Marigold Fuzz (Sola Sound Yellow Hybrid Tone Bender)

[finebyfine]

Had this one 99% done a few months ago and saw it when digging through my finished but not enclosed pcb box and decided to box it up. I used the closest I had on hand for the BC107 and BC109C and because I'm not sure how it's supposed to sound I didn't stress on it. BC107 has a BC108 in it and the BC109C has a BC109B in it. Germanium transistor has an Hfe around 130, I tried higher gains and it came across more Silicon like all around.

I have BC107s and BC109Cs on the way in a bit and I'll swap them out when they come to see what I think.





Very very quick demo. Guess where the chord progression is from and I'll send you a bag of Germanium transistors.

https://soundcloud.com/finebyfine%2Fmarigold%2Fs-sCkGNu3Rr6K

 

[Chuck D. Bones]

Sounds like it might be something by Nirvana?

IMO, the tone is all about Q3. Q1 and Q2 are like Simon & Theodore; Q3 is Alvin.

Clean build, BTW.

 

[finebyfine]

Sounds like it might be something by Nirvana?

IMO, the tone is all about Q3. Q1 and Q2 are like Simon & Theodore; Q3 is Alvin.

Clean build, BTW.

Nirvana’s about 100 years too late.

The differences I was getting by 350 hfe q3 vs 80 was wild. I’m sure leakage was playing a role too but I wasn’t really selecting for it other than looking for low leakage transistors. There were aspects I liked about super low gain transistors in here, and I’m really excited to play around with it even more now that it’s done.

 

[Bret608]

I think you might have the first build report for this! I've got a board too that I just need to populate someday here. I'll be curious to hear more about your transistor experiments. Q3 on this circuit has this setup with the diode where it's forcing it to act leaky. That led me to think low-leakage germaniums are the way to go, but who knows really? I've got a black glass OC141 (135 hfe and really low leakage) to try but will probably try a lower-gain 2n1306 as well.

 

[finebyfine]

I think you might have the first build report for this! I've got a board too that I just need to populate someday here. I'll be curious to hear more about your transistor experiments. Q3 on this circuit has this setup with the diode where it's forcing it to act leaky. That led me to think low-leakage germaniums are the way to go, but who knows really? I've got a black glass OC141 (135 hfe and really low leakage) to try but will probably try a lower-gain 2n1306 as well.

Really cool to know about the diode setup, I should have pulled up the schematic as I was popping transistors in there lol!

I really wish I had recorded some of the different transistors I tried, if even just for my own notes, because Q3 really is as Chuck said the Alvin (was not expecting to see an Alvin and the Chipmunks reference anytime soon). Leakage wise everything I tried was within a range I'd consider "low leakage" but I wish I had popped in something super leaky just to see.

At an Hfe of ~350 it lost a lot of character and sounded just kind of like any generic silicon fuzz. Not a bad thing but I just figured not the point of the circuit. If I liked lower gain fuzzes 80 was a great sweet spot for that - really warm and finger sensitive, Southern rock-ish light fuzz.

There was one transistor I tried that ended up woolier than what's in there now, and I wish I had kept that one in there or just kept track of what it was. It might have had an Hfe around 200. I almost held off on the build report to go back digging for it but I was pretty ready to call it a night. Next time I open it up that's the sound I'm gonna be hunting for.

 

[mdc]

The version I built up on veroboard used a 2N3440 in Q1, a BC549C in Q2, and an OC140 w/ hfe around 80 in Q3. It sounds (to my ears at least) absolutely identical to the original. I socketed the zener diode and couldn't really hear much (if any) difference between a 5.1 and 4.7 - I just went with whatever got the bias closer to the original one.

 

[Fuzzonaut]

Sounds great!

Black Sabbath?

I left a MP11A, hfe 75, leakage 0,17mA in mine.

 

[Bricksnbeatles]

Sounds a bit like Holst. Specifically the opening of Uranus or one of the main Themes from Neptune. I recognize that chord progression, and I’m quite sure it’s something else, but I’m blanking on what it could be.

 

[finebyfine]

Black Sabbath?

Nope!

Sounds a bit like Holst. Specifically the opening of Uranus or one of the main Themes from Neptune. I recognize that chord progression, and I’m quite sure it’s something else, but I’m blanking on what it could be.

Getting really warm. The Planets is about 20 years too late though

 

[Bricksnbeatles]

Nope!


Getting really warm. The Planets is about 20 years too late though

Thought so. I’m pretty sure I wrote an analysis paper on the piece it actually is though, so I’m embarrassed to say I can’t remember what it is haha

 

[fig]

Deep Purple?

 

[finebyfine]

Deep Purple?

I gave too many hints for the time frame for you to go and guess Deep Purple!

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

Bruckner

 

[Fuzzonaut]

I gave too many hints for the time frame for you to go and guess Deep Purple!

Come on, they are old enough for a guess! Also, my first guess was mainly based on the looks of the pedal.

Antonín Leopold Dvořák, Symphony 9

 

[finebyfine]

Come on, they are old enough for a guess! Also, my first guess was mainly based on the looks of the pedal.

Antonín Leopold Dvořák, Symphony 9

We have a winner! Opening of the second movement. Dm me your address and if there’s any type of transistors you’re looking for

 

[benny_profane]

We have a winner! Opening of the second movement. Dm me your address and if there’s any type of transistors you’re looking for

Ah okay. I was thinking maybe Dvořák, but isn’t no 9 E minor? Your progression was major?

Great build and demo! To add to the transistor info: I have hFE 75 with 51uA of leakage in my build. It definitely gets fuzzy—a bit tighter than a ge MKII, but still gritty. I adjusted the tonestack a bit since it was rather nasally on the treble side.

 

[finebyfine]

Ah okay. I was thinking maybe Dvořák, but isn’t no 9 E minor? Your progression was major?

Great build and demo! To add to the transistor info: I have hFE 75 with 51uA of leakage in my build. It definitely gets fuzzy—a bit tighter than a ge MKII, but still gritty. I adjusted the tonestack a bit since it was rather nasally on the treble side.

The 9th symphony in general is in E minor but some themes are in major, and most of the second movement is in major (I’m tuned to C# here so it’s C# major, although played horribly out of time) Some of the callbacks to earlier themes in the last movement are those major themes played minor. I’d be really curious to hear @Bricksnbeatles ’s take, I assume he was right that he’s written a paper about it even if the name was on the tip of his tounge.

It’s an incredibly interesting piece of music on the whole and I could spend far too long talking about it. My second favorite composition of music ever, second only to Floyd’s Echoes.

I gotta see if I have any more NPNs in the 75 range now! I think 85 was as low as I went. I wish the socket for Q3 I used didn’t take so much work to swap them out

 

[Fuzzonaut]

We have a winner! Opening of the second movement. Dm me your address and if there’s any type of transistors you’re looking for

Wow, cool! I'm struggling to get my MK II to sound half decently - or even a quarter

 

[benny_profane]

It’s an incredibly interesting piece of music on the whole and I could spend far too long talking about it. My second favorite composition of music ever, second only to Floyd’s Echoes.

If you haven't given Shostakovich a listen, I think you might really dig him.

 

[finebyfine]

If you haven't given Shostakovich a listen, I think you might really dig him.

I have not! What's a good entry point?