Fuzz Pedal Build

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Contributor Since: Nov 11, 2007

I've been building a fuzz pedal kit from buildyourownclone this weekend. I made a stencil of the word 'fuzz' and colored in several layers of sharpie before dipping the front into muriatic acid and hydrogen peroxide, sanded it down some, etched it again, then sanded, then painted a white outline on 'fuzz' then sanded it one last time. I actually bought a big stuffed bear from walmart and skinned it for the fuzz on the perimeter, hah. The electronics are almost done too. Excited to put in these fancy ac127 germanium transistors and get to playing on it. Unfortunately my butane soldering iron ran out of juice.


http://www.homerecordingconnection.com/images_photos/1238.jpg


http://www.homerecordingconnection.com/images_photos/1237.jpg

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Member
Since: Jul 02, 2003


Feb 15, 2010 04:47 am

Very cool QuincySan! I built a fuzz pedal.. well really couldn't call it a pedal since if you stepped on it it would be broken, that I bought as a kit from radio shack, way back in the 60's. :)

PS: Your's looks alot better than mine did!

Dan

I am not a crook's head
Member
Since: Mar 14, 2003


Feb 15, 2010 02:31 pm

Bwahahahaha!!! The literal FUZZ pedal. Brilliant.

http://www.unitedmusicians.info
Contributor
Since: Nov 11, 2007


Feb 15, 2010 03:03 pm

http://www.homerecordingconnection.com/images_photos/1239.jpg



Finished the instructions, but doesn't work at the moment. Figures I'd have to re-do my first pedal build; oh well, learning experience right?

I'm borrowing a multimeter from work tonight to see if I can track down the problem.

Here's the symptoms in case I'm too ignorant to know that this is a simple quick fix:

When plugged into 9v power and when a guitar is plugged into the mono (input) jack the activity LED turns on, The stomp switch doesn't work very well, I sort of have to wiggle the pedal around while switching it on and off to get the LED to switch on and off. Regardless...the pedal never makes a peep when plugged into an amp (regular 1/4" cable...NOT a Y cable of TRS cable).

I'm wondering if this has to do with my guesswork on what is appropriate soldering for projects like this. For instance I stripped the wiring back, stuck the bare wires in the loop of the output jack and wrapped it around to secure it so I could place another wire in the same loop of the same output jack while soldering the three components together. Anything wrong with looping the wires around the output of the stereo output jack?

come to think of it...do I need a Y cable to even use a pedal that has a stereo out?

Prince CZAR-ming
Member
Since: Apr 08, 2004


Feb 15, 2010 03:04 pm

that is WAY cool. I've built a few prototypes, experiments in the past, but nothing ever quite made it to 'prime time'.

Nice job.

http://www.unitedmusicians.info
Contributor
Since: Nov 11, 2007


Feb 15, 2010 03:07 pm

Thanks! Definitely too early to celebrate for me, but I'll demo it when it's done. Really looking forward to it

Prince CZAR-ming
Member
Since: Apr 08, 2004


Feb 15, 2010 03:16 pm

Oop, cross posted there.

Should be no problem with looping the connection wire to the terminal. In fact, most of what I've heard (general knowledge) is that you don't want the solder to hold the connection, instead making a mechanical connection first (wrapping so it stays put) then soldering to make the electrical connection. Your way should be sufficient.

I'm amazed that you did this project without a meter.

You should have signal on both sides of the stereo jack, so plugging any cord into the output will connect to 1 half of the stereo signal, and not connected to the other half, so you should have something on whichever side you connect to.

Probably, you have a user error somewhere. Even simple kits like this are easy to not have work first time through. Don't despair though, keep at it. You'll certainly get it working.

I'm curious as to if you prototyped this first, like on a bread board?

http://www.unitedmusicians.info
Contributor
Since: Nov 11, 2007


Feb 15, 2010 03:36 pm

Oh no, this is one of the pre-fab no brainer units that byoc makes.
www.buildyourownclone.com/fuzz.html

Skip to 2:30 on this video for a demo of the finished product.




I'm really excited to get to the point where I would feel comfortable mixing and matching effects/having a PCB custom made. I have a pretty cool Jimmy Hendrix Octavio Fuzz (fuzz/octave up) that needs a beefier fuzz in front of it and I believe the ESV Fuzz kit I'm building here will be a good complement. In an ideal world, this would be a single pedal with two foot switches/sets of controls. Kinda like that Jekyl/Hyde overdrive they sell.

Prince CZAR-ming
Member
Since: Apr 08, 2004


Feb 15, 2010 04:40 pm

That's pretty cool stuff.

The Czar of BS
Member
Since: Dec 31, 2007


Feb 15, 2010 08:42 pm

Why do I have this image in my head, of you taking great pleasure in skinning that Teddy bear? :)

Al thought it would have been funnier if it was bright pink! Making it more visible on stage.

So, I had to look up that transistor the AC127. It's a little beast! Ic = 500 ma @ 32V, that would explain the large heat shield that it's embedded in.

