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New DIY fuzz on the beach: this is the Roland Double Beat fuzz, built with the Aion FX Argus pcb.
I did few mods to have more bass and gain range available, and reworked a bit the left tone switch position as it was cutting way to highs for my taste.
Played also a bit wih the transistors and came up with this coktail of BC107, BC109 and MPSA13.
It's a very cool fuzz, goes from low gain overdrive up to wall of sound mayhem.

Mods:
Sustain pot 20k
C2 1uF
C6 100nF
C10 22nF (I couldn't find a 18nF, but it's a minor change)
C11 4.7nF
C12 10nF
R14 jumper
R15 24k (this way the mid scoop doesn't eat too much low-end as before)
R19 70k (I jup put a 220k in parallel with the original 150k, makes the Sinus a cool mid boost)
Q1 BC107B
Q2 MPSA13
Q3 BC109C

Validation build of a ss/bs Fuck OD clone. Added another pot for finer sag (depth) control across the threshold and drive settings. On the original, I found the sag to weaken (less snap crackle pop) as you dialed up the drive, so the extra control corrects that. Very interactive now.

digi2t wrote:Validation build of a ss/bs Fuck OD clone. Added another pot for finer sag (depth) control across the threshold and drive settings. On the original, I found the sag to weaken (less snap crackle pop) as you dialed up the drive, so the extra control corrects that. Very interactive now.

Oh man, yeah, more ss/bs, that's fucking great!!!

I just finished the AMNESIA yesterday and oh boy this is a box full of wonderful and/or weird sounds, there are so many sweet spots, it's mind boggling.

It can do worn ut tape delay, white noise wind sounds, pitch shifting, all sorts of warbling, even some sort of enveloped looping ...??? I don't know .... listen to the 2nd snippet.
And that's just some of the stuff while scratching the surface.

https://soundcloud.com/fuzzonaut-1/amnesia

Fantastic looking build!

Man, this is awesome, I never tried one of these OGs.

digi2t wrote:Validation build of a ss/bs Fuck OD clone. Added another pot for finer sag (depth) control across the threshold and drive settings. On the original, I found the sag to weaken (less snap crackle pop) as you dialed up the drive, so the extra control corrects that. Very interactive now.

Nothing special, but its my first diy pedal in a while. Years ago I built a couple of Rat pedals and subsequently tore them apart, had the populated stripboards sitting in a box. Decided the other day that I wanted a Rat again, so I dug out one of the stripboards and drilled out an enclosure for it. Didnt customise the enclosure in any way as I was trying to get it finished quickly. Sounds pretty good

interesting knobs!

Another Infanem in the books. 141G fuzz, really cool fuzz, with some really funky sub-octave tones with the knobs set right. Would love to get my hands on a 141T, just to compare.





Disclaimer: No Infanem's were harmed or damaged during reproduction of this pedal.

First pedal build for 2024. Hoping to build some more this year.

I recently salvaged some old germanium transistors from a dead reel-to-reel. My main intention is to build some of the classic early pedals with them (Rangemaster, Tone Bender, Fuzz Face etc.). But before that I figured I'd do a quick Harmonic Percolator build. Never even played one before, as a result I dont really have a baseline for what a good HP is meant to sound like, so I just got it sounding nice to my ears

I intended to use an AC188K PNP and an AC187K NPN transistor set, but the AC187K just wasn't working in the Q2 position. Ended up putting a 2N5088 in that position and it sounded much better. Also using silicon diodes as thats what I had handy, so its not really an accurate HP build.

Overall I'd say its a fine fuzz/distortion pedal, but I'm not like blown away by it. Maybe mines not quite right or I'm missing something here? Just doesn't quite live up to the hype I guess

TheTransient wrote:Nothing special, but its my first diy pedal in a while. Years ago I built a couple of Rat pedals and subsequently tore them apart, had the populated stripboards sitting in a box. Decided the other day that I wanted a Rat again, so I dug out one of the stripboards and drilled out an enclosure for it. Didnt customise the enclosure in any way as I was trying to get it finished quickly. Sounds pretty good

those are some handsome knobs

My favourite phaser effect is the KORG KPH-401 module for the PME-40X effects board. It is a 4-stage phaser that delivers exactly the sound that I prefer. Like every effects module from this series it works great with guitar, piano, synthesizer, etc.

I always wanted to have a decent analogue phaser with true stereo options to use it with Rhodes piano or string synthesizer sounds. Two years ago I purchased a BOSS RPH-10 Micro Rack Phaser to find out if a pair of these (two of them can be linked) could fill that gap. Unfortunately none of the three modes convinced or satisfied me, although they all sounded pretty good. It just wasn't my sound. Some of you know that problem with personal preferences when it comes to overdrive, distortion or whatever effect types.

I was able to hunt down three modules of the KORG KPH-401 Phaser. I was curious if there could be a way to modify two of them to work in stereo. In June 2022 I asked my friend Laurie from Canada (former owner of DingoTone pedals) if he could come up with something. I sent him the schematics and he saw a way how to make one of the modules work as a master unit to control the speed of the other one. And to my big joy he also said that he saw no problem to implement an inverted signal, thus making the one phaser unit go up while the other one goes down to achieve spacious stereo effects.

