpMr-joMNwNc_qKJe52ZH1MDNstMKKVMFEdbpUSi58LOPnErcgvqm5A1f5-F5m9H-JXPqDSepN_UMphHZ3B9K5BsaUznne_nUiMM-cFkTBzkcv8bZJLvXtM-IfVaF98_JSwF0iL/s320/Tools.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Solder gun, wire cutter, needle nose pliers and some<br /> solder wire. </td></tr>
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So....putting it down to practice. Say you made your mind on a great fuzz unit which you heard over on YouTube and you think that this pedal can do your tone some justice.</div>
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The audio clips on the Runoffgroove website or their older site home-wrecker are a great place to begin.</div>
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They give you everything from the clip and review to the schematic and the layout with a part list. The amount of schematics and layouts on the web is enormous and confusing. The websites I refer to on the lists above a great selection of verified schematics and layouts.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC1DT1y6EVaazyPnpolTK0RzfzgTbI8ikPTZVr90L1Qr2VMgM5BDl4S4qN0qSGtqnIe1kpQZFoNzbkgkrEEAV9f4FUac80ok6zZ7kKLyXRyd89pJV7ZVye9HWkd6-0i0DhILnWGA9mlgYt/s1600/20130426_131159_20130426131436196.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC1DT1y6EVaazyPnpolTK0RzfzgTbI8ikPTZVr90L1Qr2VMgM5BDl4S4qN0qSGtqnIe1kpQZFoNzbkgkrEEAV9f4FUac80ok6zZ7kKLyXRyd89pJV7ZVye9HWkd6-0i0DhILnWGA9mlgYt/s320/20130426_131159_20130426131436196.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A breadboard setup with a bypass switch and i/o sockets</td></tr>
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It is always recommended to start with a simple layout. Fuzz and booster pedals are a good place to start. It's good to order more parts than necessary for a specific pedal, over time you will see that you have many parts and can build a circuit from parts you have without having to order anything. For pedals which I wasn't sure about, like germanium fuzzes where the parts need tweaking, I found it very useful to get a breadboard and build a modular setup where I could use the breadboarded layout as a pedal with a switch and jacks so that I could really play with it and tweak it on the board.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlNgWtTb4YamOVa7lrr5dSUtJuC2JCGIpEQ5q_AUt6c2lUjbX4WNr1k1nJTnWPk1ytBnUqLuh45-LLu6-NKkma9whhC-Z9Vb9WTVpy3v2Al3bLUhCM19F_oVKI0TyevFDHKYbwp_xuJrYS/s1600/Enclosure+parts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlNgWtTb4YamOVa7lrr5dSUtJuC2JCGIpEQ5q_AUt6c2lUjbX4WNr1k1nJTnWPk1ytBnUqLuh45-LLu6-NKkma9whhC-Z9Vb9WTVpy3v2Al3bLUhCM19F_oVKI0TyevFDHKYbwp_xuJrYS/s320/Enclosure+parts.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Off board wiring parts...the enclosure is missing</td></tr>
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Once you have the part list, don't forget to add the necessary parts for the off-board wiring and the enclosure. This means that for every circuit you see on the web you need to add:<br />
<ul>
<li>3PDT stomp switch</li>
<li>Enclosure (preferably metal)</li>
<li>Input and output sockets</li>
<li>9V DC socket and/or a battery clip</li>
<li>Knobs</li>
<li>LED with a resistor</li>
<li>LED bezel</li>
<li>Stranded wire</li>
</ul>
<span style="text-align: justify;">Sometimes these must have parts are more expensive than the circuit itself.</span><br />
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Another thing that I found myself bashing my head about was 'what's the best true bypass switching layout?'</div>
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I found many layouts on the web and having tried more than a few I can safely say that I have found the right one for me. The layout below has true bypass switching with LED, DC 9V input with batter clip option. It also has input to ground connection when the pedal is bypassed. There are other options but this is what Analog mike of Analogguru and Zachary of ZVex are using. That's a very safe and sound layout.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFztrAUHta14vRJtGic-zrIjj5FiESpN3q7GxeyK5dCXc9n6KUHZ2i8Oi4pxgTCKr_JfhsdZZ4_RHgcvWZDJ95EIR5S25UmPfBJAIamzrbl35tCttwHf211zbhZezHewtN6B9EN2hcj0zD/s1600/StompboxWiringScheme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFztrAUHta14vRJtGic-zrIjj5FiESpN3q7GxeyK5dCXc9n6KUHZ2i8Oi4pxgTCKr_JfhsdZZ4_RHgcvWZDJ95EIR5S25UmPfBJAIamzrbl35tCttwHf211zbhZezHewtN6B9EN2hcj0zD/s400/StompboxWiringScheme.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My best stompbox True Bypass wiring scheme</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1LSCm6XpMr-joMNwNc_qKJe52ZH1MDNstMKKVMFEdbpUSi58LOPnErcgvqm5A1f5-F5m9H-JXPqDSepN_UMphHZ3B9K5BsaUznne_nUiMM-cFkTBzkcv8bZJLvXtM-IfVaF98_JSwF0iL/s1600/Tools.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisSSlom4bsJMwG-6R5gorhhgGX6phk1eXf4lis89Xzm72f1MPGzKqKBgAXd0CBz0irTVrNf87KkUT4NnLLebnuGpai8mk2KSwC3zF8KmsLScs2hyphenhyphenPrsxJxVoMjBzTU9pGwASokhBFUyns8/s1600/audio+probe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisSSlom4bsJMwG-6R5gorhhgGX6phk1eXf4lis89Xzm72f1MPGzKqKBgAXd0CBz0irTVrNf87KkUT4NnLLebnuGpai8mk2KSwC3zF8KmsLScs2hyphenhyphenPrsxJxVoMjBzTU9pGwASokhBFUyns8/s320/audio+probe.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An Audio Probe tester</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1LSCm6XpMr-joMNwNc_qKJe52ZH1MDNstMKKVMFEdbpUSi58LOPnErcgvqm5A1f5-F5m9H-JXPqDSepN_UMphHZ3B9K5BsaUznne_nUiMM-cFkTBzkcv8bZJLvXtM-IfVaF98_JSwF0iL/s1600/Tools.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: justify;">The next thing is troubleshooting a bad circuit. You got everything hooked up, you think you got everything right, you plugged in your guitar, hit your favorite version of E with the pedal bypassed. Then you prayed and pressed the stomp switch but everything went dead. Then you panic....well...Don't panic! These things happen. Maybe you forgot something on the way. Maybe your transistors are busted, maybe you just didn't plug your DC power, but maybe it's something more complicated. 2 things you need: A multimeter and an audio probe. The multimeter can help you probe voltages and shorts anywhere on the circuit but a really simple way to find where your problem is is the audio probe. Just plug the jack to your amp or soundcard and the alligator clip to the circuit ground and then move from the output of the circuit backwards touching with the probe (the end of the cap) on the signal path until you find where the circuit becomes dead. One time I had a bad IC mounted and one time it was a bad solder point. It could be anything. Then the multimeter comes in to finish the job. Another thing is the grounds. Always make sure you got everything grounded right. It's easy to forget.</span></span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy5SEj-tibdhzXOKHV9uFhrJNtk_sCHya9FjIyHnVKnp0PUlh2OK6cvHXpPbm7pmZa1CZRnIly-ZbqtO5zopfaDsOF2J8_XgWdbokU3mudyLSdxWUfnIy8iY29uuCcHofAQ3RwLcu_aSmb/s1600/2013-03-26%25252021.37.09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy5SEj-tibdhzXOKHV9uFhrJNtk_sCHya9FjIyHnVKnp0PUlh2OK6cvHXpPbm7pmZa1CZRnIly-ZbqtO5zopfaDsOF2J8_XgWdbokU3mudyLSdxWUfnIy8iY29uuCcHofAQ3RwLcu_aSmb/s200/2013-03-26%25252021.37.09.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drill protection with masking tape</td></tr>
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The final stages of building the pedal are mostly aesthetic and artistic. I usually buy the Hammond style enclosures because they are strong and not too expensive. However, other metallic enclosures like chocolate boxes and mini lunchboxes, gum packages and other have proven to be equally nice, cheaper of-course, but naturally, not very sturdy.<br />
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When I want to drill the pots, switches and socket holes I learned that it's a shame if the die cast coating gets scratched during the drilling process.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig2dE04DcC8588yBl78a0MGlMS3faH9Md0MaPpvm-S_SE6nHwIabrwVg3afgY6FmHskLEklSDd_ghpUmr6JcmfSOS_ZIVZho62rsliHUB1V8QLuAQeF5Srzq10Q_rj9lQ8_GuFwNY8v_BS/s200/2013-03-26%25252021.39.31.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="200" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The perfect enclosure</td></tr>
