DRONE MUFF

[Fuzzonaut]

Muff? Drone? Gimmie, gimmie gimmmie!!! (No matter what time it is.)

I just had to try this one. The PCB is from Inverted Cross Audio. I didn't pay attention when ordering, usually I stay a few miles away from anything SMD (= Super Mühsame Dinger) as we have a smd J201 in there (no through hole possible). Took quite some fiddling, but seems like I successfully soldered that tiny thing correctly.

We have a clean blend, Tone and Scoop, clipping options in the first and second stage (si/none/LED) and a feedback potentiometer for the sustainer drone mode. There are 2 drone modes, the other one turns the pedal more or less into a drone/noise synth.
The layout of the PCB was for a 125B, with the option to put a Drone on/off toggle switch somewhere on the side .... ?!?
Well, nope. I put the whole thing into a BB and wired the Drone on/off switch as a footswitch with an on/off LED.

Sounds pretty good (2N5088 transistors, might play around here) and delivers a lot of different toanz and noizes.

 

[Paradox916]

I build something similar awhile back definitely a lot of fun.

 

[tegendemuur]

How is the drone implemented? You set the pitch with a note?

 

[Paradox916]

How is the drone implemented? You set the pitch with a note?

Not sure how it’s implemented on this one but I assume it’s based of the same info here

Coda Effects: Big Muff mods and tweaks

Learn more about electric guitar related electronics: DIY guitar pedals, from fuzz faces to delays and reverb, cables and circuits theory

www.coda-effects.com

There are a few different ways to do it. At least this is how I modded mine.

 

[Fuzzonaut]

How is the drone implemented? You set the pitch with a note?

Edit: damn, @Paradox916 was quicker, but yeah, what he said.
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It seems to be a variation of the feedback mods, mentioned by Coda (he has a great Muff write up, by the way).

"This mod is also not for anyone. It will give the Muff a weird drone note that will interact with the notes played resulting in octaves (up and down), nintendo sounds or a huge MUSH. Can sound quite nice and interesting!!!!! The mod is done with a feedback loop: connecting two points together and letting signal flow back. I found two of these loops in my Muff (note: more can be there; try for yourself!)

1. Connect the emitter of Q3 with the emitter of Q2 through a switch (so you can turn the loop off). The sustain will be on full when this mod is engaged.​
2. Connect the collector of Q3 with the collector of Q1 through a switch. The sustain now can be varied by the sustain knob."​

Here, the MODE toggleswitch selects which transistors are linked, when activating DRONE, I think.

 

[tegendemuur]

Thanks guys! That's a neat little trick; something to keep in the back of my head when I come across this circuit or similar in future builds. It being based on a feedback loop, there's likely not much rhyme or reason behind how the drone behaves, but that's part of the charm of flooping.

 

[Paradox916]

@tegendemuur I did a demo of it if you want to get one idea of how to use it.
One trick I found was it also interacts with the volume knob on your guitar in an interesting useable way.