A strange problem occured when I finally tried doing this modification a few months ago. The normal master signal produced stuttering noise with the slave unit, while the inverted signal didn't work at all. We weren't able to make it produce the right voltages, no matter what Laurie tried to figure out. That's why I sent the modules to Laurie in Canada. With his oscilloscope he immediately saw what the problem was: unlike any other phaser unit that Laurie knows, the KPH-401 produces pulse signals at the certain point that we wanted to use for the control signal. Only a few days later he has finished the modification which then worked exactly as intended.

The modules arrived at my place a few days ago and I'm extremely happy with the result!

This is how the modules look like. I keep a third unmodified KPH-401 for my collection. But the modified units don't look bad at all. The small switch of the slave unit bypasses the external control signal and puts it back to normal working mode with independent speed.





The modules can be linked with a wire with mini plugs. For true stereo I have to use two PME-40X boards. They can also work in unison - or with inverted signal - on a single board for mono sounds. Especially with the inverted signal and two different phaser settings they can produce some really cool morphing sounds that I haven't heard before. A nice side-effect that I haven't had on my radar when initially thinking about linking these modules. It is really nice that Depth, Manual and Feedback can be set independently.




In the end the modification was quite easy to do. A small board provides the inverted signal.





A tedious thing was to file down the potentiometer boards until the mini jacks and the small switch finally fitted inside.

Some interesting stuff from Moonn.

First, a PCB that's supposed to recreate the Honey Special Fuzz, a Japanese thing from the late 60ies, it seems.
No idea what they were on while designing this, I mean you have 13 transistors, 2 transformers and a shitload of other components in there and all you get as far as potentiometers go, is a volume control at the very end of all that circuitery!

It's 2 things (if I'm not mistaken):
- a fuzz circuit, à la Superfuzz and
- an autowah (?)
The toggle switch let's you choose the routing, so to speak:
- up = left foot switch kicks in both: fuzz into wah (right footswitch does nothing)
- down = left footswich kicks in fuzz only, right footswitch activates wah only, while taking the fuzz out
At least, I think that's what's happening ...

The fuzz is pretty beefy and cool, the wah is kinda wonky, but then, I have zero experience with wah circuits, so what do I know?
I tried a lot of transistors in the wah section to get a presumably nice wooshy movement. I also fiddled with the transistors of the output section to get more volume because it got just a bit over unity when dimed. But that didn't really help, so I just added a LPB-1 (on vero) after it and now it roars!
And then, the SONIC ASSAULT SYSTEM . Its supposed to be a one-off DBA thing called Assault System.
Those 2 PCBs might or might not recreate a pedal that might or might not exist and that Mr Ackermann might or might not have built just for himself.
First comes the op amp side, that has a feedback footswitch. I decided to use a momentary for that. Funn)))!
Then there's the transistor side. I had to try different transistors. 4x 2N5088, like the build doc suggested, didn't work for me. The signal would gate, sputter and even cut out on some filter/shape settings, also it was not loud enough.
2N5089 for Q1 and Q2 and 2N3904 for Q3 and Q4 sounded pretty good, so that's what's currently in there.
Having to try different transistors to make it work might suggest that it actually is a DBA thing

fuzzonaut wrote:Some interesting stuff from Moonn.

First, a PCB that's supposed to recreate the Honey Special Fuzz, a Japanese thing from the late 60ies, it seems.
No idea what they were on while designing this, I mean you have 13 transistors, 2 transformers and a shitload of other components in there and all you get as far as potentiometers go, is a volume control at the very end of all that circuitery!

It's 2 things (if I'm not mistaken):
- a fuzz circuit, à la Superfuzz and
- an autowah (?)
The toggle switch let's you choose the routing, so to speak:
- up = left foot switch kicks in both: fuzz into wah (right footswitch does nothing)
- down = left footswich kicks in fuzz only, right footswitch activates wah only, while taking the fuzz out
At least, I think that's what's happening ...

The fuzz is pretty beefy and cool, the wah is kinda wonky, but then, I have zero experience with wah circuits, so what do I know?
I tried a lot of transistors in the wah section to get a presumably nice wooshy movement. I also fiddled with the transistors of the output section to get more volume because it got just a bit over unity when dimed. But that didn't really help, so I just added a LPB-1 (on vero) after it and now it roars!

hon.JPG

hon-g.JPG

Interesting. Too bad they didn't take the time to make a better clone. I'll explain...