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I started covering the enclosure with masking tape and did all the pencil measurements and drilling with the tape protection on. Once you are done drilling and cleaning, you take the tape off and the enclosure remains intact.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjySoQd3zCSMFMSdOE8QKu4gn9dHbzKA9rC0oGHBQUxNvKxOTDguBarcjoFFNPyCL97NeoR751gC0aby0xxRvRqAF53yFbXeLTVGJhZovAswG2M93WfAAsXDdyAsZ_kCvRHa8OEkJAbHfKs/s1600/2013-01-04+12.47.51.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjySoQd3zCSMFMSdOE8QKu4gn9dHbzKA9rC0oGHBQUxNvKxOTDguBarcjoFFNPyCL97NeoR751gC0aby0xxRvRqAF53yFbXeLTVGJhZovAswG2M93WfAAsXDdyAsZ_kCvRHa8OEkJAbHfKs/s200/2013-01-04+12.47.51.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trying to fit everything</td></tr>
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In order to get your circuit sitting nicely in the enclosure and have all the off-board wiring all neat and tidy you will have to mount all the off-board parts on the enclosure and only then start wiring the thing up. This way you can measure lengths correctly without having excess wire running around in the housing. On longer wires you don't have to wire up wires on the shortest path but on a longer path so that the wires run inside near the edges of the enclosure and are not crossing diagonally inside. Sometimes there are so many wires that it simply looks a mess. Do the best you can. It's not easy making a pedal look good inside. Shorter wires and well organized wiring layout will help your pedal sound better and will help you troubleshoot problems if they occur in the future. Wires take up a lot of space. If it gets too crowded inside, your board can get messed up if you put pressure on it when you close the lid on the enclosure. Using shrink tubes where you think it is needed will prevent shorts. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK6ddxKwA-foeOyxuGG02PDo4hezQkHbBpa80PSrDe9N6QUQWn-zRIEhyk12QmNTzTOs9ybcvrmCq7V6Y5IFsZMfjjVC_ozGL4cgBR9UXHQPIt2ZBo2rssKglwjRjFaFsb0PFxIj-U3npR/s1600/20130326_215502.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK6ddxKwA-foeOyxuGG02PDo4hezQkHbBpa80PSrDe9N6QUQWn-zRIEhyk12QmNTzTOs9ybcvrmCq7V6Y5IFsZMfjjVC_ozGL4cgBR9UXHQPIt2ZBo2rssKglwjRjFaFsb0PFxIj-U3npR/s200/20130326_215502.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The finished product</td></tr>
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So...that's it. Now that everything is working and you have chosen the right colors and played a bit with your pedal and you think you got yourself a keeper, you can commit to the artwork. After you paint the pedal there is no turning back, you won't be able to repaint it for another circuit (Unless you just paint VOL, TONE, GAIN).</div>
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For some time I've been looking for perfect colors to paint my enclosures, something which could be strong, opaque and comfortable for doing delicate brush work. What I have come up with is a set of window glass and ceramic paint. Lefranc & Bourgeois have some great ceramic paint, but the black color I found best was GlasArt used for vitrage painting. It says transparent but it is perfectly opaque for pedal painting. Buy a set of black, white, red, blue and yellow (maybe green too) and you can play around with a color palette to create some amazing tones. It is so much fun, if you enjoy creating new tones using various pedals for your guitar, you'll love painting. All the examples on this blog were done using these exact colors with Pure Sable brushes of various sizes. Acetone can be used to clean the brushes and to correct mistakes, but be very careful!!! Acetone can damage the gloss of the die cast coating so don't over do it.</div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3tW2wE2xCNvZBx3f4yLFf9_hPxty0bDFDOavLx-lMUG-OrvzhsTov_6jSEA9FwVBtxjztZTrSXqMRowrEwBfVYfuVJymLrRtbjQitMtoL5o8Ho0dUlI_FxJhOCIgPUZA1tm6u-lWxtbD5/s1600/2013-03-13+17.13.30.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3tW2wE2xCNvZBx3f4yLFf9_hPxty0bDFDOavLx-lMUG-OrvzhsTov_6jSEA9FwVBtxjztZTrSXqMRowrEwBfVYfuVJymLrRtbjQitMtoL5o8Ho0dUlI_FxJhOCIgPUZA1tm6u-lWxtbD5/s320/2013-03-13+17.13.30.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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Now go out and start working...be patient...put some thought to it and don't give up if the first one doesn't come out as good as you through it would.</div>
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In the end, it's the love you put into those pedals that gives you that satisfaction when you play your guitar and you know that sound is really yours. </div>
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One last warning before I wrap this post up....if you are a guitarist or any sort of musician, don't get caught in the pedal making business to much. It's better to burn out than to fade away....ha ha ....what I mean is - It's always better to play than solder.</div>
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Rock On...crew members<br />
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Doron Barnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11002512823760367163noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-162496036908090004.post-37710240327331670972013-04-11T14:33:00.000-07:002013-04-11T14:39:22.348-07:00Fuzz Testosteron<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqrYOaJDyAYqFR1Sd-CtnZE2rJvRlb577Orp2_Gat1aRGhouSc7ggh6stfYb_REwLbBY3PtHepP9Ctuoj6BJkMpMYmFN2Gq-r8yQBraMn3acnCjEiLaL9MYzdmFzObVErVqvZG3wG_HP6E/s1600/Mastotron+%252812%2529-001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqrYOaJDyAYqFR1Sd-CtnZE2rJvRlb577Orp2_Gat1aRGhouSc7ggh6stfYb_REwLbBY3PtHepP9Ctuoj6BJkMpMYmFN2Gq-r8yQBraMn3acnCjEiLaL9MYzdmFzObVErVqvZG3wG_HP6E/s400/Mastotron+%252812%2529-001.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Mastotron Clone. Even the LED is pink</td></tr>
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Well, here's a quick one. I was asked by a friend to build a Mastotron Fuzz clone which would be just like the real ZVEX but in a PINK enclosure. The main specification he was after was ultra bassy fuzziness. Reading a little about this beast I thought this would be a good choice. </div>
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The schematic and layout seemed like a modified fuzz face with some added controls. He also wanted to do the artwork so I thought why not. </div>
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I ordered the parts and got straight away to work. I really got more and more into vero boards lately so I gave it a go and made a vero layout from the <a href="http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.il/2012/02/zvex-mastotron.html" target="_blank">tagboardeffects</a> blog using a regular prefboard and using the leads of the parts as connecting lines to emulate the vero board layout. I really like this idea. </div>
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This pedal is not a legendary one nor do I know of anyone who used it in the history pages of rock...but this thing can really roar. Actually I've never heard such a great bass fuzz before. This thing is the perfect fuzz for stoner rock and doom metal guitarists who need their sound to explode with fireworks. It has the square wave character of muffs and faces but it has this extra grit that makes you go 'uhhhh'. The controls have PUSH/RELAX (just a Pregain), FUZZ (of course), PW (pulse width, a.k.a. smoothness), TONE (very effective) and VOLUME (actually not a loud pedal even fully CW).</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">knobs, from the left: VOLUME TONE PW FUZZ PUSH/RELAX</td></tr>
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I went to give the guy his pedal down at an underground bar where he played with his band and they hooked up the pedal right there in the middle of the song, like they were waiting for it. The pedal sounded great right away (except for having a bit of a low volume).</div>
