End of Days Fuzz Challenge

End of Days Fuzz Challenge is a challenge to make develop new Fuzz circuits. Here’s a description from the web site:

It is an open invitation for pedal builders/ companies of all levels. If you – or anyone you know – wants to join in, go for it! All you need to do is read the rules below, and get designing and posting.

The challenge runs through December 2022. Get your breadboard and get fuzzing!

How to get started

If you know what you’re doing you probably don’t need any help. If you haven’t invented any new fuzz pedals it might be harder to get started.

Most fuzz and distortion pedals come from the same origins. There are a few circuits that have been cloned, copied and riffed upon for decades. All of your favorite circuits and all those amazing boutique pedals borrow from these to some degree:

• Fuzz Face
• Tone Bender
• Green Ringer
• Super Fuzz
• Big Muff
• Electra

Besides these, learn from the experts. Tim Escobedo was a prolific experimenter in Fuzz. Check out his Circuit Snippets. This is a treasure trove of ideas and jumping off points to launch your own ideas.

Now that you have ideas and a place to start its time figure out what things sound like.

Breadboarding

Get yourself a solder less breadboard. These are cheap on the internet. You can get a whole kit with breadboard and wires for less than $15.

The solder less breadboard allows you to recreate a circuit from a schematic by plugging all of the parts and wires into the breadboard. No need for a PCB, no need for solder or soldering iron.

Connect it to your guitar amp and test your work.

Get some parts

To build and experiment you’ll need some parts. You can order parts at one of these providers:

• Stomboxparts.com
• Taydaelectronics.com
• Mouser.com
• SmallBearElectronics
• LoveMySwitches.com

Make a PCB

Once you’ve figured out how to arrange the parts to get some fuzz going on you’ll want to put it in a box. The goal is to hold all of the parts together in the same configuration with is on the breadboard.

You can do this with stripboard/vero board, perfboard/pad per hole board, or make your own PCB.

Perfboard – one pad per hole. Layout your parts on the grid and connect everything on the copper side.

Stripboard – copper traces run in rows. Plan connections across these shared rows.

PCB – Custom PCBs make for an easy reliable build. The cost is pretty cheap these days. I recommend PCBWay.com.