PedalPCB Persica Fuzz for my SCHMORG

[dawson]

TLDR;
This fuzz makes me very happy.

Over the last few years, I've had a handful of fuzz circuits that have been passing the title of 'favorite' back-and-forth.
Dung Beetle, Acid Rain, Cream Pie- there are a lot of really good ones we can build, but this one.. I think the way this one works is quite special:

The core tone of this circuit is a massive warm wave of electricity that wholly engulfs the guitar, evolving your transcending toan hundreds, if not thousands of times to create a searing mountain of sexy ear lava.

*But that's only part of why it's good-

It's good because without turning any knobs on the fuzz, I can easily tame and shape the mountainous toan to my liking by switching pickups and/or changing EQ settings on guitar. Three main settings I use are:
-Neck Pickup, Full volume/EQ: Nice round fuzz for hanging out in the background
-Bridge pickup, Bass contour rolled off slightly: Great impersonation of a distortion pedal
-Bridge pickup, Full volume/EQ: Sick fuzz lead

Oh, and check out that circuit topology- WTF?
Since when does a fuzz look like that??
If I had intellect to do more than stare blankly at the schematic, I'd put in a request to see it.
Fran's a damn genius among mortals.

The faceplate can mount into my SCHMORG pedalboard/rack build, or all alone in a 'dummy' 125B:

More on that here: SCHMORG

Thanks for reading!

 

[benny_profane]

HE CANNOT BE STOPPED!

 

[fig]

SCHMORG!

 

[MobyOctopad]

This looks awesome!

I could've sworn the Peach Fuzz called for two LM386N-1s. Did you get a chance to test both kinds at all?

 

[steviejr92]

Every time i see one of your build reports im always in awe!

 

[Bio77]

Great build! You have peaked my interest on this thing I just checked out the schematic and it is pretty wild. I'm not sure what a couple of things are all about. Like the unity gain op-amp at the end of the power section??

 

[dawson]

HE CANNOT BE STOPPED!

..NOT EVEN FOR TROUBLESHOOTING!

(still undiagnosed)

SCHMORG!

FIG!

This looks awesome!

I could've sworn the Peach Fuzz called for two LM386N-1s. Did you get a chance to test both kinds at all?

You know, I didn't read about the importance of that until after I ignorantly banged whatever 386's I had in there without sockets and fell in love with the circuit- only then did I go looking for the schematic and realize mine may be slightly out-of-spec.

I would like to test one with the 'proper' chips- maybe it could sound even better!

Every time i see one of your build reports im always in awe!

Thanks dude-
High praise coming from our famed sheet-metal-smith!

Great build! You have peaked my interest on this thing I just checked out the schematic and it is pretty wild. I'm not sure what a couple of things are all about. Like the unity gain op-amp at the end of the power section??

Right??
You're looking at it with more experienced eyeballs, but even I'm like, "..where all the transistors and diodes for clipping at?"

 

[benny_profane]

What schematic are you looking at? The IC at the end of the power section looks like it’s just biased to Vref.

 

[DailyDovetails]

Awesome build! I feel inspired by how clean your pedal board.

I'm also interested in the schematic for this. I played with the 386 for a while on my breadboard and have built a couple pedals using one. I'm curious what the TL022 does here. Also I'm curious what they did with the gain selections on the 386s.

 

[Erik S]

More Schmorg! More Schmorg!

I have one to build and It just jumped the line after that description.

Gonna get me some of that ear lava.

 

[Route14]

My favorite Fuzz. It really excels in a full band mix. Where ever you are using a Big Muff, ditch it and use this.

 

[dawson]

What schematic are you looking at? The IC at the end of the power section looks like it’s just biased to Vref.

For me, I was over here: BAJA
That one's got the relay switching in there and I've only got a 50/50 chance of correctly guessing where the relay ends and the circuit begins, but that's where I read some folks discussing different 356 characteristics also.

Awesome build! I feel inspired by how clean your pedal board.

I'm also interested in the schematic for this. I played with the 386 for a while on my breadboard and have built a couple pedals using one. I'm curious what the TL022 does here. Also I'm curious what they did with the gain selections on the 386s.

Thank you!

The only 386 circuit I've built that looks similar is the PedalPCB El Sol/Acapulco Gold- while populating the board, I was pondering if it may somehow be a bastard child of the Peach Fuzz.. Never looked into it though after hearing Persica's blatant superiority.

More Schmorg! More Schmorg!

I have one to build and It just jumped the line after that description.

Gonna get me some of that ear lava.

Yeah, do it!
Like I said- it's my favorite thing and I didn't even get the 386's right this time.

My favorite Fuzz. It really excels in a full band mix. Where ever you are using a Big Muff, ditch it and use this.

Nice- heck yeah it does.
I had to ditch my beloved Big Muffs a long time ago..

 

[DailyDovetails]

For me, I was over here: BAJA
That one's got the relay switching in there and I've only got a 50/50 chance of correctly guessing where the relay ends and the circuit begins, but that's where I read some folks discussing different 356 characteristics also.



Thank you!

The only 386 circuit I've built that looks similar is the PedalPCB El Sol/Acapulco Gold- while populating the board, I was pondering if it may somehow be a bastard child of the Peach Fuzz.. Never looked into it though after hearing Persica's blatant superiority.



Yeah, do it!
Like I said- it's my favorite thing and I didn't even get the 386's right this time.



Nice- heck yeah it does.
I had to ditch my beloved Big Muffs a long time ago..

The schematic is interesting. I does look like the El Sol but with a gain stage and gain pot before it and a BMP tone circuit after. It looks like the 386s are set at 20 gain and the second one is using the bass boost from pin 1-5. It doesn't appear to have any of the caps or resistors shown in the spec sheet but from my messing with it on my breadboard it didn't really oscillate until you got the gain close to 200 on both chips.

I think on the schematic you linked to you could cut out the 180 resistor and the 2n5088 and run the connection to ground where the 2n5088 connected and it would remove the relay section. I could be wrong tho I'm more of a mess with it until it works than a theory builder.

I might add this to my increasingly long list of things to mess with.

Thank you for sharing it.

 

[Bio77]

Here is Robert's schematic:

Persica Fuzz Docs

Are there any build docs I can refer to? Are the reference designators standardized to a schematic available somewhere else? Thanks, Aida

forum.pedalpcb.com

 

[jessenator]

ermahgerd, SHMERG!

Always glad to see a Schmorg build. Those patterns are just great.

 

[dawson]

Here is Robert's schematic:

Persica Fuzz Docs

Are there any build docs I can refer to? Are the reference designators standardized to a schematic available somewhere else? Thanks, Aida

forum.pedalpcb.com

Oh nice!
Thanks a lot for the link- I have been looking for that one.

..and after looking at it, my earlier confusions are confirmed.

 

[dawson]

ermahgerd, SHMERG!

Always glad to see a Schmorg build. Those patterns are just great.

Thernks!

 

[benny_profane]

@dawson @Bio77

https://www.ti.com/lit/an/sboa204a/sboa204a.pdf

 

[dawson]

@dawson @Bio77

https://www.ti.com/lit/an/sboa204a/sboa204a.pdf

Thanks, dude-
I grasp but a tiny morsel of this wisdom now, but who knows- I might be able to learn!

 

[DailyDovetails]

@dawson @Bio77

https://www.ti.com/lit/an/sboa204a/sboa204a.pdf

I saw that in the schematic. Thank you for providing why it is configured that way.

Anyone have any idea why they would have used the dual TL022 and done this instead of using say a tl071 or some other single op?