Octa Mayer (Roger Mayer Octavia) Noise

[AdrianSunn0)))]

I’ve built up 2 Octa Mayer fuzzes, they both sound identical and good, a very different sounding octave (like others have reported, the octave is not quite very apparent all the time) but it’s a nice vintage screaming fuzz sound nonetheless.

My main question/concern, is does anyone notice an obscene amount of noise when the fuzz knob is all the way up?

I was thinking about detaching the fuzz pot and putting a 470r (or similar) resistor from lug 1 to ground, so that way there’s always some resistance to prevent noise. The downside is, it seems the fuzz really screams at that last turn of the knob, where all the noise comes in.

It’s not white noise or hiss, it’s more of a nasty 60 cycle hum, but very loud, and sounds like someone applied a ripping velcro fuzz over a 60 cycle wall hum noise generator. Very unusually loud, none of my other drive/fuzz/od circuits make this noise plugged into the same testing apparatus with the same cables, guitar, and dc power.

I have a 220u power filter cap, and I’m thinking I’m gonna add a 22r resistor in series with the diode for more filtering.

If that doesn’t work, I’ll add some 470pf feedback capacitors from collector to base on Q2 and Q4, but the noise is REALLY bad.

Was curious if anyone else had this issue?

 

[AdrianSunn0)))]

Update- added 680pf caps to feedback loop of Q2 and Q4- and added a 10r power filter resister in series with the diode. Reduced noise but still there.

I also get extra hum when my volume knob is dialed back, I know this can be due to the impedance of the guitar. I am thinking maybe I’ll try adding an input resistor in series, but that will also kill the gain and volume a bit so not an ideal solution.

I also notice, when I play, there is some gating with the noise, but when I stop playing for a few seconds, the noise slowly creeps back in. Strange