Well That's One Way To Hide An IC

[Ginsly]

About 15 years ago I got a Hiray Fuzz by Freakshow Effects, and used it on wayyyy more recordings than was appropriate. It seems to be a CMOS kinda thing, sort of like a Parasit Studios fuzz. Super gated, but can really sustain with certain pickups. The Filters are really where it's at, and they can make things nice and brassy. Plus, expression control for one of em.

I opened it up recently to see what was going on, and lo and behold, the ICs are, uh... hidden. It kinda looks like goop, but... it also kinda looks like a hot soldering iron was pressed against em. That seems unlikely, but... either way I don't think I'm identifying these chips. Touché.

One is 8 pins and the other is 14. They're socketed so I can test some contenders... I just don't know much about CMOS fuzz yet... It only draws about 4 mA which is pretty surprising - I used to use a battery in it and it would last quite a while. Whaddya think??

 

[Scruffie]

They've been mangled with a dremel by the looks of it.

Should be fairly easy to work out the chips from a quick trace of their pin outs.

 

[jwin615]

BJT or jfet input, filters are probably the 8dip, dual opamp, and a 4049 or 4069 as the 14dip.
If Vcc is on pin 1, cd4049, if pin 14, 4069

 

[Ginsly]

BJT or jfet input, filters are probably the 8dip, dual opamp, and a 4049 or 4069 as the 14dip.
If Vcc is on pin 1, cd4049, if pin 14, 4069

BC108 on the input, looks like! So the 8-pin is likely a dual op-amp? Awesome! I did consider the 14-pin might be something like the CD4049 as seen in the Arcadiator and others... Thx J, great leads!!

 

[jwin615]

The big tell/help will be knowing what pin is ground and what pin is hot on the 14 pin.
Note, half of them may be grounded...

 

[jwin615]

Same for the 8dip. Pin 7 is a single, pin 8 hot is a dual
Since they socketed them, just pop a single or dual in to confirm once you figure out which pin is hot

 

[jwin615]

Wait. 4049 is 16 pin.
I'm betting pin 1 is hot on the 14dip

 

[jcpst]

Some possible 14-pin ICs from the CD series

CD4069UBE
CD40106BE

Honorable mentions, but
CD4047BE
CD4007CN
CD4013BE

 

[Ginsly]

Ok! Pulled the ICs and measured continuity via the sockets. The 8-pin may actually be something like an lm386..? Here's the scoop:

8-Pin IC:

VCC: Pin 6

Ground: Pins 2, 3, and 4

Pins 1 and 8 connected

14-Pin IC:

VCC: Pin 14

Ground: Pins 5, 7, 9, 11, 13

 

[jwin615]

At Disney with the kids but if the hive doesn't crack it by tonight, I'll give it a closer gander.
My guess is someone will name the clone by then

 

[Ginsly]

I'm guessing it's Escobedo PWM-based, and the chips are likely lm386 and CD40106. I'll have to see how these filters are integrated... The controls are Input, Filter 1, Filter 2, and Output. Progress!

 

[pbrommer]

Gotta agree with Ginsly on the PWM (after scrolling through old Tim E circuits)

PS I forgot how cool some of those little snippets are.

 

[Ginsly]

Correction- looks like Pin 3 on the lm386 is not Ground, but Input

 

[Ginsly]

Yep it looks to have started as a PWM, but the modulation was deleted and another Filter was added (the PWM control is now "Filter 1"). It looks like what was once the PWM's Volume control is now "Input" and there's an added pot at the end for Output. There are a lot of tiny, hidden traces that link to the other side of the board, this is gonna take a minute...