The last few months I have been on an intense deep dive with the Fuzz Face topology. I have made what I consider to be the best possible Si FF's in varying gain ranges, I've made them 1590L sized, I've considered anything that the end user could possibly want or need. This all stemmed from a conversation with my coworked where he jokingly said "it would be rad to have a giant analog VU meter in the center of it". I got to searching for parts immediately. Don't threaten me with a good idea, I'll make it happen.
So I get the VU meter. I get a metal hole saw bit to cut the rather large hole, using which is a terrifying experience. I get to looking for transistors when I happen upon an eBay listing where someone is selling individually tested NOS Mullard OC140's, technically military spec CV7112's, all of which have the testing readout uploaded. GOLD MINE. I select an 89 HFE and a 141 HFE, and I wait. This package goes from Mass, skips right by the entire midwest, and gets stuck in (if memory serves) Louisiana for several days. STRESS. Finally it makes its way to Ohio and the packaging is as thorough as humanly possible. Not timely, but a win.
The look. This particular spray paint effect is achieved by spraying a color change glitter purple with one hand and a flat black with the other, then while it is still wet, pouring rubbing alcohol into your hand and flicking it at the wet paint. Misting it with a spray bottle doesn't come out right. You've got to Jackson Pollock the thing and hope for the best. The end result was at least my 3rd attempt.
The graphics. OY WHAT A HEADACHE. The outlines of the letters were cut out of vinyl on a Cricut. They didn't come out the exact size I was hoping for, so printing the words that went over top was a LOVELY game of trial and error. Trying to cut the letters with the Cricut must've been beyond the capabilities of the machine, because that was a mushy mess. Clear waterslide, black ink, applied over white vinyl. The end result is as close to perfect as I'll ever get without expensive machines, and I am content with that.
The circuit. There are no revolutionary changes to the core circuit. Q1 collector, 33k to 9v. 100k feedback resistor. The usual suspects. Where the fun came in was adding a faux second channel. The Q2 emitter resistor is fixed at 910r. When the left footswitch is engaged, it activates the gain control, which is actually a pre-gain. To get the treble roll-off right, I had to add a small cap. This footswitch also enables the tone control, which is a small cap between collector and base of Q1. Just in case you DON'T want the chime. The bias control will swing from about 3v to 7.5v. There was a compromise made there. I could either make the bias control run the entire sweep of voltage and have unusable choke out points at either end, or I could prioritize the good parts. It gets smoother, it gets glitchier, and it happily sits right at 4.5v as designed. Wanna find your favorite spot? There's a colossal VU meter in the center to help you. The switch at the top changes the input and output caps to add a second set of sounds. the stock 1uf and 10nf are on one side, and 100nf and 1uf on the other.
All was going super well until I hit a snag. I either drastically under or over thought some of the wiring with the LED's. My plan was for the "second channel" bi-color LED to not only reflect whether it is engaged or not, but also to dim when the pedal was in bypass. You want to know if your maybe-rolled-back-or-maybe-all-the-way-up fuzz face is going to either take your head off or be wildly anticlimactic. You also don't want the status light from a bypassed pedal blasting you in the face. The bypass footswitch is a 4pdt, using one set to control the dimmer on the LED for the second footswitch. And I could not for the life of me figure out why it wasn't working. In comes @Feral Feline on their white horse to save the day with a diagram that made so much sense that I was actually annoyed with myself for not going straight there. Worked on the first try. Game on.
And with that it was complete. Full featured, vintage specs, and super easy to navigate. At some point in this novel you might have started to mutter "isn't this basically a Silktone Fuzz+?" YOU KNOW WHAT, IT BASICALLY IS. And I'd done alllllll my planning about 3 days before they announced that pedal. Lightning can strike twice, and I will stick to my story that I thought of this completely independently. "Michael.... Bolton? Are you named after that singer guy?" "No, it's just a coincidence :: eye roll :: "
Onto the pictures. I honestly don't believe my camera does this thing justice. When the light hits it just right, it is something truly amazing. Yeah, science, bitch. This is suitably my 100th build, and I've never been more proud.
