Shika Fuzz (EQD Hizumitas)

Nice muff! As a hobby pedal builder, I'm fortunate enough that I can brag to my friends that I'm drowning in muff! Like Barry, said, you can't get enough muff and I for one, can't wait to build this muff!
 
Just looked at the schematic and a teardown video of it. TBH it really is just a triangle muff with a slightly smaller highpass cap (3n3) in the tonestack and different pot values (50K instead of 100K).

The actual Elk is a bit weirder with the tonestack (330p cap instead of the usual 4n one!), and of course being PNP. I feel like the specific one from Wata may in fact have been some factory error. Or just being authentic to the EHX origins and putting in whatever they had kicking around in the factory. Or EQD did in fact just build an ever so slightly different muff and slapped the Boris signature on it.
 
Just looked at the schematic and a teardown video of it. TBH it really is just a triangle muff with a slightly smaller highpass cap (3n3) in the tonestack and different pot values (50K instead of 100K).

The actual Elk is a bit weirder with the tonestack (330p cap instead of the usual 4n one!), and of course being PNP. I feel like the specific one from Wata may in fact have been some factory error. Or just being authentic to the EHX origins and putting in whatever they had kicking around in the factory. Or EQD did in fact just build an ever so slightly different muff and slapped the Boris signature on it.

EQD stated that the component values in Wata’s Elk had drifted over time. That isn’t surprising. I build an Elk based on the schematic, and while it was definitely in the ball park, it didn’t quite sound like Wata’s. I ended up adding a second 330p in parallel. Now it sounds even closer, though still not quite all the way there. Maybe I should add a third…
 
EQD stated that the component values in Wata’s Elk had drifted over time. That isn’t surprising. I build an Elk based on the schematic, and while it was definitely in the ball park, it didn’t quite sound like Wata’s. I ended up adding a second 330p in parallel. Now it sounds even closer, though still not quite all the way there. Maybe I should add a third…
I get drift, but 10x higher value? I feel like it more likely is a misplaced/mislabelled component ending up in an ultimately more usable tonestack. I mean just put the elk tonestack into the calculator, that thing really notches deep into the mids!
 
How confident are we in the schematic on the Kit Rae site? It definitely seems like that cap is an error, and every single thing on the internet references that schematic so there is no way to verify it
 
There’s a t thread on FSB where it was disassembled and the values recorded.
But was it a single one that has ever been traced or at least a couple? I know the Elk fuzz is a bit more obscure, but if it was just one, there's no way to know which is the correct one, the one on the muff page or the one the Hizumitas is based off.
 
I'm also curious about this, because that's a lot to "drift". That recovery stage is also pretty loud.
Besides the Hizumitas, I built a Sustainar according to the KitRae values, and it sounded pretty good to me. I liked the weird tone section and thought it was different enough from other Muff builds to warrant being housed. I have so many modded Muffs with different values that sound good, but like you all, I'm also curious how accurate the Elk Sustainar schematic is.

This is a good thead where someone wants to buy a Sustainar he isn't sure is original.

He posted pics where you can see a ceramic "331' capacitor:

The thread starter is the EHX megafan featured here: youtube.com/watch?v=yG2CSXRN8i4

On page 6, Kit Rae says he owns one, and traced a friends, along with seeing pictures of the inside of dozens. He talks about the 330pf substitution.

The Wren and Cuff Elk clone has a single ceramic cap that could say 330p if you squint:
https://www.effectsdatabase.com/model/wrencuff/whiteelk
He also mentions the dramatic drift over time on the product page:

Tymguitars discusses cloning it and having to go by ear because of drift.
 
If one component is drifting than it’s highly likely others drifted as well. There really is no way to tell. Unless someone finds an original schematic, or Fig finally gets that time machine working again, the best anyone can do is tune by ear…and it’s a lot easier tuning one component to match possible drift than 20…
 
But was it a single one that has ever been traced or at least a couple? I know the Elk fuzz is a bit more obscure, but if it was just one, there's no way to know which is the correct one, the one on the muff page or the one the Hizumitas is based off.
It was a breakdown of the Hizumitas.
 
I just ordered a Tayda UV print (with gloss) for a purple enclosure that would look like this (circle dots are where the drill holes go). If you're interested I could send you the PDF I uploaded.

(Ignore the white outline around the artwork. I deleted that.)

View attachment 22757
What knobs are you going to use?

Even small ones look like they’ll hide too much of the antlers, which would be a shame on such a great graphic!
 
What knobs are you going to use?

Even small ones look like they’ll hide too much of the antlers, which would be a shame on such a great graphic!

Not sure! Knobs are always the weak spot in my designs to be honest. But yeah, probably something small, or clear plastic? Thanks
 
@mcluff
I’m a big fan of Davies 1900 (or clones thereof)…


davies_1900h_NAMED.jpg
 
Here it is, my Shika/Hizumitas!
Note the 4th knob: I swapped R19 for a 20k resistor with a 50k pot in series to control the mids (actually it works backwards like the tone knob... so you can say it's a mid scoop, eheh).

It sounds very cool indeed, it's thick and slugdy as a good muff should be and there's a lot of clarity also with the tone knob fully on the bass side.
Plus... I think I never played such a loud BM: It has tons of output volume available on tap!!!! Such that unity gain is already around 9 o'clock.

CB0122FF-40AA-413D-BC58-2F70840943D4.jpeg
 
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Hey. gila_crisis, what is going on with your power and ground connections there? You're not using the ground pads for the input/output jacks and it looks like you've got multiple wires hooked to the led.
 
Hey. gila_crisis, what is going on with your power and ground connections there? You're not using the ground pads for the input/output jacks and it looks like you've got multiple wires hooked to the led.
It's just the wires that are a bit on the way in the picture, the LED is fine and directly wired to the board.
For simplicity, I don't use the Ground pads for the jacks, because those connect to the same Ground as the negative power supply pad. So I need only 1 wire connection on the negative of the power plug and from there I wire a bridge to the input jack socket Ground. The rest you don't need, as the aluminum box is taking care of the grounding.
 
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