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I used 2N3904 silicon transistors which are supposed to be great, but if he asks for more volume I might switch to higher gain ones or just add a booster stage before the volume knob.</div>
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Again, I don't know too much about this one but it's not for everyone. It's not a muff or a face, it's really something else, which is very typical of the ZVEX line of pedals. He is always tinkering to get more options and a wider palette of sounds from his designs. </div>
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Definitely a worthwhile design for fans of Witchcraft, Witch, Windhand, Cosmolux, Hellbender, Blowback and other Stoner/Doom rock bands. Did I say that I even had the LED ordered in pink?</div>
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Here is the <a href="http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.il/2012/02/zvex-mastotron.html" target="_blank">la<span id="goog_1338428863"></span><span id="goog_1338428864"></span>yout</a> and the ZVEX <a href="http://www.zvex.com/mastotron.html" target="_blank">description</a> of the pedal.</div>
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I did a demo using guitar and bass for this one:</div>
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Fplaylists%2F4071431&color=ff78d5&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true" width="100%"></iframe>
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Doron Barnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11002512823760367163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-162496036908090004.post-6699070048561531882013-03-09T14:51:00.000-08:002015-01-31T21:27:16.260-08:00A Palette of Tweeds - ROG's Azabache<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4BCArFQkRoBuKL1K4CgWC3Jy3FGMg6n6EQ2wmIh3zz5Fe_T6MXBm4yrtMsB7GxH78MtCUkNSphQLyoiL0u4GosLxEOj50v0qYw2VOEP0nWdraiCU0T8Bb9d6LNxA_q0L3AxpHqkW-Bv-M/s1600/Azabache+6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4BCArFQkRoBuKL1K4CgWC3Jy3FGMg6n6EQ2wmIh3zz5Fe_T6MXBm4yrtMsB7GxH78MtCUkNSphQLyoiL0u4GosLxEOj50v0qYw2VOEP0nWdraiCU0T8Bb9d6LNxA_q0L3AxpHqkW-Bv-M/s400/Azabache+6.JPG" height="298" width="400" /></a></div>
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Well, I'm really excited about posting today because I think one of my missions throughout this quest is over. A large part of my FuzzQuest has been devoted not to fuzz pedals but to amps or amp pedals which complement fuzz pedals. Over the past few years I have built the Thor (Marshall emulation), The English Channel (Vox) and the Professor Tweed (Fender), all Runoffgroove designs. I built other amp-pedals but I consider Vox, Marshall and Fender to be the most defining amps in fuzz history. Anyway they are all good pedals but there was something about the Tweed pedal which didn't sound right to me. It was good but I didn't get that Neil Young sound or Keith Richards sound which I really love. It was a good pedal for a fuzz kicking it, but as an overdrive it wasn't that rewarding.</div>
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So I started looking for more schematics and found that Wampler, BJFE and Catalinbread had some wicked stuff and I really wanted to give one of them a go. Just as I set out to, Runoffgroove came out with a very interesting design of a new Fender-like design which sounded good on paper. They called it Azabache. Surprising enough I also found a really nice guy who sent me the PCB for 10$ so I got the parts I needed and started to work. Usually I like building my own prefboards or tagboards but this time I thought "why not?"</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG9NIc67DoqzJaEG_Bte_LsnfgYREZHyHoN1f9Rb0ylOw92_G-73iv-Vmtm7AfVF1CjyJWWqbt2apFOqmJqcOPrkeVyYtyz7Us3pShyphenhyphenhrxcH1AzDpFBw5254oMi8z_s75a9r5uSLErSJLu/s1600/photo+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG9NIc67DoqzJaEG_Bte_LsnfgYREZHyHoN1f9Rb0ylOw92_G-73iv-Vmtm7AfVF1CjyJWWqbt2apFOqmJqcOPrkeVyYtyz7Us3pShyphenhyphenhrxcH1AzDpFBw5254oMi8z_s75a9r5uSLErSJLu/s320/photo+3.JPG" height="238" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Azabache populated PCB </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_80Fz3RKvXG-E2SWTF1A6qD9vwUsXQBFOYO3zEhllzFqzkq891sO1mROC1qFGQvYoUvd9S8eYggVd8tBkrT8fZ1AGXIKdF7WnUIaXnU4LNkMLm-j9mW9GvtbQDptshca1vEPX1lJxzzTk/s1600/Azabache+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_80Fz3RKvXG-E2SWTF1A6qD9vwUsXQBFOYO3zEhllzFqzkq891sO1mROC1qFGQvYoUvd9S8eYggVd8tBkrT8fZ1AGXIKdF7WnUIaXnU4LNkMLm-j9mW9GvtbQDptshca1vEPX1lJxzzTk/s320/Azabache+2.JPG" height="238" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The drilled enclosure almost ready</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVDb6DwwLcbM5U9A6q5Sw9S2H_fEXgREazk3IQsZvXvepyPQ_OA-ngRKzEHMJHjMnXSDDFfMvQ0pjjjEwHGKLY59CdlMWpUVV0OppP-Px-oHS1nKrJbZYlAIVouHqReUBrcjaBOpsdUrYS/s1600/Azabache+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVDb6DwwLcbM5U9A6q5Sw9S2H_fEXgREazk3IQsZvXvepyPQ_OA-ngRKzEHMJHjMnXSDDFfMvQ0pjjjEwHGKLY59CdlMWpUVV0OppP-Px-oHS1nKrJbZYlAIVouHqReUBrcjaBOpsdUrYS/s320/Azabache+3.JPG" height="320" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All sitting nice and comfy </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8ER3ahWpsIYfxnGzkOGDWoArC6yYUiMDb5Ygg4zoObPu2KeeG60je-iY2tDkl5kH5BoEJpzYms_8t_BHCsHGL8NDxBfmyr8x3QnLk3JnABXLqpAJRYpq73R8zdyOR8FJI33nTNP0VwdGA/s1600/photo+25.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8ER3ahWpsIYfxnGzkOGDWoArC6yYUiMDb5Ygg4zoObPu2KeeG60je-iY2tDkl5kH5BoEJpzYms_8t_BHCsHGL8NDxBfmyr8x3QnLk3JnABXLqpAJRYpq73R8zdyOR8FJI33nTNP0VwdGA/s320/photo+25.JPG" height="320" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ready for lock down</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilOXgXf16S21JMT-5th-sjync1lQ0q1Qs9HA0EODEGRVybB9JYwcAKTWTEDuJvurXrRo2VHEZZH027GP3kYcxiccNUj-sbw1BenA_M4_xRxks74l3ty_2ytBAMm9i76b3NFxbz0nqKpA6l/s1600/Azabache+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilOXgXf16S21JMT-5th-sjync1lQ0q1Qs9HA0EODEGRVybB9JYwcAKTWTEDuJvurXrRo2VHEZZH027GP3kYcxiccNUj-sbw1BenA_M4_xRxks74l3ty_2ytBAMm9i76b3NFxbz0nqKpA6l/s320/Azabache+4.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love this combination of colors</td></tr>
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I have played around with this pedal both in rehearsals and on stage and it always kicks ass. It is so versatile that it can go from muddy bluesy 50's style tweed to bright Black or Silver face country clean style. It's got warm overdrive that is to die for and with my telecaster it's just unbeatable. the SCOOP and BRIGHT switches are subtle but they do exactly as described and mixing with them on top of the TONE and GAIN knobs produce an endless amount of tones. I was so impressed by the range of colors it had that I named it Tweed Palette. Took me a while to decide on that name but...there it is.<br />
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This thing was not a kit. I just ordered the PCB and all the parts besides that were ordered separately. Just because someone asked I am mentioning this again:Q1 was 2N5457, Q2-4 were J201 and Q5 was 2N5088.<br />
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A mod from the RUnoffgroove team on DIY Stompboxes for reducing the trebleness of the pedal: <span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Substitute the 47K resistor going to TONE 1 for a link (or a smaller value resistor).</span></span></div>
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I did some playing around with a tele and a cabinet simulator and sent it over the ROG guys with many thanks:</div>
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="450" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Fplaylists%2F2547551" width="100%"></iframe>
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Now you probably want to know how it sounds with a fuzz. Well, with a silicon fuzz face like my Pink Face it sounds the best. Instant 60's fuzz. Did I say that half of my quest is over?</div>
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Anyway <a href="http://www.runoffgroove.com/azabache.html" target="_blank">here</a> is the <a href="http://www.runoffgroove.com/azabache.html" target="_blank">ROG Azabache</a> project and schematics. I would love to know how it stands next to the Catalinbread Formula No.5.</div>
