pingpongcomputer
Well-known member
- Build Rating
This is my second build of the Sputnik II, the first was the DEFX Laika Fuzz V2, which was one of my favorite fuzzes, but in a visually displeasing horizontal 1590BB layout with all the knobs straight across the top. So, I saw @PedalBuilder 's post of his Polaris Fuzz and ordered a board from him. Much nicer layout, both visually and to build, plus intelligent relay bypass switching. I started out with GT309V transistors in q1 and 2, with a GT310b in q3, but I wasn't quite getting the sound I wanted and had an ac128k laying around that I salvaged from something else, so I dropped that into q1 this weekend, biased it up, and it sounds great. The ac128 has more leakage than specified but I haven't noticed a problem yet. I monitored bias voltages for a while when I was playing and they stayed pretty steady, so it doesn't seem to have had an adverse effect so far.
It's a versatile GE fuzz. The tone control switches from high pass above noon and low pass below for adjusting the output tone, and the toggle switches adjust the tone going into the fuzz, so they can have interesting effects on the intensity and texture. The drift/entropy switch is less of a draw for me because I don't really like gated or glitchy sounds, but it can still be fun and with subtle settings can be used as a foot-switchable second tonal option.
I went with a neon scifi theme for the art and used a model based on the art of Pascal Blanche for the cyber/steampunky spaceship/dirigible and used @PedalBuilder 's convenient AI template for text layout. Tayda UV print on Chromium 1590BB2 enclosure.
It's a versatile GE fuzz. The tone control switches from high pass above noon and low pass below for adjusting the output tone, and the toggle switches adjust the tone going into the fuzz, so they can have interesting effects on the intensity and texture. The drift/entropy switch is less of a draw for me because I don't really like gated or glitchy sounds, but it can still be fun and with subtle settings can be used as a foot-switchable second tonal option.
I went with a neon scifi theme for the art and used a model based on the art of Pascal Blanche for the cyber/steampunky spaceship/dirigible and used @PedalBuilder 's convenient AI template for text layout. Tayda UV print on Chromium 1590BB2 enclosure.
