My First Fuzz...

[dminner]

I love it dude

[HighDeaf1080p]

Does that flicker LED inject any noise?

It doesn't appear to that I can hear on the practice amp. When I get it up to the big tube amp, details will be more apparent and we will see. I have the LED wired off the 9v+ to a 4.7k resistor, then to the positive side of the LED, then from the negative side of the LED to the footswitch center top pole, then from center middle pole to ground lug at guitar input jack.

Next good news: I'm 95% there on version 2. Last night in my stupor of exhaustion, I grabbed a 10k pot instead of a 5k pot for the clean boost stage...so I changed that and things calmed down a lot...then I swapped the 10M resistor for a 100k resistor and nearly all of my clean sounds came back...only weird thing I didn't notice last night but did tonight when I set down to test, was that the "incubate" knob lost any apparent effect. When I changed the 10M to 100k, and all the sounds cleaned back up considerably, it did gain some effect back, but now it mostly just changes the "tone" of the fuzz. I used to be able to clean up the sound using just that knob, but now, only "inject", "agitate", and "graft can clean up the sound. If they are turned up, and I turn down "incubate" it stays very saturated but gets less piercing and gets more warm and wooly. So...I have a little ways to go, but I am definitely moving in the right direction.

[HighDeaf1080p]

Ok, yes. The flickering LED sounds like a frickin telegraph machine beeping away in the background. Its very very faint, but it's definitely there. Lol.

Here is a sound clip at last, of version 1.0. The moment you all have been waiting for.

I tried to play riffs and phrases that demonstrated a few different things, then change the settings, then play the same riffs and phrases to illustrate the difference in settings changes, but that didn't work out well because I wasn't changing the settings dramatically enough. Tried to stuff as many different tones into one demo clip as I could to show how versatile it is...but ran out of time before I got through many. Better Demo to follow soon.

https://m.soundcloud.com/highdeaf1080p/ ... version-10

[crochambeau]

Prickly!

Were it not for the fact that I'm struggling with video demonstration myself I'd ask about that.. makes comprehension a little more lucid.

Like it so far.

[eatyourguitar]

I think I was reading that you changed the 10M to 100K? I don't think this is necessary. another thing I noticed there was a 1nf cap on the mosfet booster schematic. you had a 100k pot on the original labratory fuzz. I know this has been discussed but I thought I would draw it to see if that helps to show what I am suggesting. maybe I have a solution to the problem.

schematic

there is also another option to have a 100K volume pot after the booster. the 100k pot will not make a crackle sound when adjusted. maybe you can make the 10k booster pot into a trimmer and use the 100k pot after the booster instead?

[HighDeaf1080p]

I think I was reading that you changed the 10M to 100K? I don't think this is necessary. another thing I noticed there was a 1nf cap on the mosfet booster schematic. you had a 100k pot on the original labratory fuzz. I know this has been discussed but I thought I would draw it to see if that helps to show what I am suggesting. maybe I have a solution to the problem.

schematic

there is also another option to have a 100K volume pot after the booster. the 100k pot will not make a crackle sound when adjusted. maybe you can make the 10k booster pot into a trimmer and use the 100k pot after the booster instead?

Yep I'm reading ya. That one is a.change I have on the menu to try, so when I do, I'll try it with both the 10M in place and the 100k I have now to see what's what.

I like the trimmer pot idea for the booster too! I'll add that to my to-try list as well! Thank you!

[HighDeaf1080p]

Prickly!

Were it not for the fact that I'm struggling with video demonstration myself I'd ask about that.. makes comprehension a little more lucid.

Like it so far.

Yea a video demo is still planned, so you all can see each of the knob changes...when they are happening and which is being changed. I'm just needing a second tripod to make that happen. It will also help to see when the dissect switch is being engaged and that calibrate knob is being adjusted.

On this one I didn't plan out what sounds I was going for ahead of time and so spent a lot of the video searching for sounds... ran out of time so only got to touch on a small range of what's in there... only real "low gain" thing I got around to was literally the last 15 seconds or so of the 10 min clip, and that was only in the range where I felt it was still loud enough for the recording. Getting the boost stage on there will let me go way down into the first half of all the knobs. There are lots of smoother warmer wooly sounds in it too but I didn't make it around to those knob settings because some are too quiet, and because the video was running really long. I'll do better planning to cover more ground faster on the vid. Video demo will be coming in the next couple of weeks, after I've completed version 2.

I just wanted to get something recorded before I take a week off from this stuff, because a friend is in town. I doubt she wants to watch me sit and work at my breadboard.

I have some "non-flickering" 10mm amber LED's so I can swap that out easily if I can't find a way to filter it.

[crochambeau]

I'm going to level with you: ten minutes is too long for a demo, I've been watching this thing come together from the sidelines and it's been a blast - but I didn't last the full ten minutes. Though I'll check out that section.

LEDs can be rough, I have measured over all current consumption more than double just to fire an indicator. Localized regulation might help, you could probably clean it up, it just might involve more circuitry than seems reasonable - exploratory studies in the digital versus analog ground plane in audio equipment might assist you. I might pick up some of those flicker LED *for* the noise they inject..

Enjoy the week off!

[HighDeaf1080p]

Yes, that's why I stopped where I did. It was dragging on WAY too long, and I was not doing a good job of moving through the sounds...too many similar sounds dragging on. Which is why I need to identify 6-8 very distinct sounds, record the settings, and then just go directly to those one after the other when I do the video. There were also a few seconds of a sound I really liked during the demo, that for some unexplained reason I immediately cranked the knobs away from, so...lots of room for improvement on that, but for whatever reason, I just turn into a retard when the record button gets pressed...I can't play decently, I can't think logically, I just ramble. Haha.

Your statement made a "light bulb" come on in my head (no pun intended). I've gotta try using a flickering LED as one of the clipping diodes!!!!! HOLY GUACAMOLE!!! Why didn't I see that before?!

[crochambeau]

I hear you! I've made it a habit to just record whatever (I'm not what you would call a player in those conditions either) while not talking (hahaha) and then chop the ever loving shit out of it in an editor. That way you're not trying to hold to a time line and rushing past those corners of discovery.

Great idea on the clipping diode!

[HighDeaf1080p]

also check out 5:30 in the demo. One of my favorite "squidgy" sounds. hehe.

Low gain stuff starts at 8:31.