The only thing for me, is the fact that I only have my laptop to listen to your youtube vid. Little 1" speakers aren't really doing it justice. How does it sound to you?

http://www.unitedmusicians.info
Contributor
Since: Nov 11, 2007


Feb 16, 2010 02:24 am

After repairing a few crappy solders I got the effect working. I'll post a sample of it sometime soon. Unfortunately the bypass isn't working and the footswitch is finicky. It's either fuzz or mute for now. I still haven't put a multimeter to the thing.

I think the next build will be easier now that I know it's ok to loop the wires around the contact points before soldering. I don't know why I thought that would be a problem.

http://www.unitedmusicians.info
Contributor
Since: Nov 11, 2007


Feb 16, 2010 03:42 pm

Does anyone know of a book that I could read that would explain some common electronic components used in effects pedals and how their properties play into the effect?

I would ask how "ic = 500ma @ 32V" effects the qualities of the pedal but I doubt I'd understand the answer without some kind of background in the why's. BYOC seems great about getting quality components and providing instructions for their projects, but the instructions are in layman's terms (connect the blue part to the yellow part...it'll work, don't ask.)

The Czar of BS
Member
Since: Dec 31, 2007


Feb 16, 2010 03:58 pm

Well.......... Any book that I could recommend is going to have all of the math behind it. I'm trying to think if there is a book that goes over all of the components without the math. But, I can't think of any.

One book that I found to be the "Go to book" for me, is the Art of Electronics. It's old. From the 70's. But gives some of the best explanations out of any other book that I have read.

The Czar of BS
Member
Since: Dec 31, 2007


Feb 16, 2010 04:15 pm

Just to give a little behind that transistor.

Ic is the transistors current that it can handle at the Collector end. The c stands for collector. And the I stands for the current. So, the transistor can sink a half of an amp. Which for small signal transistors is not bad at all.

Voltage is one thing that seems to be hard for most books to explain for some reason. Voltage is just how much of an electric magnetic field there is. The larger the field, the higher the voltage.

http://www.unitedmusicians.info
Contributor
Since: Nov 11, 2007


Feb 16, 2010 04:19 pm

I'm definitely not afraid of math. I'm browsing around for the Art of Electronics and the most recent version was published in 1989 and the last printing was in 2001. Would you suggest this book or would the information be outdated enough that it might be easier to find something else with a similar focus?

The Czar of BS
Member
Since: Dec 31, 2007


Feb 16, 2010 04:59 pm

No. It's not outdated at all. IC's were just being made when this went to print. And they have not really changed from then.

I think that there are still a lot of college's that still have this in the required reading for their engineering classes.

Prince CZAR-ming
Member
Since: Apr 08, 2004


Feb 17, 2010 12:00 am

I think there was a Radio Shack little book that covered basic electronic components. I don't know if they have them anymore, but I remember people advising them years ago.

Quote:
I don't know why I thought that would be a problem.


The only part of this that's a pain is if (when) you want to disassemble, and redo. The wraps on the terminals are a pain to remove, since you have to remove the solder, or heat it up then try to remove the wire when it's hot. Those two at the same time can be a real pain to make happen without HOT problems, like little bits of solder getting flung around your work area, on your cheek, arm, papers, etc. Solder suckers work, but not all the way, so you still have to soften to remove wires. And if they're wrapped around the terminal a lot, then they're that much harder to remove.

I usually go for a 'hook' kind of thing: putting a little bend to one side on the end of the wire, and have it 'hook' onto the terminal. So the hook is supporting the wires pressure to move, keeping it stationary, then I add the solder. Then if I want to undo later (this happens A LOT) then it's pretty easy to just move the wire to one side while the solder is hot.

ymmv, of course ;)

Prince CZAR-ming
Member
Since: Apr 08, 2004


Feb 17, 2010 12:03 am

Looks like this is a newer version:

www.radioshack.com/produc...oductId=3433933

If you knew someone in the Ham Radio field, they'd probably be a large wealth of basic elec knowledge. Probably have old tubes laying around too, in case you get a hankering for building a tube something.


I am not a crook's head
Member
Since: Mar 14, 2003


Feb 17, 2010 12:42 pm

You mean this Art Of Electronics?


http://www.aarvid238.com/tadpui/Pictures/Studio/Photo0081.jpg



I had to buy it back in college. I only ever found it impenetrable and confusing. But I've always sucked at electronics big time. It just never made sense to me for some reason. Same with calculus. Those 2 subjects simply defy all logic for me.

The Czar of BS
Member
Since: Dec 31, 2007


Feb 17, 2010 03:46 pm

Dat's the one Tadpui!

Yeah........ It's a tough read on your own without a professor. But, I have yet to find a book that goes over transistors the way this book does.

@pjk I think I remember those books that your talking about. Wasn't it a guy by the name of Simms? He had all of the cartoon drawings of the schematics. He wasn't bad. He just gave very brief explanations of each component, and then just had you build a circuit with them.

I never really got any great detail from his books. But, sure. They are OK.

Prince CZAR-ming
Member
Since: Apr 08, 2004


Feb 17, 2010 06:07 pm

Yeah, i think so. I remember the cartoon drawings of components. I'm thinking the one I linked is a newer version of it, but who knows.

and yeah, probably not too in-depth, as they were only like 50 pages or so. but for newbies, it let you know the basics, like that funny law of ohms thing =).

I swear, that dude was a genius for figuring that out. and so simple too.

E=IR, or, V=IR

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