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<br />Doron Barnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11002512823760367163noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-162496036908090004.post-57663233859166325582013-01-19T12:15:00.000-08:002013-01-19T12:25:56.120-08:00Don't stomp me now - The Mojo Stomp porch box<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhPDiH8St1oKR-OTDFbbOtwmB5-r4XikaUO34g4B8Qo4Sg1lOa78OMZYfgu5KQ09I1yC9Guh_HH6PN8g7Ye39QbP-ctYviB1H75WFcmJNd_PqW1ZeYKX7NtbibBBbQJrZK2GYDBRStGV0_/s1600/Mojo+Stomp+(7).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhPDiH8St1oKR-OTDFbbOtwmB5-r4XikaUO34g4B8Qo4Sg1lOa78OMZYfgu5KQ09I1yC9Guh_HH6PN8g7Ye39QbP-ctYviB1H75WFcmJNd_PqW1ZeYKX7NtbibBBbQJrZK2GYDBRStGV0_/s400/Mojo+Stomp+(7).JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Mojo Stomp</td></tr>
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Somewhat off the main path or my FuzzQuest, here's something a bit different. The never ending quest for a perfect fuzz tone is not my only goal in terms of tone and guitar sound. Another fetish of mine is Blues, and by Blues I mean hard, painful and soulful Blues with its roots somewhere around Mississippi delta. I love both acoustic and electric blues and as much harmonica as possible with a lot of howlin'. From Mississippi Fred McDowell, Blind Lemon Jefferson to Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters. Even the "new" guys like Charlie Musselwhite, R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough are fantastic and deliver super guts-out blues. When I play solo guitar with harmonica and I wail my soul out I always find myself stomping my foot hard against the floor, and most often I pray it was a wooden porch floor. Most of the time it's not.</div>
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So, I started searching the web for every possible porch-box-stomp-box solution and came up with a huge amount of material to work with. A lot of people around the word will sell you a wooden box with a Piezo transducer and some jiggling metals inside to get a nice foot stomping sound. Some of the nicest sounds I've hear, however, came from boxes where a small speaker was placed as the transducer to pickup the mechanical vibrations of the stomp.</div>
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I found a really nice 2-way Sony speaker and a good wooden box (old optical equipment was traditionally sold in very good wooden boxes). The woofer had a good low bottom while the twitter had nice punch, so I decided to use both of them placing the two speakers in the box. I cut a big hole so the the box would close and the Alnico magnet of the woofer would stick out of the box and I covered it with some more wood and rubber. I hooked up the two speakers in parallel and took the two lines and connected them to a mono Neutrik 1/4" input jack and that was it.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgywhf1BHLkCQMaODGsfVubxpvHuuyDiuzrR5rgQ6sHKj5HoIYBKAIyzuD3CP1fnps4w4PY8QVxZ54PcARd3BR844dnN2aMshB0udgbkWskrwJMrhvetQs2btsMZBkGy19NOhUGEStwplg/s1600/Mojo+Stomp+%25281%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgywhf1BHLkCQMaODGsfVubxpvHuuyDiuzrR5rgQ6sHKj5HoIYBKAIyzuD3CP1fnps4w4PY8QVxZ54PcARd3BR844dnN2aMshB0udgbkWskrwJMrhvetQs2btsMZBkGy19NOhUGEStwplg/s400/Mojo+Stomp+%25281%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Mojo Stomp - gut shot - two speakers, one jack, one box</td></tr>
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There are so many ways you can use this box. playing with your foot or hands, stomping, tapping or knocking. Different areas on the board give you various tones, closer to the woofer you get more bass, closer to the twitter you get more treble and edge. All this makes this box a nice electro-acoustic bass drum. The added value here comes from the fact that you can turn the box upside down and get even more tonal options because now you're hitting the speaker membranes from the opposite side. One last gimmick is the tilted position of the box due to the magnet's size, sticking out of the box. This means you can put your foot on the pedal and do a "wah-wah" kind of movement and get two bass-snare sounds, one from your heel knocking the bottom end against the floor and one from your foot tapping the upper side of the box.</div>
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Very dynamic and playable !<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKlDJu51G17ac9Hb0gVELWMcwPh4r-XeniTm6Imz6hoMKAV8mC4R0kUD6NukNWsEPHlW5q03Mb-HPUMJs2xeXAdcav6ZRHpgLHrzduF0qBKEdUVPbpny5j-mFV_9ZqoFi6U1puDctsMctk/s1600/2013-01-19+21.28.16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKlDJu51G17ac9Hb0gVELWMcwPh4r-XeniTm6Imz6hoMKAV8mC4R0kUD6NukNWsEPHlW5q03Mb-HPUMJs2xeXAdcav6ZRHpgLHrzduF0qBKEdUVPbpny5j-mFV_9ZqoFi6U1puDctsMctk/s400/2013-01-19+21.28.16.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Mojo Stomp - the tilted position</td></tr>
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To anyone who's interested in these kinds of boxes I strongly suggest - Build your own. It's too dams simple and there are too many boxes out there that will be just OK and not exactly what you are after. As always, it's your quest to get your sound!<br />
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Some well respected stompbox manufacturers are Mojohound, Pratley, Ellis, musiXtools, TinoStomp and Peterman.<br />
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Stomp away and howl....if you want audio or video clips, just comment and I'll abide.Doron Barnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11002512823760367163noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-162496036908090004.post-79031586351444350132012-12-22T11:28:00.001-08:002012-12-22T14:17:28.282-08:00Driving Down Da Bass<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2PcNFqyIAoywK1pnTGJXgTwjqXa8Ewqz0YCAY35O9S3KuouWT_UEadUEv0kSw0RY6uPXSRJxwS7VsjtsuGEeX4SORutbwSVaitpARVxM63O1Wqt6pFgV52-5DMsIXwh2Z32a0HwDqM8mh/s1600/IMG_2868.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2PcNFqyIAoywK1pnTGJXgTwjqXa8Ewqz0YCAY35O9S3KuouWT_UEadUEv0kSw0RY6uPXSRJxwS7VsjtsuGEeX4SORutbwSVaitpARVxM63O1Wqt6pFgV52-5DMsIXwh2Z32a0HwDqM8mh/s400/IMG_2868.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Caribass - ROG Flipster</td></tr>
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This time we are off and away from the world of guitar and into the bass we dive deep.</div>
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Runoffgroove's (ROG) Flipster was designed to emulate the tone and drive of the famous Ampeg Portaflex SB-12 bass amp. This amp was the little brother in a series of tube amps designed in the mid 60's. The amp had a 12'' Jenson speaker cabinet and was probably used on many recordings from 1965 and on through the 70's. Mo-Town Bass sound was known for using Ampeg bass amps.<br />
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I don't know too much about bass amps but I do know that I like Ampeg bass amps. They are smooth and have a lot of bottom as well as edge. I particularly love controlling the character of a song using bass, whether it's deep dub style lo-pass or grungy-rock overdriven tone. When I play bass I sometimes like to switch quickly between styles and all that flexibility means I need a good pedal, capable of drive range from clean to hard drive with some equalizing options.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1oVeaI-F4Ofhs_C3JhD1SaZFj9C-l-R9h302iCDcWbU32DdBmJ9c6Fg0_zTbfW3ufIAAxpD44FTCTNLHyTjKds62Nvou2OQbO_iZJsT9ZqtzVqcf6Jgab5zZ5KRKkiq4A9zN-xRCDcXE6/s1600/Ampeg_Portaflex_SB-12_Amplifier_037956_d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1oVeaI-F4Ofhs_C3JhD1SaZFj9C-l-R9h302iCDcWbU32DdBmJ9c6Fg0_zTbfW3ufIAAxpD44FTCTNLHyTjKds62Nvou2OQbO_iZJsT9ZqtzVqcf6Jgab5zZ5KRKkiq4A9zN-xRCDcXE6/s400/Ampeg_Portaflex_SB-12_Amplifier_037956_d.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A 1965 Portaflex SB-12</td></tr>
