Coda
Well-known member
You heard it here first, ladies and gentlemen, and Big Monk. Submitted for your perusal: this past week was the first week of the Fall Semester. Friday was my first day all week since Monday that I was off (I know, right?), and I felt like building something. Now, I have several projects in the works, but they are all waiting for something…a Tayda order, matched transistors, artwork, etc…basically, if I was gonna build something, I was gonna build it from scratch…
Yesterday morning, post-breakfast: as my wife droned on about something, I started looking through the Tagboardeffects archive for something to catch my eye. And then there it was…the Sunn Buzz. The circuit dates to 1967, and is basically my white whale (or maybe white dolphin); the circuit is essentially a Maestro FZ-1a, but with Si transistors (the dolphin). I had never heard of this fuzz before (therefore I rediscovered it), and I was obsessed. By dinner time I had the circuit breadboarded, and was happy.
Today I threw together the veroboard, worked it up, and drilled a funky enclosure I got from Small Bear years ago. The circuit is stock, with one exception: I changed the output cap from 2n2 to 4n7. You get a bit more body, and a bit more punch. Other than that it is a vintage-sounding fuzz. Buzzy, raw…sounds less high gain guitar, more my old no-name tube amp that I found in a barn is about to explode…and it sounds glorious.
Update: Now with demo...
I went back and added a toggle on the output cap, so the first part of the clip is the stock circuit (for the most part), and the second half of the clip is with a slightly larger cap…
Yesterday morning, post-breakfast: as my wife droned on about something, I started looking through the Tagboardeffects archive for something to catch my eye. And then there it was…the Sunn Buzz. The circuit dates to 1967, and is basically my white whale (or maybe white dolphin); the circuit is essentially a Maestro FZ-1a, but with Si transistors (the dolphin). I had never heard of this fuzz before (therefore I rediscovered it), and I was obsessed. By dinner time I had the circuit breadboarded, and was happy.
Today I threw together the veroboard, worked it up, and drilled a funky enclosure I got from Small Bear years ago. The circuit is stock, with one exception: I changed the output cap from 2n2 to 4n7. You get a bit more body, and a bit more punch. Other than that it is a vintage-sounding fuzz. Buzzy, raw…sounds less high gain guitar, more my old no-name tube amp that I found in a barn is about to explode…and it sounds glorious.
Update: Now with demo...
I went back and added a toggle on the output cap, so the first part of the clip is the stock circuit (for the most part), and the second half of the clip is with a slightly larger cap…
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