Zvex - Fuzz Factory  [traced]

General documentation, gut shot, schematic links, ongoing circuit tracing, deep thoughts ... all about boutique stompboxes.
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jrc4558
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Post by jrc4558 »

sleepykitty wrote:Are there alternatives to the AC128?
2SB175 is an excellent choice.
There are many good germanium transistors in the 2SA/SB/SC/SD family of Japanese transistors.
Also, as been previously mentioned - 2N404A (excellent transistor)

Good luck!

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bumblebee
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Post by bumblebee »

heres a site with a lot of ff stuff
it has a cool layout for the new ff graphics.

here

theres the larger version:here
and rehosted here

Image

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soulsonic
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Post by soulsonic »

I smell lawsuit... :lol:
"Analog electronics in music is dead. Analog effects pedal design is a dead art." - Fran

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Post by bumblebee »

smells good dont it!
:twisted:

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dmk
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Post by dmk »

smells like a qweef

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ieatyouforbreakfast
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Post by ieatyouforbreakfast »

the pots in igloos vero layout are oriented 3-2-1, correct?

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Post by ChrisFFTA »

what 'type' of resistors should i use in this build? metal film, carbon?

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Post by soulsonic »

This image is from http://www.effector-repair.com
Image

It appears that the original uses 1/8 watt carbon film. Standard cheap stuff. You can use the more common 1/4 watt variety just fine. I don't think resistor type is really a big deal with this circuit.
"Analog electronics in music is dead. Analog effects pedal design is a dead art." - Fran

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Post by ChrisFFTA »

cheers for that

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Post by ChrisFFTA »

sorry another thing...

with the C!-C$, which should i replace with higher uf? its a famous mod but no one has ever mentioned explicitly which caps needs replacing with higher values?

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Post by nokaster »

ChrisFFTA wrote:sorry another thing...

with the C!-C$, which should i replace with higher uf? its a famous mod but no one has ever mentioned explicitly which caps needs replacing with higher values?

on igloos vero inputcap = C3
outputcap = C1

you can socket these two and try 22uF and 47uF

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Post by bumblebee »

ChrisFFTA wrote:sorry another thing...

with the C!-C$, which should i replace with higher uf? its a famous mod but no one has ever mentioned explicitly which caps needs replacing with higher values?
funny thing is no one even talked about this mod until i posted a little diagram on teh net, now everyones doing it....its fun to watch it grow.lol

good combos are 22/22 22/47 47/100, ive tried all of them and i have mine 22/22,its like a beefed up fuzzface.

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Post by ieatyouforbreakfast »

i feel kinda dumb asking this, but since the germ trannies are pnp, wouldnt the same power supply rules apply as to other pnp trannie pedals?

or is this a special case?

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Post by paperhouse »

i built one over the weekend. i have some modern issue AC128's but i found it sounds best with Q1 as a 2n2907 and q2 as a bc327. yep, both silicon. i dunno if it was just my batch but the AC128's sounded weak and the silicon ones i ended up using sound great. really harsh at some settings but very versatile. the oscillation is great.

one question - when the volume on my guitar is turned all the way up it sounds very weak, almost inaudible. when i turn the volume slightly down it sounds fine. is it a quirk with the pedal or is it my guitar? maybe it's my particular build? it seems fine other than that.

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Post by soggybag »

ieatyouforbreakfast wrote:i feel kinda dumb asking this, but since the germ trannies are pnp, wouldnt the same power supply rules apply as to other pnp trannie pedals?

or is this a special case?
Good question I'm curious about this myself. It would seem that these would not run well with other pedals on a negative ground power supply.

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Post by paperhouse »

paperhouse wrote:
one question - when the volume on my guitar is turned all the way up it sounds very weak, almost inaudible. when i turn the volume slightly down it sounds fine. is it a quirk with the pedal or is it my guitar? maybe it's my particular build? it seems fine other than that.
the pedal sounds great but having to make sure my guitar's volume isn't maxed is annoying. anyone? maybe i should try padding the input signal to the pedal with a low value resistor? :?:

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Post by earthtonesaudio »

This was the very first circuit I built. A great learning experience. Here's what I found:

NONE of the values are super-critical for getting it to sound 99% like the clips on the Zvex site. I've never had one in my hands, so I can't say for sure, but mine has Si trannies, wrong resistor values, etc... and it sounds just like the ones in the videos. Why you may ask? My hunch is that the 5 controls allow you to compensate for differences in components.

For the PNP and negative ground "problem," see here:
http://www.muzique.com/lab/reverse.htm and here: http://www.muzique.com/lab/fuzzface.htm ...problem solved!

It can work with the battery connection reversed, but it's quiet (oops)!

Paperhouse, your problem *may* be that your signal is just too loud going in... Instead of a series resistor, wire a guitar volume pot (voltage divider) at the very front of the circuit. You can then dial in just the right amount of roll-off without worrying about the controls on your guitar.

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Post by paperhouse »

earthtonesaudio wrote:
Paperhouse, your problem *may* be that your signal is just too loud going in... Instead of a series resistor, wire a guitar volume pot (voltage divider) at the very front of the circuit. You can then dial in just the right amount of roll-off without worrying about the controls on your guitar.
yeah, i think that's the best way to go. maybe i'll put a trim pot on there because there's no room for a full sized pot and i don't feel like it needs any more knobs :lol:

i need to experiment with some other guitars though, the one giving me problems is my tele with p90's.

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Post by marcao_cfh »

Does anybody have tried a full NPN version of it?

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Post by Fiktschn »

Hi i've built a FF from the schematic of the french site today and used a medium gain set of ac128 from banzai. The circuit is up and running but i can't really get a fuzz sound without too much octaves :/ Its more a octaver than a fuzz at the moment. Does anybody have a clue what the problem could be?

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