First turret build

[Dan0h]

I finished my first turret build today. I know it’s a bit sloppy, spaghetti nest, but this was really just an experiment to learn more about this style of pedal. It’s a take on the classic fuzz face using a mix of the Twin Face pnp side with some other tweaks. I ran the fuzz control to a trim pot and added a 10k pot for the bias to q2 on top. Used some oversized caps, because I wanted to, and carbon comp resistors. The battery was chore but I got it in there. I bought two of everything so I could learn the pitfalls from this build and them make the second build super tits.
Spent about an hour comparing it to my other fuzz face build and it does have some noticeable differences. I know the transistors make a lot of the difference but I noticed this one kept its integrity through the entire volume roll down on my guitar. It also did not have any of the shrill fizz high end and seemed to have much better low end. Most importantly it was awesome to plug it in and have it work without any troubleshooting.

So yeah, I’m a fan and will make some more. After I finish the 3 PCBs Mr.pedalPCB sent me last week.

Keep building.

 

[fig]

Fantastic! I've never heard 2 FF sound identical anyway.

 

[Harry Klippton]

Fantastic! I've never heard 2 FF sound identical anyway.

That's the fun of fuzz faces!

 

[spi]

Cool, where do you find a turret board?

 

[Dan0h]

Cool, where do you find a turret board?

I ordered this one.

 

[Dan0h]

I have decided to add a dc jack and a 100uf filter cap to this build as I can tell no noticeable difference between using a battery vs 9vdc adaptor. The battery is just a huge pain in the ass.

The unicorn fairy dust battery didn’t do its magic. And I am not going to buy a zinc battery just to see if that works. Power jack here we come.

 

[Preverb]

That doesn't look messy at all. I did a PTP tube headphone amp once with no turret board. It was a rat's nest inside. Still can't believe it worked 1st go.

It makes sense to do a fuzz on a turret board since there are not that many parts. I just don't know if I am a fuzz guy. I used to have one of those Russian large green big muffs but never bonded with it. The servo based fuzz in the works here has me interested though.

 

[Dan0h]

Well that was easy. And was able to finally use up one of those Tayda orders gone wrong with the big cap. Dc jack for the win.

 

[fig]

330uF should cover it! Nice

 

[Mcknib]

Looks good I use tagboard definitely one of my favourite ways to build

I've now ventured down the point to point method, built a DOD 250 grey spec

It worked first time but I wasn't happy with the way it looked so I'm now on my 3rd go tryna get perfectly straight wires, I'm such a sad ass

 

[fig]

I'm really wanting to do this as well. It seems my electronic interests have polarized (as is the natural order of things). P2P and turret and Digital audio programming. Ain't life grand?

 

[Dan0h]

I'm really wanting to do this as well. It seems my electronic interests have polarized (as is the natural order of things). P2P and turret and Digital audio programming. Ain't life grand?

I really enjoyed building this one. Was not happy about how it looks but it’s a good start. Ultimately I will work my way up to building an amp. But there are a few more ideas I want to try out via PTP first.

 

[Dan0h]

Finished the second one last night. Ended up having to trouble shoot because it sounded underwater compared to the last one. Spent some time reading voltages. Thought I had a bad pot at first. Then thought I had a bad transistor. Turns out the Emitter of Q1 was touching the capacitor leg and because I had to use two 10uf caps in parallel (to get to 20uf) it ended up halving the capacitance and sounding like Poo. Now I understand why people heat-shrink their transistor legs. These are really fun to build and good practice if I decide to pull the trigger on doing an amp.

 

[andare]

Resurrecting this post to get help soldering to turrets @Dan0h

I'm also building a Fuzz Face on the same turret board but the solder won't stick to the turrets. What you see in the picture seems making decent connections but today I've added the transistors and there's no wetting. Solder balls up and rolls off.
I'm using a Pinecil with a decently sized scalpel tip at 350C. Adding flux doesn't help.



Any tips?

 

[Dan0h]

Resurrecting this post to get help soldering to turrets @Dan0h

I'm also building a Fuzz Face on the same turret board but the solder won't stick to the turrets.
I'm using a Pinecil with a decently sized scalpel tip at 350C. Adding flux doesn't help.

View attachment 33626

Any tips?

I ran into the same issue. Because the turrets are so huge (compared to the through hole pads we are used to soldiering) you have to get them pretty hot for the solder to stick. I found tinning them up before adding components helps and making sure your leads wrap around for support. I was eventually able to have solid soldiering on them. Maybe turn up your iron a bit too.

 

[Dan0h]

Resurrecting this post to get help soldering to turrets @Dan0h

I'm also building a Fuzz Face on the same turret board but the solder won't stick to the turrets. What you see in the picture seems making decent connections but today I've added the transistors and there's no wetting. Solder balls up and rolls off.
I'm using a Pinecil with a decently sized scalpel tip at 350C. Adding flux doesn't help.

View attachment 33626

Any tips?

Once the turret is hot enough it will accept the solder. Might need a bigger iron tip as well.

 

[andare]

I ran into the same issue. Because the turrets are so huge (compared to the through hole pads we are used to soldiering) you have to get them pretty hot for the solder to stick. I found tinning them up before adding components helps and making sure your leads wrap around for support. I was eventually able to have solid soldiering on them. Maybe turn up your iron a bit too.

Aha so heat them up plenty and tin them and only layer add the components. Makes sense.
Thank you!

 

[Dan0h]

Aha so heat them up plenty and tin them and only layer add the components. Makes sense.
Thank you!

Looking forward to the build report. I have two turret boards in process as we speak. I love them.