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Fuzz Factory #3
Another Fuzz Factory clone. I used silicon transistors for this build I didn’t have any germanium transistors with the right gains. I think lower gain silicon works best here. I used a couple 2N5401 with gains of 115 and 120. These were about the lowest gain I could find in my parts bin. I ordered…
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Stompbox Studies – Class 1
Want to build your own effects pedals? A good place to start is understanding how transistors work. Transistors are those three-legged devices seen populating many stompbox circuits. Transistors are a core building block in electronics. Integrated circuits, like op-amps, are made up of many transistors! Transistors are used in all of the circuits you’ve heard…
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The Music of the Krell
Forbidden Planet is a movie from 1956. It featured a sound track and sound effects entirely created by electronic circuits. I say circuits because this was 8 years before Robert Moog would produce the first synthesizer. The sound track was produced by Bebe & Louis Barron using circuitas invented for the purpose and test equipment.…
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Ugly Face Build
build your own Ugly Face! Ugly Face is a racus squarewave guitar synth oscillator disguised as a fuzz pedal. Originally created by Tim Escobedo on his Circuit Snippets web page, it’s become a DIY classic. The ideas here are great and inventive there are a lot of building blocks. Out of all of these the…
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Vulcan Build
The Vulcan is a heavy over to distortion by Joe Davisson. Check his Analog Alchemy page for more of his designs. Here’s a discussion of the circuit over at the DIYStompboxes forum. I created a PCB you can order at OSH Park. Part Value C1 100n C2 100n C3 100n C4 2n2 C5 100n C6…
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AionFX Flare an 8 knob Fuzz Factory
I built this a while ago. I recently built a couple more Fuzz Factory clones. I used sockets for the transistors so this made a good place to audition transistors for the new pedals. It got me thinking about the transistors I used in this pedal. I used germanium transistors in the new pedals but…
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Breakfast Audio Bork Bork PCB
Generous Reddit member sent me this Breakfast Audio PCB. It looks like a clone of an Ibanez version of the Super Fuzz. They threw in stickers to, awesome! I had not heard of this circuit though I was familiar with the Super Fuzz. I found this discussion over at the DIYStompboxes.com forum. Physically the board…
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Boss Tonebender how about a Buzzbender?
We’ll call this the BZ-1. What got me started on these Boss rehousings was seeing the Boss Tone Bender TB-2w going for 3k on Reverb.com. These were super cool pedals but not worth more than than the list price of $350. I understand the idea of scarcity and knew there were only 3000 made, but…
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Parentheses Fuzz #5
I think this is #5 I’m losing count. These are so much fun to play the world needs a couple more! I used matte black sand textured enclosure. Which give this a good industrial vibe. This is a pretty easy build for what you get. The board is a good size and parts are comfortably…
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Parentheses Fuzz #5
I think this is #5 I’m losing count. These are so much fun to play the world needs a couple more! I used matte black sand textured enclosure. Which give this a good industrial vibe. This is a pretty easy build for what you get. The board is a good size and parts are comfortably…
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RunOffGroove 22/7 Build
Here is another 22/7 build. It’s a Big Muff variation. This unique circuit replaces the transistor stages of the classic Big Muff with CMOS inverters. It’s a unique flavor of Muff. CMOS inverters have their own unique flavor of distortion and have been used in many classic pedals like: Craig Anderton’s Tube Sound Fuzz, Way…
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Haunting Mids Reflection
The goal of this project was to build three Haunting Mids, keep one and sell the other two, hopefully coming out ahead! This post covers the original Haunting Mids Fuzz. Note! This is not the JHS pedal with the same name. What is Haunting Mids? Haunting Mids is a Big Muff variant. Besides careful choice…