Copper Clad Fuzz Mod

[Arossignol]

Hi all! I built the Copper Clad Fuzz (Mythos Golden Fleece) and really enjoyed it, but it had a bit too much bass for my liking. So I put it on a breadboard and experimented with it until I found something I really like.

I put a “low cut filter” (I put those in quotes because I’m not sure if it’s the real term, or if it’s just a high pass filter) right before C1 (on attached pic). It’s a 330pf cap on legs 1 & 3 of a 250k audio pot.

What I’d like to know is how to implement it in an actual build. My first thought is to build it on the PPCB board and wire in the pot for this mod in between C4 and C1, then cut the trace in between them. Is this a good idea? Are there better ways of doing it?

Thanks for your input!

 

[Feral Feline]

The BEST way is to ACCEPT THE BASS, your destiny, and come join the dark side ...

Bass, the ultimate power!
Search your base feelings,
You know it to be true.






I wouldn't bother cutting a trace, far easier to just implement your mod via the in/out (a/b) pads of PCB's C1.

Run a wire from PCB C1a to your pot with the Lilliputian 330p and then solder C1-cap directly to the pot's output and run a wire from the C1-cap's other side to PCB C1b — no cutting of traces required.

I've cut a number of traces to achieve what I wanted, but I avoid it wherever/whenever possible — no point in risking botching a board needlessly.





Incidentally, in case you didn't already work it out, 330pF + 47nF in series = 327pF. That's crazier than an EHX Screaming Bird, 1/6th of the Bird's 2n!

Not to be obtuse 'cause I don't know what all your breadboard experiments entailed but, while you were breadboarding did you try simply swapping out the 47n for 33n or 10n etc?
I'd also look at experimenting with C3. Leave C1 and C2 stock (to begin with) and try reducing C3's 47µF to 33µF, 25µF, 10µF etc.



PS: Which leg of your mod-pot did you short leg-2 to?

 

[JamieJ]

https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/filter/filter_3.html

High Pass Filter Calculator

This is a High Pass Filter. It calculates the range of high frequency signals that a filter passes through.

www.learningaboutelectronics.com

The other option to try is just use a smaller input cap. Try 10N or 22N to see how that changes the sound.

 

[Arossignol]

The BEST way is to ACCEPT THE BASS, your destiny, and come join the dark side ...

Bass, the ultimate power!
Search your base feelings,
You know it to be true.






I wouldn't bother cutting a trace, far easier to just implement your mod via the in/out (a/b) pads of PCB's C1.

Run a wire from PCB C1a to your pot with the Lilliputian 330p and then solder C1-cap directly to the pot's output and run a wire from the C1-cap's other side to PCB C1b — no cutting of traces required.

I've cut a number of traces to achieve what I wanted, but I avoid it wherever/whenever possible — no point in risking botching a board needlessly.





Incidentally, in case you didn't already work it out, 330pF + 47nF in series = 327pF. That's crazier than an EHX Screaming Bird, 1/6th of the Bird's 2n!

Not to be obtuse 'cause I don't know what all your breadboard experiments entailed but, while you were breadboarding did you try simply swapping out the 47n for 33n or 10n etc?
I'd also look at experimenting with C3. Leave C1 and C2 stock (to begin with) and try reducing C3's 47µF to 33µF, 25µF, 10µF etc.



PS: Which leg of your mod-pot did you short leg-2 to?

Haha! That’s awesome. It’s so funny because usually I’m the one that hears a comment about tightening up the bass and thinking “Pfft! Lame!” And, duh on me! Of course the space between C1a and C1b is where this would go. Thank you, that’s totally what I came here for!

So I’m trying to remember everything I tried on the breadboard and I think the first place I started was at the input capacitor, and for whatever reason (maybe the “Q” of the hi pass I was creating) it just wasn’t feeling right. Plus, it was changing the distortion characteristic and I didn’t like it anymore. So I moved to the output section and tried stuff over there, but still didn’t feel like it did what I wanted.

I totally get why you’re thinking the 330p cap is insanely shrill! I have know idea why but it’s really not. The thing that’s really working for me with the mod I settled on is that

1. It gives control over the bass cut so it doesn’t get too anemic.
2. I think it may have changed the input impedance (maybe?) so now the whole pedal cleans up super nice when I roll back the volume knob. And I can set the pot so that it’s already kind of at that cleaned up fuzz sound.

Again, I have just enough knowledge to feel my way through this, but I sure appreciate the feedback I get here from folks who really know this stuff! I’m working my way there!

And ps, the pot is wired: C1-leg 1, leg 1-leg2, capacitor on leg 1 and leg 3, leg 3 back into the circuit.

 

[Feral Feline]

... I sure appreciate the feedback I get here from folks who really know this stuff! I’m working my way there!

...