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Assuming ROG designs are always good, especially for emulating tube amps, and this one had 2 12AX7, 2 7868 and 1 5AR4 tubes. I built it and tried various FETs to get the gain I wanted. Funny thing, I made a nice error hooking up the the TONE knobs and got 2 modes for the tone-stack. ROCK mode for a more edgy-punchy curve and a DUB mode with less treble and more lows.</div>
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I played with the pedal on more than a few occasions and I still use it more for live than in the studio. It gives you the ability to drive your bass without touching the amp and it's not like an overdrive pedal which cuts the lows. You can maintain your lows and still bark and bite. For really hard bass distortion there is nothing better then the Pro-co Rat or any version of it like my Bat shown here on a previous post.</div>
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There is a new Portaflex SB-12 version now called "Ginger" which is supposed to be better. I think I know what they are talking about, The Flipster was good, but not so much as an emulation of the Ampeg amp. I did have problems getting low gain clean tones with the Flipster but it was good for what I needed.</div>
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Because I got an interesting paint job on the wooden enclosure which had some Carribean touch to it I decided to call the pedal Caribass. With my Music-Man Sting Ray replica bass I can get some great tones with almost any style.</div>
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I am definitely getting ready to upgrade the Flipster to the Ginger. Stay tuned as it is right around the corner.</div>
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If you want gut shots or audio clips just comment and I'll add them. As always, schematic is available <a href="http://www.runoffgroove.com/flipster.png" target="_blank">here</a>. More info from Runoffgroove can be found <a href="http://www.runoffgroove.com/flipster.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<br />Doron Barnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11002512823760367163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-162496036908090004.post-89149673059320509682012-11-30T05:34:00.000-08:002013-03-22T06:17:32.825-07:00Bending your Tone for Page<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8tC4_V480nQmI2oBwQi7xS3nZ0GDpSuMgKuO701kB_PN0a9mHReyByTxYKrQfanaANu_o68P9gyP7OxNBwbbWHVoybNEPHfPc0puMTD5s3lqUCejOXeS3o3cCd27D4Z_VZcUB1E9PqmmE/s1600/IMG_4260.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8tC4_V480nQmI2oBwQi7xS3nZ0GDpSuMgKuO701kB_PN0a9mHReyByTxYKrQfanaANu_o68P9gyP7OxNBwbbWHVoybNEPHfPc0puMTD5s3lqUCejOXeS3o3cCd27D4Z_VZcUB1E9PqmmE/s320/IMG_4260.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Led Bender mkII</td></tr>
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The UK fuzz mania began in 1965 probably after the Rolling Stones recorded the 3 fuzz notes that changed the history of rock'n roll: the opening notes for their hit "Satisfaction". First recorded on Brian Jones' Harmonica in Chicago and 2 days later by Richards using a Maestro Fuzz Tone, the opening notes were meant to be replaced with a horn section later on, but luckily producer Andrew Oldham decided to keep it as it was. The song was an immediate hit across both sides of the Atlantic and fuzz was the talk of the day. Guitar legend Vic Flick, the man begind the James Bond Theme, brought the American Fuzz-tone (FZ-1) to the UK and asked electronics engineer Gary Stewart Hurst if he could modify the unit to increase the tone sustain. Hurst used a similar 3 transistors architecture and designed the first Tone Bender, referred today as the mkI. Within a year or so a plethora of fuzz pedals were issued by various brands like the Arbiter Fuzz Face and the Baldwin Burns Buzzaround. While the Fuzz Face became the most famous fuzz of them all, the Tone Bender was probably the highest selling unit ever due to the fact that it was issued under various brands like Sola Sound, Vox, Rotosound and Marshall. The MKI version was made famous by the Beatles (Rubber Soul), Mick Ronson (Ziggy's Spiders from Mars), Pete Townsend and Jeff Beck.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAREoDCCfnXpEt8YB134NuuxrhujG7PZoIx3mNyeSxDGdGOxZrDbfapPS-GnlkDlW9tXw3I7m5_Z4pgWVfHwIAuwgGu4_hMF3Fg9SK-bEfPUYoHSa6kdUJKFp-AlVav3uwyCXwcKpMwpKA/s1600/th_sola_sound_mkii_05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAREoDCCfnXpEt8YB134NuuxrhujG7PZoIx3mNyeSxDGdGOxZrDbfapPS-GnlkDlW9tXw3I7m5_Z4pgWVfHwIAuwgGu4_hMF3Fg9SK-bEfPUYoHSa6kdUJKFp-AlVav3uwyCXwcKpMwpKA/s400/th_sola_sound_mkii_05.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jimmy Pages' Bender original receipt (left) and the Sola Sound reissue of the mkII (right)</td></tr>
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Despite its legendary sound, the Tone Bender mkI's sound and design was not flawless. Circuit was sensitive to gain tolerances of the transistors and the sound was buzzier than some wanted. A new 2 transistor design was issued by Sola Sound and is referred to as mk1.5. This design could probably be the original 2 transistor design which Arbiter issued during 1966 as the Fuzz Face. The circuit was more stable, the sound was richer and saturation was not too heavy. The huge success of the Fuzz Face drove the competition further and Sola Sound made the leap to a 3 transistor architecture but this time it was a first amplification stage driving a Fuzz Face style 2 tranny stage with Germanium OC75 or OC81D were used on all 3. Different brands featured similar mkII design using various transistors, and they all were successful throughout the late 60's and 70's. When referring to legends like Jimmy Page and his tone on the Led Zeppelin I and II albums from 1969 the Tone Bender mkII is considered to be a major factor.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9bWldTycxxvlwbXC-Ikh468M1KVvvfjS5uzqBebjkvGzTffx24zbKTroXJz_peXymk1dbNCIoLcF8JV4Q846ZfdujKHq8LyeRfMGzqpwBpBN2hWZOV1mWIAGc-dxStq8kgdDrTD5cNRKF/s1600/IMG_4261.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9bWldTycxxvlwbXC-Ikh468M1KVvvfjS5uzqBebjkvGzTffx24zbKTroXJz_peXymk1dbNCIoLcF8JV4Q846ZfdujKHq8LyeRfMGzqpwBpBN2hWZOV1mWIAGc-dxStq8kgdDrTD5cNRKF/s320/IMG_4261.JPG" width="251" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Led Bender mkII</td></tr>
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Even more variant and diverse than the Tone Bender mkII of the Fuzz Faces is the Tone Bender mkIII which was issued 1968 and sparked a whole different era of fuzz pedals which led to the birth of the Big Muff.</div>
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After building more then a few fuzz pedals I decided to get into the Tone Bender jungle. I realized that I really wanted the mkI and the mkII, but the mkI seemed tricky and risky so I took the mkII path. Now Germanium trannys are always expensive and I found some silicon versions which got good reviews so I decided to give it a go.</div>
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After many unsuccessful attempts on various schematics I found one which worked, sounded good and by replacing trannys I really managed to get that bendery tone I was aiming for: Raw, punchy and versatile. Once you go for the Whole Lotta Love riff with humbuckers or How Many More Times with a Tele, you'll know this is the one.</div>