So I get the VU meter. I get a metal hole saw bit to cut the rather large hole, using which is a terrifying experience. I get to looking for transistors when I happen upon an eBay listing where someone is selling individually tested NOS Mullard OC140's, technically military spec CV7112's, all of which have the testing readout uploaded. GOLD MINE. I select an 89 HFE and a 141 HFE, and I wait. This package goes from Mass, skips right by the entire midwest, and gets stuck in (if memory serves) Louisiana for several days. STRESS. Finally it makes its way to Ohio and the packaging is as thorough as humanly possible. Not timely, but a win.
The look. This particular spray paint effect is achieved by spraying a color change glitter purple with one hand and a flat black with the other, then while it is still wet, pouring rubbing alcohol into your hand and flicking it at the wet paint. Misting it with a spray bottle doesn't come out right. You've got to Jackson Pollock the thing and hope for the best. The end result was at least my 3rd attempt.
The graphics. OY WHAT A HEADACHE. The outlines of the letters were cut out of vinyl on a Cricut. They didn't come out the exact size I was hoping for, so printing the words that went over top was a LOVELY game of trial and error. Trying to cut the letters with the Cricut must've been beyond the capabilities of the machine, because that was a mushy mess. Clear waterslide, black ink, applied over white vinyl. The end result is as close to perfect as I'll ever get without expensive machines, and I am content with that.
The circuit. There are no revolutionary changes to the core circuit. Q1 collector, 33k to 9v. 100k feedback resistor. The usual suspects. Where the fun came in was adding a faux second channel. The Q2 emitter resistor is fixed at 910r. When the left footswitch is engaged, it activates the gain control, which is actually a pre-gain. To get the treble roll-off right, I had to add a small cap. This footswitch also enables the tone control, which is a small cap between collector and base of Q1. Just in case you DON'T want the chime. The bias control will swing from about 3v to 7.5v. There was a compromise made there. I could either make the bias control run the entire sweep of voltage and have unusable choke out points at either end, or I could prioritize the good parts. It gets smoother, it gets glitchier, and it happily sits right at 4.5v as designed. Wanna find your favorite spot? There's a colossal VU meter in the center to help you. The switch at the top changes the input and output caps to add a second set of sounds. the stock 1uf and 10nf are on one side, and 100nf and 1uf on the other.
All was going super well until I hit a snag. I either drastically under or over thought some of the wiring with the LED's. My plan was for the "second channel" bi-color LED to not only reflect whether it is engaged or not, but also to dim when the pedal was in bypass. You want to know if your maybe-rolled-back-or-maybe-all-the-way-up fuzz face is going to either take your head off or be wildly anticlimactic. You also don't want the status light from a bypassed pedal blasting you in the face. The bypass footswitch is a 4pdt, using one set to control the dimmer on the LED for the second footswitch. And I could not for the life of me figure out why it wasn't working. In comes @Feral Feline on their white horse to save the day with a diagram that made so much sense that I was actually annoyed with myself for not going straight there. Worked on the first try. Game on.
And with that it was complete. Full featured, vintage specs, and super easy to navigate. At some point in this novel you might have started to mutter "isn't this basically a Silktone Fuzz+?" YOU KNOW WHAT, IT BASICALLY IS. And I'd done alllllll my planning about 3 days before they announced that pedal. Lightning can strike twice, and I will stick to my story that I thought of this completely independently. "Michael.... Bolton? Are you named after that singer guy?" "No, it's just a coincidence :: eye roll :: "
Onto the pictures. I honestly don't believe my camera does this thing justice. When the light hits it just right, it is something truly amazing. Yeah, science, bitch. This is suitably my 100th build, and I've never been more proud.
VE meters on pedals, amps, guitars, gear...
