Vanity Fuzz

[SillyOctpuss]

To steal a phrase from @Bricksnbeatles I have some transistors I've salvaged I'd like to put into some vanity fuzzes. I want to make a silicon fuzz face, germanium fuzz face and tone bender mk1 or 2 (I haven't decided yet).

I'm curious which resistors and caps you'd all go for? I don't want to try and hunt down some old caps which will have drifted or close to death. I'd rather put in some modern parts which look cool. Again these are going to be vanity pedals which I want to look as cool as they sound.

Any ideas would be super helpful. I'm also open to enclosure suggestions. I can get some fuzz face enclosure copies but damn those things are just too huge. I'd like to put one of these on my gigging board every so often and the fuzz face enclosure is just too damn large.

 

[Erik S]

If you're gonna go to the trouble of tracking down pretty resistors, it would be cool to do one of these clear tops like @owlexifry:

DEMO - Tagboard CE-2 chorus

most sensible builders out there are putting time into designing takes/original circuits and PCB layouts on diptrace or similar, for efficient and reliable PCB/pedal production, and meanwhile here’s me regressing into veroboard and tagboard builds like a silly goose. after doing a few tagboard...

forum.pedalpcb.com

 

[SillyOctpuss]

If you're gonna go to the trouble of tracking down pretty resistors, it would be cool to do one of these clear tops like @owlexifry:

DEMO - Tagboard CE-2 chorus

most sensible builders out there are putting time into designing takes/original circuits and PCB layouts on diptrace or similar, for efficient and reliable PCB/pedal production, and meanwhile here’s me regressing into veroboard and tagboard builds like a silly goose. after doing a few tagboard...

forum.pedalpcb.com

That's a really good idea, I remember that build. Not sure I'd have the skill to do a decent job cutting the Lexan for a top like that though. It would probably be wonky as hell

 

[Erik S]

That's a really good idea, I remember that build. Not sure I'd have the skill to do a decent job cutting the Lexan for a top like that though. It would probably be wonky as hell

I used to work with a lot of lexan/ polycarbonate at work building big protective enclosures for automated assembly machines. It's kinda pricey but it's real nice to work with. Cuts and drills real nice with regular hand tools/ woodworking stuff. If you can drill an enclosure I bet you could do a nice job.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

The drilling wouldn't be a problem but I'm pretty confident I'd end up with a top that had wavy sides and looked generally sketchy.

These guys do some cool looking Enclosures but I'd rather get one that's already powder coated. I'm not a fan of painting and not very good at it either.

 

[MobyOctopad]

Haven't used them personally, and they're kinda pricey and might not have all of the values you'd need but maybe take a look at Gorva's Quies? They've got the look of old carbon comps with a 0.5% tolerance

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Haven't used them personally, and they might not have all of the values you'd need but maybe take a look at Gorva's Quies? They've got the look of old carbon comps with a 0.5% tolerance

I forgot about those.

 

[owlexifry]

Not sure I'd have the skill to do a decent job cutting the Lexan for a top like that though. It would probably be wonky as hell

i thought the same would happen to me too i just used the lid as template and traced it over the piece, cut it out carefully with a jigsaw, filed and sanded the rest (drilling the holes accurately is the hardest part, but if a clumsy goose can do it - you can do it)

 

[SillyOctpuss]

i thought the same would happen to me too i just used the lid as template and traced it over the piece, cut it out carefully with a jigsaw, filed and sanded the rest (drilling the holes accurately is the hardest part, but if a clumsy goose can do it - you can do it)

I get the process but I don't think my hands will go along with the program. I think I'll have a go though cause it'll look properly cool if it's done right. I'm also thinking about spray painting the inside like Markus from Reeves Electro, though I'll not be doing any fancy point to point.

 

[HamishR]

Those CC-look resistors from Gorva are a great idea let down by mould lines. :-(

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Those CC-look resistors from Gorva are a great idea let down by mould lines. :-(

I was looking at them last night and thought the same thing tbh. I also realised I wouldn't be able to get all the values I want so I'm hunting for something else.

I've got a 1960 Roberts radio inbound which has carbon comps in it but don't think it would be a good idea to salvage those.

 

[HamishR]

Some Dale resistors look really cool. When I build cathode biased amps I always use the big matt black Dale 10-13W wire-wound resistors. Sooo much cooler than those square white ceramic wirewounds. And of course they have extra tone points.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Some Dale resistors look really cool. When I build cathode biased amps I always use the big matt black Dale 10-13W wire-wound resistors. Sooo much cooler than those square white ceramic wirewounds. And of course they have extra tone points.

The dales are a good shout but last time I looked for those I was struggling to find anyone who had them in stock. I'll have another look.

 

[HamishR]

I dunno about the smaller ones but I always get the 10-13W versions from Mouser.