TRIODE FUZZ 1 & 2

here in chicago we have a cool electronics shop called triode electronics. in the amazing mess that is triode, there is a virtual plethora of parts and supplies for the DIY enthusiast. on the store's website there are a number of interesting circuit schematics and articles, and i found these two little fuzz circuits there. one is very similar to the fuzzface, and the other looks like a pretty interesting sixties style fuzz box. i'm not sure where they come from, but they look pretty cool, and are worth giving a try. who knows, it could be the next fuzz factory!

2, NO, 3! NEW DIRTY BOOTS VEROS!

dudes! made up a few new veros for the db. the first one is a small layout for box caps and radial electros for you guys that like those little baby boxes. the second one is for axial caps vintage style and specifies the specific type of caps that i have been using for my builds. of course, sprinkle your mojo to taste. i'm callin this on v5.2 because of the added reverse polarity protection diode as well as a limiting resistor for the pre control. haven't decided at the exact value for that one, most likely around 50-100K, or just put lug one straight to ground like before. the third one is just stupid small. i call it rev2. good luck you masochists! take er easy!

GARY HURST MK1 VERO LAYOUT

here's a layout i made up today while trying to stay awake at one of my corporate gigs. it's for gary hurst's version of the tonebender mk1. a kind of finnicky crcuit, it is said to work best with leaky trannies, we'll see when i throw it on the old breadboard later. looking forward to building this one up after i heard some killer clips at the DAM forum. the layout can be easily changed to vintage specs as well, if that's the one you are after. the schemo can be found HERE.
XXXXXXUPDATEXXXXXX layout is now verified! try a 1M resistor in place of the 2M2 for more output.


here is a shitty pic of the verified board.

i've been promoted!

the fine minds over at freestompboxes.org have deemed me worthy of modhood! that's right, yours truly was dubbed moderator over at the coolest diy guitar effect pedal site on the interwebs! holy fuck, i'm cool! now seriously, all you slags watch your back cuz there's a new man with a badge in stomptown and he ain't takin no prisoners. search first, or straight to the klink witcha!!!

JOE DAVISSON'S SIMPLE CAB SIM VERO LAYOUT

i made up this layout and built this up tonight so that i could work on fuzz designs in my headphones late at night. layout is verified.
schematic can be found HERE.

TONE FACTOR ULTRA LORD VERO LAYOUT

the ultra lord is a high gain fuzz that was created by andrew carrell and licensed to the Tone Factor brand. i haven't had a chance to build it yet, but apparently it sounds awesome. the origin of the circuit is originally based of a circuit called the dirty sanchez which carrell designed in order to have something that was a cool sounding, high gain fuzz, made from easily available radio shack parts. the ultra lord is a tweaked version of the dirty sanchez apparently taking it's sound to it's full potential. the UL looks to me like a bazz fuss running into a darlington pair with a mark hammer modded shin-ei fy-2 style mid scoop control on the end and a sag pot for the voltage. a combo of some nice snippets. here is vero layout that i made- it is unverified, but thoroughly checked. if you make it, let me know!
the schematic can be found HERE.
the thread for the ultra lord at freestompboxes.org can be found HERE.

DIRTY BOOTS GERMANIUM OVERDRIVE

this little circuit is really what got me started in the whole DIY effects design process. i needed something that i could use to dirty up a loud, clean amp just enough to where it would have a touch of grit. it's a great little overdrive that can be used as a germanium booster as well as a fuzz if your pickups are hot enough.

it all started when i decided to breadboard the Trotsky Drive by Beavis Audio, which is basically a GE version of the Electra Distortion with a bias adjustment pot. using a russian GT313A transistor, i was fooling around with it, messing with values and such, when i remembered that the Bazz Fuss uses a diode in the C to B position instead of a resistor like the Trotsky/Electra. so i tried it out, and i got an excellently biased gain stage with just a bit of compression. then i realized that the circuit i was working on was PNP, where the BF is NPN. so the diode configuration is actually reversed. eventually i came to learn, with the help of many generous folks in the DIY community, that the GE diode that i was using was leaky, all of them are leaky, and it is this leakage that is actually acting as a large resistor and biasing the transistor. cool,huh? along with that, i'm sure that the diode is adding it's own little stamp on the situation with a bit of compression an break up.

after messing about with a ton of diodes this way and that, with filtering, in series, etc., i decided that i'm just not that big of a fan of diode clippers. i find them unnatural sounding, and their clipping just sound too "obvious" to me for some reason. so i ditched the clippers, added a small cap from C to B to roll off a bit of highs, and just put a whole nother stage in series with the first.

Lo! the Dirty Boots was born.

eventually i ended up trying a bias pot on the second stage and some different switching options for changing gain and tone, etc., but ended up with a normal emmitter controlled gain stage, a pregain control, and a volume pot. the latest mod was the series resistance between stages and ditching the cap from C to B on the second stage to open it up a bit.

it's really a great sounding little circuit using ge trannies which can be found on the bay for dirt cheap. the basic gain stage can be used for other things as well- it became the basis for The Toecutter.


give it a try sometime, or i'll send my band of mutated hobbit rat people to dig you out of your bomb shelter and eat you for second breakfast.

the thread at FSB about the Dirty Boots can be found HERE.

many thanks go out to Martin Chittum, Marcelo "Mac" Tripodi, and others that helped me understand along the way!



here is a layout using common sized parts. i have another for use with the extra mojo axial caps and such that i will post later.





daniel zink made this great version of the Dirty Boots in a Hammond 1590A box. a little killer!







here's another one from mr. zink- very stylish!