Persica Fuzz tone knob a bit useless?

[neiltheseal]

Hi everyone. I put together a Persica Fuzz which I think is a Frantone Peach fuzz and it sounds great.

Although the tone knob seems a bit redundant. It sounds good at 100% or about 90% and anything below that is probably too muddy to use.

Is this a common issue? I think I might just replace the pot with a 10k resistor, but before I did I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for modificaitons to make the pot a bit more useful.

Thanks in advance.

 

[coltonius]

I just finished mine a few minutes ago and was excited to compare it to an IC Muff I made last month. I know they aren’t 1:1, but the Persica’s Tone and Fuzz knobs leave much to be desired.

My initial thought is to replace the Fuzz with a B10k and the Tone with a C10k. I’m going to check the schematic first, though, to see if the circuit could benefit from other tweaks.

 

[neiltheseal]

I just finished mine a few minutes and was excited to compare it to an IC Muff I made last month. I know they aren’t 1:1, but the Persica’s Tone and Fuzz knobs leave much to be desired.

My initial thought is to replace the Fuzz with a B10k and the Tone with a C10k. I’m going to check the schematic first, though, to see if the circuit could benefit from other tweaks.

Let me know how you go with this.

I agree the tone and fuzz don’t do a whole lot. At least it sounds good.

 

[jwin615]

been wondering about this myself. dug up this 2007 baja man trace.

vs PPCB and every other trace

I'm wondering if the 2N5088 in the bypass circuit is providing a path to ground to the top RC circuit in the tone control? Most/all traces omit this bypass circuit. It seems the 10n need a path to ground to be a filter, no? Otherwise, it's just attenuating a bit and maybe rolling off some low end. BUT, even then, it is the higher resistance path even with the tone knob maxed in it's favor so current isn't going to flow.
I'm probably missing something but it seems that this portion isn't correct.

 

[jwin615]

also, TLC2262 was used in the original, fwiw.

 

[overdriver999]

Let me know how you go with this.

I agree the tone and fuzz don’t do a whole lot. At least it sounds good.

...i know this is an old thread but...i'm building one now and felt the same way about the tone pot , 90-100% is the only usable area for me too...on the test platform i tried a B100k and a B25k...i'm going with the B25k...it gives everything the B10k does, plus additional high end you may want

 

[Robert]

I'm wondering if the 2N5088 in the bypass circuit is providing a path to ground to the top RC circuit in the tone control?

If that point went to ground the tone control would completely kill the audio when turned all the way up.

It looks to me like the 2N5088 would be cut off when the LED is lit. Maybe it mutes (or lowers) the signal when the pedal is bypassed to reduce noise?