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I started with the GGG NPN design modded by J. Orman and B. Trembley which is a good choice. You can find the schematic <a href="http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/pdf/ggg_tb_m2p_sc_ns.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>, but I really wanted to have the extra Tone control so I went the Hot Silicon path designed by Gus Smalley. The schematic is shown <a href="http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=22787&g2_serialNumber=1" target="_blank">here</a>. The two designs are quite alike and sound more or less the same depending on the transistors used. I took Mictester's and JD Sleep's advise of putting low gain sets and went to buy the 2N2369 parts instead of BC109C or 2N5088. I ended up using 2N2369 for Q1, 2N3904 for Q2, BC109C for Q3 and 2N2369 for Q4 for the TONE stage. I also liked the FAT switch which switches between low and high values of the input cap. Once I got that Jimmy Page sound I called it a day and painted the new Led Bender in a Zeppelin homage style.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNUnWYsjTDAsL1GjgKwfQso4P7WwPd7pMYQ_iTLyVVkohN629Py9SgxNbQkZqnKnsilIIv9kBtzLbfIN2Xua3TEF_jcRlOxEMpjvFqutUz19VN-jy00qQsyY0p4_T0A5u39oO7PwS00E2y/s1600/2013-03-014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNUnWYsjTDAsL1GjgKwfQso4P7WwPd7pMYQ_iTLyVVkohN629Py9SgxNbQkZqnKnsilIIv9kBtzLbfIN2Xua3TEF_jcRlOxEMpjvFqutUz19VN-jy00qQsyY0p4_T0A5u39oO7PwS00E2y/s400/2013-03-014.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gut shot of the Led Bender. VR1 is a pot on the right side.<br />
Might as well change it to a board resistor.</td></tr>
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<iframe width="100%" height="290" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Fplaylists%2F4214126"></iframe>
I am sure this is not the end of my Tone Bender phase but it sure sounds great, I am getting a friend to lend me his Sola Sound reissue of the mkII professional and I'll compare the two. Meanwhile I play Good Times Bad Times using this little baby connected to the Runoffgroove Supro amp emulation pedal and with the right reverb I can nail that super tone. A major milestone in my Fuzz quest.</div>
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<br /></div>Doron Barnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11002512823760367163noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-162496036908090004.post-67758986827036591252012-11-15T11:08:00.000-08:002012-11-15T13:59:43.403-08:00The Flying Rat<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The 60's and early 70's were all about driving tube amps into overdrive heaven and on the way use fuzz and treble boosters to get the job done. Most Fuzz stompboxes were, in fact, so effective that you didn't really need the amps to be that heavily driven anymore, but they killed most of the guitar's tone and dynamics. They took over the sound (Fuzz faces and Big Muffs to name a few). </div>
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As people got fed up with fuzzes and wanted back that dynamic distorted overdrive, Orange amde the first step and came out with their Overdrive amp in the mid 70's. That started the distortion race all over again. The idea of a stompbox giving you that distortion, which was so important for rock guitarists, yielded the next step in the second half of the 70's. In 1976 Amlyn Crowther designed the Hotcake which would become the first boutique overdrive (Sonic Youth, Pavement, Radiohead, Protishead and many other consider it their "secret weapon'). Japanese based Ibanez and Boss came out with the classic Tube Screamer and the OD-1 (DS-1 too), respectively, around 1978. In Kalamazoo, Michigan, two guys in a basement started selling custom ordered pedals under the Pro-Co name. Those were the first Rats. All the above brands produced pedals based around an operational amplifier and have some similarities in their designs. All three became classics and over the years got reissues, sequels and modified versions. </div>
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I decided to build the Rat for 3 main reasons: a) It is a classic pedal and deserves FuzzQuest attention. b) Some of my favorite guitarists use it or have used it over the years. C) There is no real mojo in this circuit. the LM308 chip and clipping diodes are all pretty straightforward. No Germanium PNP or de-gooped old boxes with debates over them. The amount of schematics on the web is infinite and the mods are all given out. You can build the circuit with mods and it will sound just like the real thing. Even better. Guitarists who used this unit and made it famous were Thom Yorke, Thurston Moore, Stephen Malkmus, Bernard Butler, Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell, Frank Black, Jeff Beck, Andy Summers, Graham Coxon and Kurt Cobain, to name a few. If you told me only Thurston and Ribot were on this list, it would have been enough for me. This might have been the overdrive/distortion used by Ribot on Rain Dogs by Tom Waits. Imagine that!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Multi Rat Schematic</td></tr>
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So, I gathered about a dozen schematics I considered to be trustworthy. RG Keen and Jack Orman did some tremendous work given on the aron nelson archive and diystompboxes. You can download the schematic shown here, but <a href="http://www.beavisaudio.com/projects/FKR/History.htm" target="_blank">Beavisaudio</a>, <a href="http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/pdf/ggg_rodent_sc.pdf?phpMyAdmin=78482479fd7e7fc3768044a841b3e85a" target="_blank">GGG</a>, <a href="http://www.sabrotone.com/?p=370" target="_blank">Sabrotone</a>, <a href="http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=17578&g2_serialNumber=2" target="_blank">SoulSonic</a>, <a href="http://gaussmarkov.net/layouts/rat/rat-project.pdf" target="_blank">Gaussmarkov</a> and others, all have verified circuits readily available, just click the links.</div>
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I added the Ruetz mod to conttroll the highs and called it EDGE. Got an On/Off/On switch for choosing between the diodes, MOSFET clipping and clean boost and named it CHARACTER. DISTORTION FILTER and VOLUME are similar to the original. Apart from that it's a vintage Rat clone. <span style="text-align: left;"> The added mods give it a lot of "elevation" so I called it the BAT. Also I liked the Mokafix Bat VST emulation and adopted the name. It really is a mouse with wings.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiccWvxYD7LPoqV6BNZtKFoCQ_soxKSQ3ipWoT5iqS45t3X1_LAoAKfYeQLpzpIj1_oYkR3Ob2rTVRSS_IM8TJZgWDYuDNlhAORNCeLqqe19nbpkEk7J91gf8EX2VbL1nJPL8YOHyQNEsKw/s1600/The+Bat+%25286%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiccWvxYD7LPoqV6BNZtKFoCQ_soxKSQ3ipWoT5iqS45t3X1_LAoAKfYeQLpzpIj1_oYkR3Ob2rTVRSS_IM8TJZgWDYuDNlhAORNCeLqqe19nbpkEk7J91gf8EX2VbL1nJPL8YOHyQNEsKw/s320/The+Bat+%25286%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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So I got the circuit working and painted the enclosure. I really dig the sound which sounds pretty awesome especially with my English Channel emulation of the AC30. I completely understand why this became a classic unit. This is the distortion we grew up on listening to grunge, alternative and punk rock from the 80's and 90's. Great sound, versatile, easy to use. Humbuckers with an AC30 you get the British indie rock of Suede and Blur. Single Coils with Fender amps will give you Sonic Youth and Pavement flavors. Pretty Amazing. With the clean boost mod you can get great fuzzy overdrive and you can drive other pedals on the chain or drive your amp further. Super! </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9mn5gkne5bjwQGQvNQ_wkEaQVFykAwUyy8imX0AjP4wGA32kepTW1CBBOW5zZic4DbbSgyU-C9obnxR5qWbOUmxG7L9LmROMHGcID15dxpPvfUfdyg5YUsKKi4FZIu5EmlpKIXbhtljWd/s1600/IMG_4269.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9mn5gkne5bjwQGQvNQ_wkEaQVFykAwUyy8imX0AjP4wGA32kepTW1CBBOW5zZic4DbbSgyU-C9obnxR5qWbOUmxG7L9LmROMHGcID15dxpPvfUfdyg5YUsKKi4FZIu5EmlpKIXbhtljWd/s320/IMG_4269.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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As always, if you want audio demos you have to comment and ask for it. I hope to get some clips done for all my posts but it's gonna take a while since I am on a building mania and even posting on the FuzzQuest blog takes me forever.</div>
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Anyway, a very recommended build. Pretty easy and fun with a lot of options. With the Ruetz mod attenuating the highs and the clean Boost which is not so clean I got some wicked fuzz sounds. If you are wondering, you can be sure that a Tube Screamer clone is on the way. Naturally.</div>
