[floydmoline]

what ya building, and what was substitued? :-D always cool to see someone getting a start

[characterzero]

I'm doing this basic "Radioshack Fuzz" http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforu...topic=65426.40 (it's down a little bit.

Basically I'm using the subs that "Cardboard Tube Samurai" mentioned a few posts after the schematic. Basically, after searching I became convinced 120K resistors don't exist. I got some extra parts/doubles so I can tweak stuff and also make something for a friend. Hopefully, I'll end up with something that sounds half decent, plus fuzz is a sound I'm completely missing from my arsenal.

Judging by this soundclip from one of the projects that was only using RadioShack parts, it could end up sounding really good.
http://www.filefreak.com/pfiles/49560/RS%20FUZZ.mp3

... ::: gears up to play some sabbathy riffs:::

All in all it's a fairly cheap project, and hopefully it'll pan out well. I'm doing it with help from a friend who knows a lot more about electronics so, that should help.

[floydmoline]

yeah for the 120k anything close would work in the feedback loop, more than 110K but less than 200K, 120K is a fairly common value, i use them in place of 150K all the time, because i run out of 150Ks quickly lol..... an advisable mod i would reccomend is replace the 1M output with a 100K - 500K, 1M seems a little high to me, i'd leave the caps where they are..... good they are what i'd use, it'll be a little "wooly" (bassy / full range) with the caps in there, raise the input cap to lower the filters center frequency, i.e. to make it a bass fuzz..... to me a fuzz should be a bit on the bassy side, but i am a tone bender buff, i am not much of a fuzz face kinda guy, the only draw back i can see with that is you have to twiddle the volume on the guitar to vary the input gain.... prolly not a good thing, i'd stick a lower valued pot on the emitter of Q2, i.e. make R4 a 1k or 2K pot. and then get yourself a fancy red round case...... LOL

[characterzero]

Wow, that's for all the advice, it's really helpful especially since my friend who wants one of the fuzzes mainly plays bass.

And in reference to the cool case, I think the Roger Mayer fuzz cases are by far the coolest design.



However, I'm starting with the typical boring gray rectangle... can't wait, though I'll probably take a while twiddling with the set up before I actually put it together.

[floydmoline]

yeah those octavia cases are pretty snazzy, i like boxes with non-standard designs, rectangles and and squares are so boring

[characterzero]

Alright, my first fuzz is finished!!! It sounds like and is just as I imagined. The output is realllly high though, if I crank it past noon I'm apt to introduce some buzz, blow my amp, or pick up a radio station . Do you think that was due to the 1M pot? If so, I figure in the future like a 500k would do the job well.

I'm loving this pedal right now. The insides are a bit of a mess, but for now it's working great. Maybe soon I'll record some sound clips or something. And by the way, Pedal Parts Plus is highly recommended. They sent everything in nice little individual labeled bags, and emailed me quickly about shipping stuff. Also the case I got ($5) is the EXACT same kind they use for the Electro Harmonix XO line (mine's the size of the nanos).

Woohoo!

[floydmoline]

yeah your 1M pot is going to have some effect on that if you would have put a 500K pot in there as i had suggested :-P you would have had about a 1/4 less travel for max output and about 25% less output, but it is primarily due to the collector going directly to the coupling cap, normally in fuzz face style fuzz pedals there are 2 resistors on the collector side of Q2 with the output being tapped between them e.g. moving the output to the other side of the 10K resistor, and adding a < 1K resistor between the coupling cap and the 9V supply. but congradulations :-D fuzz pedals are fun, out of curiiosity what was the exact model number on the case of the transistor you used, and post an MP3 :-P i wanna hear hehe

[characterzero]

I made a quick mp3 in my gear-space, nothing special. Please pardon the playing. Anyway, I think the fuzz sounds better in person. Also It works great with my delay for crazier stuff.

[characterzero]

Oh also the transistors are two 2N3904s, as seen here: http://www.pedalpartsplus.com/mm5/me...y_Code=TRANSBP

[floydmoline]

not bad sounding, i would recommend usinf lower gain trasistors to get a more claassic sounding fuzz if you wanted, ala 2N2412 are my personal favorite fo Si transistors...... central semi-conductor's variety come in a metal case and are a little lower gain makes them sound smoother.