Effects Layouts Illithid

[VanWhy]

Build Rating

5.00 star(s)

I've been really into "hybrid" fuzzes recently and this one piqued my interest. So for those unfamiliar here is the description from EL:

"The ILLITHID is a hybrid silicon/germanium/MOSFET fuzz based on the 3-knob Dunwich Cthulhu Fuzz. The first stage is essentially a Fuzz Face with a pot panning between 2 different input caps, along with a MOSFET stacked on a germanium transistor. This is fed into a modified Big Muff gain stage with germanium and LED clipping."

Yes please. So backstory is I tried to build this about a month and a half ago. Wouldn't work at first so during troubleshooting I pulled up a couple pads and really butchered it. It was a mess. I had a couple other of EL boards that couldn't get working so I just bagged this board. I really like what I did with the enclosure so I ended up just ordering another board. Let it sit for a while then I saw @Fuzzonaut post his build and saw he did it a little different so that inspired me to get thing going again. Redid the board and finally fired right up. Reused the enclosure and I really like how it came out. The enclosure has some scuffs, etc from sitting around and getting shuffled around but other than that it's fine with me.

This does sound pretty cool. It's interesting how it uses Mosfet, Ge, and LED clipping. Pretty fun. Glad I finally finished it.

 

[Bret608]

Glad to see your build report on this circuit! I've been curious about it. One thing I'm not clear on--the Ge transistor as diode in the clipping section should be NPN or PNP? I thought NPN from the schematic but not sure if that's right...

 

[VanWhy]

Glad to see your build report on this circuit! I've been curious about it. One thing I'm not clear on--the Ge transistor as diode in the clipping section should be NPN or PNP? I thought NPN from the schematic but not sure if that's right...

NPN

 

[Feral Feline]

... Redid the board ...

Looks like the new board was used, but just to confirm you didn't re-use the borked board?

The graphic is killer, after looking at it more closely I had to change my "like" to "love" — you come up with that image yourself?

 

[VanWhy]

Looks like the new board was used, but just to confirm you didn't re-use the borked board?

The graphic is killer, after looking at it more closely I had to change my "like" to "love" — you come up with that image yourself?

I did not use the borked board. This one is a freshy.

Thanks. I grabbed that image from the internet and just edited it a bit so it's not mine. I think it's supposed to be Illithid from Dungeons & Dragons.

 

[Feral Feline]

You edited it, thus making it yours. Great build, makes me want to move my board up the queue...

 

[Benny2beer]

I see that you went with the germanium transistor in Q5 instead of the diode in D1. I am a new pedal builder and have this board ordered. Is there any reason why you went that way?

 

[VanWhy]

I see that you went with the germanium transistor in Q5 instead of the diode in D1. I am a new pedal builder and have this board ordered. Is there any reason why you went that way?

I can't quite remember but I think it sounded better with the transistor instead of the diode. I don't think it was a big difference since they are both wired as diodes so I think either should work fine. Maybe I thought it looked cooler as well.

 

[Benny2beer]

I can't quite remember but I think it sounded better with the transistor instead of the diode. I don't think it was a big difference since they are both wired as diodes so I think either should work fine. Maybe I thought it looked cooler as well.

Thanks for letting me know. I wasn't sure if it had any effect on the sound, and was curious. I know it's been over a year.

 

[jwin615]

Thanks for letting me know. I wasn't sure if it had any effect on the sound, and was curious. I know it's been over a year.

It's also a bonus way to use up unusable Ge transistors.
If you look up early handheld transistor radios, they would advertise the number of transistors used, often on the radio itself. A lot of times, many of the advertised transistors were actually used as diodes. A 13 transistor radio could only have 6-7 functioning transistors in it.