Ah Via Fuzzicom: Madbeans Violenzz

jeffwhitfield

Well-known member
I love Eric Johnson and the tone he gets from his guitar. Now, I will say right up front that I will never be able to play like Eric. I'm an absolute shitty solo guitarist. But I do like having a solid solo-type sound for simple single note licks. I don't intend on getting an exact EJ sound...just something in the ballpark that can act as a base sound for something else.

While I do have a few Fuzz Face builds, I decided to build a Madbeans Violenzz after researching the Dunlop EJF1 Fuzz Face. Seems the specs on this one are just a bit different than your typical silicon Fuzz Face. Built it pretty much to spec using the recommended resistor substitutions for all the weird values.

Also used the recommended BC183C transistor with an hFE value just under 600. Couldn't find a BC183L but did have a bunch of other BC5XX ones. The recommended BC550 was too high, as was the BC549, both of which registered just as high as a BC183L. Went with a BC548 which registered just under 300 hFE. Perfect! Set the bias and away I went!

Damn thing sounds awesome! Can definitely get those sweet violin-like tones for sure. Like most Fuzz Faces, you pretty much have to run it as the first pedal in your chain. It's a noisy pedal so, yeah, having it first helps curb that a bit. The Girth control is nice since it allows you to roll off the lower frequencies. I found that rolling it off just a bit helps get to a more violin tone rather quickly. Pretty much setting Fuzz and Girth to 2 o'clock does it for me.

The build went really smooth...much smoother than expected. It's a pretty jam packed enclosure so I'm surprised at just how easy it was to put it together. Just have to pay attention to how everything comes together and route all the wires, components, and such just right.

With the design, since this is an EJ inspired pedal, I figure a play off his most famous album would be fun. Added a neat multi-color violin graphic and typeset similar to the one used on the cover of the Ah Via Musicom album. Simple and classy! :D

Incredible sound from such a small little pedal! Definitely a keeper!

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I have found that, with Si Fuzz Faces, different transistors don’t change the gain, but they do affect the ‘color’ of the tone. BC109C are my favorite. 108s are a bit too well behaved, BC549c is a bit too round…
 
I have found that, with Si Fuzz Faces, different transistors don’t change the gain, but they do affect the ‘color’ of the tone. BC109C are my favorite. 108s are a bit too well behaved, BC549c is a bit too round…

I’m super pumped to get a giveaway fuzz to you because I know we share a love for Si Fuzz Faces.
 
I have found that, with Si Fuzz Faces, different transistors don’t change the gain, but they do affect the ‘color’ of the tone. BC109C are my favorite. 108s are a bit too well behaved, BC549c is a bit too round…
I've used the 108's and 109's in a few different circuits.

In fact, my AionFX Epsilon (a silicon Fuzz Face on steroids) uses the BC108C's. Great sound out of that one! Might try the BC109C in that one though.

I also used the BC109C in my Fuzz Aldrin, which I modded to match the Hybrid Fuzz pedal. Basically uses BC109C and an AC127. Really dig the sound out of that one!

I did use BC549C's in a Lovetone Big Cheese clone (AionFX Monolith). I suppose they work pretty well in that one. Pretty interesting little fuzz circuit in that one.
 
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