PedalBuilder
Well-known member
This has been in the works since January, but I only got around to building it today. That was a mistake, because the Dizzy Tone is an awesome circuit.
I want to give a shout out to @peccary, whose Get Rad! Dizzy Elk project was a big inspiration, as were the curvy traces on some of @KR Sound's PCBs.
The Dizzy Tone schematic looks a lot like a Buzzaround or a Tone Bender Mk. III, with a couple low-leakage germaniums configured as a Darlington pair for Q1 and Q2 and a leaky transistor partially biased with a leaky germanium diode for Q3. Despite the topographical similarities, it's got a very different thing going on than the other pedals. It's much spittier, compressed, and gated. If you like gnarly fuzzes, you'll love the Dizzy Tone.
The transistors in this build are Texas Instruments 182505 transistors for Q1 and Q2, and a Siemens AC153Y for Q3. The 182505s each have a hFE of 45, and about leakage of about 10µA; the AC153Y has an hFE of 75 and leakage of 260µA. The diode is a Soviet D9D. (I'd initially planned to use a pair of MP21E's for Q1 and Q2 and a 3AX31C for Q3, and even put the designations on the silkscreen on the back of the PCB. On a whim, I swapped out the transistors on the breadboard, and fell in love with the result.)
I changed the output filter capacitors to 220n and 10n, and used a B100k for the filter potentiometer.
The enclosure is a Tayda 125B in metallic candy purple, with UV printing (double white, matte finish).
I didn't photograph the PCB before boxing it up, but here's a mockup if anyone's curious:
I want to give a shout out to @peccary, whose Get Rad! Dizzy Elk project was a big inspiration, as were the curvy traces on some of @KR Sound's PCBs.
The Dizzy Tone schematic looks a lot like a Buzzaround or a Tone Bender Mk. III, with a couple low-leakage germaniums configured as a Darlington pair for Q1 and Q2 and a leaky transistor partially biased with a leaky germanium diode for Q3. Despite the topographical similarities, it's got a very different thing going on than the other pedals. It's much spittier, compressed, and gated. If you like gnarly fuzzes, you'll love the Dizzy Tone.
The transistors in this build are Texas Instruments 182505 transistors for Q1 and Q2, and a Siemens AC153Y for Q3. The 182505s each have a hFE of 45, and about leakage of about 10µA; the AC153Y has an hFE of 75 and leakage of 260µA. The diode is a Soviet D9D. (I'd initially planned to use a pair of MP21E's for Q1 and Q2 and a 3AX31C for Q3, and even put the designations on the silkscreen on the back of the PCB. On a whim, I swapped out the transistors on the breadboard, and fell in love with the result.)
I changed the output filter capacitors to 220n and 10n, and used a B100k for the filter potentiometer.
The enclosure is a Tayda 125B in metallic candy purple, with UV printing (double white, matte finish).
I didn't photograph the PCB before boxing it up, but here's a mockup if anyone's curious:
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