As the owner of two original units (still have one), as well as having traced it, and cloned it, here is my 2 bits regarding the Honey Special Fuzz;

- On the original, the Special Direct on/off switch basically turns the fuzz on/off. So, when effect is engaged, you either get "Special" fuzz/wah (or more like "fuzz/whoosh"), or just the "Direct" whoosh effect on the dry signal.
- The original units had very anemic output. With the volume at max, you're still a tad below unity. On the second original unit that I still have, I designed a small vero that carries the last stage of the Superfuzz circuit, and grafted it in on the backside of the circuit. This brings the volume up considerably, making the effect much more usable in a chain setting.
- The choice of using the 42TM013 transformer in the Moonn project is interesting. When I built the first clone years back, I tried lots of TL/TM series audio transformers (including the 013) to emulate the performance of the 4H TDK stack of the original, but at best, the whooshing was weak and/or muddy. Back then, I could have sourced the real deal TDK's from a Canadian supplier, but the $16 a pop and limited supply wasn't ideal for DIY. Eventually, I found that the secondary side of LT44 transformers (outer pins) were really close to the original performance. Not the same inductance or resistance as the TDK's, but the best performance of any of the other transformers I tested. Also, you can try playing with the 100nF cap just before the transformers (Moonn BOM C11). I found with the LT44's, upping a bit to 120nF made it a tad better. YMMV.
- While the original has a good chunk of the Superfuzz genetic, the lack of a tone switch or adjustment, makes it pretty much one dimensional. On my clone, I added a SWTC network, which makes it a bit nicer to dial into a chain. Again, the tone section is another volume suck, so even more reason to add a post amplifier section.

Like I said, I've been blessed to have had two of these very rare birds, at different times. The first I traded for a very nice Civil War Muff. The second came along some years later, which I found for sale on a Japanese site, in dire need of restoration. After refurbishment, it now resides in it's "forever home".

digi2t wrote:

fuzzonaut wrote:Some interesting stuff from Moonn.

First, a PCB that's supposed to recreate the Honey Special Fuzz, a Japanese thing from the late 60ies, it seems.
No idea what they were on while designing this, I mean you have 13 transistors, 2 transformers and a shitload of other components in there and all you get as far as potentiometers go, is a volume control at the very end of all that circuitery!

It's 2 things (if I'm not mistaken):
- a fuzz circuit, à la Superfuzz and
- an autowah (?)
The toggle switch let's you choose the routing, so to speak:
- up = left foot switch kicks in both: fuzz into wah (right footswitch does nothing)
- down = left footswich kicks in fuzz only, right footswitch activates wah only, while taking the fuzz out
At least, I think that's what's happening ...

The fuzz is pretty beefy and cool, the wah is kinda wonky, but then, I have zero experience with wah circuits, so what do I know?
I tried a lot of transistors in the wah section to get a presumably nice wooshy movement. I also fiddled with the transistors of the output section to get more volume because it got just a bit over unity when dimed. But that didn't really help, so I just added a LPB-1 (on vero) after it and now it roars!

Interesting. Too bad they didn't take the time to make a better clone. I'll explain...

As the owner of two original units (still have one), as well as having traced it, and cloned it, here is my 2 bits regarding the Honey Special Fuzz;

- On the original, the Special Direct on/off switch basically turns the fuzz on/off. So, when effect is engaged, you either get "Special" fuzz/wah (or more like "fuzz/whoosh"), or just the "Direct" whoosh effect on the dry signal.
- The original units had very anemic output. With the volume at max, you're still a tad below unity. On the second original unit that I still have, I designed a small vero that carries the last stage of the Superfuzz circuit, and grafted it in on the backside of the circuit. This brings the volume up considerably, making the effect much more usable in a chain setting.
- The choice of using the 42TM013 transformer in the Moonn project is interesting. When I built the first clone years back, I tried lots of TL/TM series audio transformers (including the 013) to emulate the performance of the 4H TDK stack of the original, but at best, the whooshing was weak and/or muddy. Back then, I could have sourced the real deal TDK's from a Canadian supplier, but the $16 a pop and limited supply wasn't ideal for DIY. Eventually, I found that the secondary side of LT44 transformers (outer pins) were really close to the original performance. Not the same inductance or resistance as the TDK's, but the best performance of any of the other transformers I tested. Also, you can try playing with the 100nF cap just before the transformers (Moonn BOM C11). I found with the LT44's, upping a bit to 120nF made it a tad better. YMMV.
- While the original has a good chunk of the Superfuzz genetic, the lack of a tone switch or adjustment, makes it pretty much one dimensional. On my clone, I added a SWTC network, which makes it a bit nicer to dial into a chain. Again, the tone section is another volume suck, so even more reason to add a post amplifier section.

Like I said, I've been blessed to have had two of these very rare birds, at different times. The first I traded for a very nice Civil War Muff. The second came along some years later, which I found for sale on a Japanese site, in dire need of restoration. After refurbishment, it now resides in it's "forever home".

Thank you for that explanation, makes things a lot clearer. I'm fine with the fuzz part, now that it's boosted at the end. Sure, it's a one knob fuzz and has just the one sound, but I dig it.

I'm still not impressed at all with the wah/wosh part of the circuit though. It is also kinda weak, as you pointed out. I might try to play around with C11.
But first, I'll get the Zupperbee done (thanks for more SSBS stuff, TAFM also in the pipeline ).

And here's the Zupperbee, pretty cool take on the Superfuzz, I really like it.