owlexifry
Well-known member
it's kinda hard not to get sucked into big muff lore and dive into all the variants.
the big muff origin stories got me curious and looking at the og perfboard V1 circuit, and then i started getting ideas.
i've only done a couple variants so far (V7 green russian, kewpie fuzz), and those were not disappointing, so this triangle was bound to happen i guess.
the obvious solution is to buy the diagonal pattern vintage spec perfboard from amplified parts - but i didn't really feel like spending $20 shipping on a $4 board. and it kinda felt too easy. anyone can just do that. pffsh.
so i had a really dumb idea - fuck it - wooden board. (why not just go full on archaic dipshit while im at it)
- picked up a 5mm craft hardwood piece.
- printed out the perfboard layout from amplified parts at various zooms (i settled on 115%)
- cut out the template and board to size, glued paper template to board, drilled holes where they need to be with a 2mm bit.
- sanded with a few grits and then varnished with a few coats of danish oil.
my dad had given me a couple of old tins he picked up from a thrift shop for me, and one of them looked just right for this build, but it did present quite a challenge with it's shallow depth.
(back side)
- picked up some 2N5856 transistors and other fancy bits on ebay and elsewhere to get the right look, and sadly they measured quite low in gain (~100, ~80, ~80, ~78)
- built the circuit on a breadboard first to ensure they'd actually sound ok, i was satisfied and eventually settled on Q positions for each.
- turns out the low gain really didn't matter that much.
(except i'm a heckin moron and forgot to check the collector voltages on the breadboard before i built it - i ended up changing the emitter resistor on Q4 from 2K2 to 820R, bringing the idle Q4 collector voltage from ~7.xV down to 5.8v, and the output volume up. this also improved the EQ response, there was noticeable low end cut with Q4 collector at ~7.x volts)
anyway. im stoked.
- it rips.
- plenty of girth.
- searing thick crunchy fuzz.
- and to my great surprise - yep, loves getting boosted with a drive (instant tight high gain metal tonezzzzzzzz)
demo for evidence that this stupid build does actually work and isn't just a paperweight lol
bonus pic (how it really went down)
my first ever attempt at perfboard lol
the big muff origin stories got me curious and looking at the og perfboard V1 circuit, and then i started getting ideas.
i've only done a couple variants so far (V7 green russian, kewpie fuzz), and those were not disappointing, so this triangle was bound to happen i guess.
the obvious solution is to buy the diagonal pattern vintage spec perfboard from amplified parts - but i didn't really feel like spending $20 shipping on a $4 board. and it kinda felt too easy. anyone can just do that. pffsh.
so i had a really dumb idea - fuck it - wooden board. (why not just go full on archaic dipshit while im at it)
- picked up a 5mm craft hardwood piece.
- printed out the perfboard layout from amplified parts at various zooms (i settled on 115%)
- cut out the template and board to size, glued paper template to board, drilled holes where they need to be with a 2mm bit.
- sanded with a few grits and then varnished with a few coats of danish oil.
my dad had given me a couple of old tins he picked up from a thrift shop for me, and one of them looked just right for this build, but it did present quite a challenge with it's shallow depth.
(back side)
- picked up some 2N5856 transistors and other fancy bits on ebay and elsewhere to get the right look, and sadly they measured quite low in gain (~100, ~80, ~80, ~78)
- built the circuit on a breadboard first to ensure they'd actually sound ok, i was satisfied and eventually settled on Q positions for each.
- turns out the low gain really didn't matter that much.
(except i'm a heckin moron and forgot to check the collector voltages on the breadboard before i built it - i ended up changing the emitter resistor on Q4 from 2K2 to 820R, bringing the idle Q4 collector voltage from ~7.xV down to 5.8v, and the output volume up. this also improved the EQ response, there was noticeable low end cut with Q4 collector at ~7.x volts)
anyway. im stoked.
- it rips.
- plenty of girth.
- searing thick crunchy fuzz.
- and to my great surprise - yep, loves getting boosted with a drive (instant tight high gain metal tonezzzzzzzz)
demo for evidence that this stupid build does actually work and isn't just a paperweight lol
bonus pic (how it really went down)
my first ever attempt at perfboard lol
euphemisms everywhere...
i've never done 'real perfboard' before, this method of drilling a piece of wood just seemed a lot more interesting than buying a piece of plastic and doing what's already been done i guess.