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Doron Barnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11002512823760367163noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-162496036908090004.post-21455986925961424562012-11-10T12:59:00.005-08:002014-09-26T08:49:41.676-07:00The Pink Face<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXhFoM2naGtLVxpYIpMT1VmyViNlPvKn6ANWakA_phlRuabdwUOBfXPFmBhXgVNGWZl5Jf8zkfvbfCzC6whGUuSLevWjVk0S4zj9Z2ieOF2w3XgApJsRXrD55PX-5APAbtAH6K4SC3aMAd/s1600/Pink+Face+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXhFoM2naGtLVxpYIpMT1VmyViNlPvKn6ANWakA_phlRuabdwUOBfXPFmBhXgVNGWZl5Jf8zkfvbfCzC6whGUuSLevWjVk0S4zj9Z2ieOF2w3XgApJsRXrD55PX-5APAbtAH6K4SC3aMAd/s320/Pink+Face+1.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Pink Face</td></tr>
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Throughout the history of fuzz pedals, fuzz guitarists and psychedelic fuzzy solos, there is no fuzz which has received greater attention than the legendary Fuzz Face. Originally produced by Arbiter Electronics in England and appeared during 1966 the unit was an immediate success. Many of the greatest guitarists in rock history played their best solos and riffs through a Fuzz Face including Hendrix, Gilmour, Blackmore, Harrison, Townsend and many more. Nevertheless, the dependency of the Germanium transistors on temperature resulted in a lack of tone consistency and many players suffered on stage from this effect. To circumvent this issue Dallas Arbiter started issuing Silicon versions of the FF somewhere around 1969 replacing the NKT275 trannies with BC108. Silicon was the new hype at the time and it seemed that by 1970-71 everybody was switching to Silicon faces. Hendrix's Band of Gypsys, Gilmour on all PF albums and tours since 1971 including all of the solos on Meddle and Dark side of the Moon are probably the most documented examples. One of my favorite guitarists Michael Karoli (Can) also used Silicon Fuzz Faces to create his raw and untamed distortion throughout the history of Can, so this was enough to get me going. </div>
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Both designs are pretty close with the Germs being mostly PNP and the Silis being NPN. Comparing the sound of the Germanium units with the Silicon ones it is often said that while the Germs sound raspy, warm and sweet, the Silicons are brighter, edgy and have more gain. Well....from my builds....this statement is....TRUE!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The original 1966 Arbiter Face - Germanium</td></tr>
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On my Fuzz quest I really couldn't imagine the journey without understanding the differences between the two FF versions and there was no other way than building the two. After I finished the Germanium Fulltone version I started to drown with info on the Silicon versions: Fulltone, Analog Man, Dunlop, Runoffgroove, GGG you name it. I looked through dozens of schematics and breadboarded some of them. I even looked at the German Schaller Fuzz (FF variant) after reading that Michael Karoli (CAN) used one. Actually, the first fuzz I ever built was the Runoffgroove SiliFace II and I loved it for some months. That was what got me interested in fuzz pedals in the first place, My Fuzz quest started because one fuzz was not enough to get the range of buzz tones I was after.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifj9Iz9jIgj93DHJXi2in6rOUxYOecHjVcxWkecdkxYvm6Y3H2Oor3BFUI0-p4VXOjx6ODSj7gi41SXo49OdRc1JtUhSIuafxky2tRVkUO5vcriG5ElVPu-LX-NcG-1ROcKvFXLCe1SGfj/s1600/fuzzface70.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifj9Iz9jIgj93DHJXi2in6rOUxYOecHjVcxWkecdkxYvm6Y3H2Oor3BFUI0-p4VXOjx6ODSj7gi41SXo49OdRc1JtUhSIuafxky2tRVkUO5vcriG5ElVPu-LX-NcG-1ROcKvFXLCe1SGfj/s320/fuzzface70.JPG" height="208" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 1970 Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face - Silicon</td></tr>
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Due to the fact that the Fuzz Face design is tolerant to part values many versions have been issued over the years and the amount of Fuzz Face versions became quite vast (just like it happened with the Big Muffs or the Tube Screamers). The design is so simple that small part changes resulted in some sonical change. After all the entire unit incorporates 4 resistors, 3 caps, 2 transistors, 2 pots and 1 switch. That's it!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: start;">4 resistors, 3 capacitors, 2 transistors, 2 potentiometers</span></td></tr>
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The sound I was aiming for was that of Gilmour playing the Time solo on the album version of the Dark Side. I started out with the GGG early 70's Boutique NPN Fuzz Face after my success with the GGG 60's version. I liked the PRE GAIN knob and the circuit seemed pretty good, but something was missing. I didn't box the circuit and it stayed on the shelf for some time. I built a few other Fuzz pedals and when I thought I understood more about what I wanted I revisited the circuit. This time I modified the circuit based on the Axis Face version by Phillip Bryant modified by Brett Robinson. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gilmour's early 70's rig</td></tr>
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I did a lot of testing using Hi-Watt amp emulations, tweaked many of the parts in this little circuit, changed trannies and used several guitars. Surprisingly, I ended up using 2N2369 (hfe=70-90) for Q1 and BC109 for Q2 (hfe=200). The BC108C I had (hfe around 400-550) seemed to be too pumped up for my taste. I settled on a 50kA pot for the PRE GAIN and a 100kA for the VOLUME. 220n cap for the input and 30p cap on the bridge for lo-pass filtering. I replaced the CONTOUR pot with a 470R resistor and kept the 22uF Fuzz cap. I kept the reverse polarity protection and cut off the strange feedback diode bridge which didn't seem to affect the sound. Biasing Q2 I got 4.5V with resistance being about 3k3 so that's about 4k3 total Q2 bias. It's funny that this fuzz is currently my most tweaked fuzz circuit to date. Only a few parts but so much experimentation. Other fuzz circuits you get the schematic, the parts, breadboard and maybe test a few transistors, bias them and that's it. Along with the early Tone Benders and the Maestro Fuzz Tone which are more complex it's one of the toughest, considering its architecture.</div>
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Luckily, somebody at work who knows I am always on the lookout for metallic enclosures, gave me this great candy box. I couldn't have asked for a better design with those pink pigs on a round enclosure making it suitable for a Fuzz Face and for a Pink Floyd related sound, so I jigsawed it to the right height, called it Pink Face, mixed my glass paint bottles and came up with a magical pinkish tone... Perfect!</div>
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The sound is well worth the effort. It's not as warm or sweet as the Germanium version but it does give you the Time solo style. Bright when the FUZZ pot reaches max. The PRE-GAIN gets you that rolled off effect for cool rhythm chords and sparkly clean chops. Using a treble booster in front enables you to get great tones with the FUZZ knob below max. I also tested it with a Wah in front and no buffer was needed. Definitely a must build on my fuzz journey towards a better future.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3QjYVI8CfW-M3R5VGczka35P9DDEy4XKna3SlR-h-P7S2u-GazNMSQW7YhcB2pAuhg3aYTMYHy68nJzHF-rGNsSJuFsOcSOCXZ64iisqReKsEB1cgc4Tn9bJjFfeOnwkZKREow09mRRX-/s1600/Pink+Face+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3QjYVI8CfW-M3R5VGczka35P9DDEy4XKna3SlR-h-P7S2u-GazNMSQW7YhcB2pAuhg3aYTMYHy68nJzHF-rGNsSJuFsOcSOCXZ64iisqReKsEB1cgc4Tn9bJjFfeOnwkZKREow09mRRX-/s320/Pink+Face+3.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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If you want to learn more about the the topology of the fuzz face there is no better place than R.G. Keen's article: <a href="http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/fuzzface/fffram.htm" target="_blank">The Technology of the Fuzz Face</a>. It helped me a lot in choosing the right part values and testing transistors both in my Germanium unit and this recent Silicon unit. It is really the Fuzz Face Bible, highly recommended and insightful. </div>
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The schematic I drew up in Chrome Circuit Lab is shown here for reference but feel free to use it, tweak it or twist it. I will update it if I decide to change it. The feedback diode did not really do anything so I left it as in the Fulltone version.<br />
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Hope you get to enjoy it! You can also have a blast using Mark's <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXTc-rqksNPk7E_gMxVjLp8e_GL9wdsjjHxAeoLrwgUH_fgCIJoR9o4L7yiPjQHf83lfAWFuxZZRNKz1f4UZ07sMi0fgTquqXcipcuZvPef4-rBX-qvfoIdgxY52235fgovG7byOc283Y/s1600/Analogman+Sunface+BC108.png" target="_blank">vero layout</a> on Tagboardeffects.blogspot,com<br />
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There is a lot of Fuzz Face info all over the web, here are some more recommended pages for extended reading on this matter:<br />
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<li><a href="http://effectslounge.com/blog/more-history-fuzz-dallas-arbiter-fuzz-face" target="_blank">http://effectslounge.com/blog/more-history-fuzz-dallas-arbiter-fuzz-face</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.custom-sounds.com/Articles/FUZZ-FACE-by-David-Morin" target="_blank">http://www.custom-sounds.com/Articles/FUZZ-FACE-by-David-Morin</a>, </li>
<li><a href="http://fuzzcentral.ssguitar.com/fuzzface.php" target="_blank">http://fuzzcentral.ssguitar.com/fuzzface.php</a>.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.analogman.com/fuzzface.htm" target="_blank">http://www.analogman.com/fuzzface.htm</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gilmourish.com/?page_id=73" target="_blank">http://www.gilmourish.com/?page_id=73</a></li>
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Doron Barnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11002512823760367163noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-162496036908090004.post-32820679060308925242012-10-30T14:50:00.000-07:002013-07-18T23:14:42.114-07:00Tumble and Drive - the Rougue Dumble<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Runoffgroove Tumble Drive (Umble)</td></tr>
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For those of you who are following this blog and my recent posts, it is probably clear that, although our main point of concern is the magical sounds of fuzz circuits, a great of interest is being paid to the accompanying peripherals, which have a great deal to do with the overall guitar sound. What I mean by this long phrase is that every time I think I have understood the fuzz sound of a certain pedal I am amazed to discover how different it sounds and behaves when you play with it through different amps.</div>
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That was the main reason I began building amp emulation pedals like the English Channel (emulation a VOX AC30 top boost channel) or the Thor (The Marshall 100W Superlead). You have probably noticed that when it comes to amp emulation I am very fond of the Runoffgroove design, and that is mostly because they just sound great and they definitely evoke the characteristic sounds of the amps they aim to emulate.</div>
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On of the most sought after sound of guitar amplifiers is the <span style="font-family: inherit;">unique sound of </span>the Dumble amps which have been made since the 60's in California by Alexander "Howard" Dumble. Although I have never played through a Dumble in my life, nor do I believe I will ever do, it was interesting to hear what the fuss was all about. The list of Dumble users includes some major players lik<span style="font-family: inherit;">e Santana, SRV, John Mayer, Al Di Meola and Ben Harper and many more. Probably the most recognized user of the Dumbles is Eric Johnson who made the amps famous with his singing Fuzz Face going through an heavily overdriven Dumble.</span></div>
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Unlike many of the ROG designs which I built in order to get the well known classic sound of a certain amp, on this build I just wanted a good American sound which would get me from clean to crunch with some nice lead tone and good tone control. I even asked the ROG guys about a Fender like design that would get me close to a Vibroking or a Super-Sonic sound and they recommended their Dumble-like design, called the Umble, a cascaded FET based overdrive. </div>
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I quickly started gathering parts and had the circuit running in a few days....and YES....another great sounding overdrive by the amazing guys at ROG. This is a very versatile unit which got me playing for days getting some wicked tones. On the lower end of the DRIVE knob it's capable of some really sweet clean tones. Single coils come cleaner but with proper use of the tonestack you can get Humbuckers to sound clean too. I really love low gain pedals because I love the warm drive you can get from them. This pedal does it all, warm, punchy or razor sharp, it's all there. Once you get the DRIVE up it becomes a monster and reaches Fuzz territory towards the end. While lowering the Tone stack knobs cleans the sound, increasing them gives you more drive and half way through the dials you are already speeding on the freeway.</div>
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I called it Tumble Drive because it sounded better then Umble to me and it drives so smooth and nice.</div>
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The one thing which I really love about this design is that it also serves as an excellent booster before a second overdrive like the Supreaux Duo ("1st Page" on my blog). It sounds really good and gives you the Eric Johnson tone if you put a Fuzz Face in front of it. Actually, every fuzz I hooked up with it sounded great and so it isn't just another amp-like pedal. Although the Tone stack is a little strange to work with it sounds good: The TREBLE knob adds some BASS as you crank it, and the BASS is quite subtle.</div>
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The final thing I did just recently was adding a simple switch to bypass the first FET gain stage so that I can now get even cleaner sound on low DRIVE settings. Now it's just perfect and I really like the paint job which I got in the end with the IGNITE toggle switch.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The gain switch which bypasses the first stage gain FET (in red)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Umble with Gain switch</td></tr>
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Again....don't pass out on this design if you are serious about american sounding overdrives. The schematic can be found <a href="http://www.runoffgroove.com/umble.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Below are 2 demos of my lousy playing on my ES335 clone guitar and the pedal through a soundcard and some amp with room simulations. The first is a demo with different settings and the second is a mix of 3 tracks, Riff+rhythm+solo, with various settings showing the versatile sound of the effect on a single guitar. It's quite an amazing pedal with its capabilities as a low gain overdrive, high gain overdrive, full on distortion and a great fuzz character with the BASS knob fully cranked. The tone stack have a huge effect on the sound of the pedal.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="220" src="//www.mixcloud.com/widget/iframe/?feed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mixcloud.com%2Fdoronbarness%2Fplaylists%2Ftumble-drive-umble%2F%3Flimit%3D10&embed_uuid=3016057f-42d7-4f0b-96af-0a4ab7888262&stylecolor=971717&embed_type=widget_standard" width="560"></iframe><br />
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Doron Barnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11002512823760367163noreply@blogger.com23