Project Fuzz

[Paul_C]

This is what happens when I'm thinking idle thoughts.

It started with me wondering how big aluminium enclosures get (bigger than I ended up choosing!) and ended with Project Fuzz, a plan to put eight different fuzzes in one box.

I've decided on which eight it will be and ordered the enclosure, a Hammond 1590DD, which is 188mm x 119.5mm x 37.5mm - there are bigger, but they're all really deep compared to the 1590DD, which is roughly as deep as my Alexander Neo pedals.

Two of the eight I was already planning to build and all of them have pretty small-sized vero boards, which will help fitting everything in.

I'm not going to reveal which eight yet, but you're welcome to speculate if it amuses you, no two are from the same creator.

My next task is to draw out the layouts and see what parts I need to order.

[eatyourguitar]

aluminum and or steel enclosures go all the way up. we had to transport a 10FT long 6FT high 2FT deep control cabinet at work when we were ready to attach it to the machine it controls. bud industries, hammond, hoffman, saginaw, westinghouse. there are probably over 100 companies world wide that make metal boxes for electrical use. good luck with that massive project. don't do it if you don't enjoy it. when you put 8 pedals in a box together, you are kinda obligated to make them all perfect and to your liking. having one pedal in there not doing a good job is a problem because it would be too late to just leave it at home. you have to follow it through all the way. they are also much harder to sell since it is customized to you.

[Paul_C]

Heh - I didn't want to buy anything that might arrive on a pallet

Fortunately I will only be using it for my own, home-based, playing and recording and I've no intention to sell, so what ever happens during the construction will be part of the "fun" and if one build refuses to play properly there are plenty of other options out there to replace it with.

It's as much about passing the time as anything else, though what started it was the thought of having a loop box with various fuzz boxes in the loop, and deciding it might be more useable if I put them all in one box to save room.

[eatyourguitar]

http://beavisaudio.com/projects/fuzzlab/

[Paul_C]

http://beavisaudio.com/projects/fuzzlab/

That looks way more complicated than (I hope) mine's going to be

I totted up the pots and switches and there are 21 pots and 4 switches (plus nine footswitches).

Before I go any further I'm going to wait for the enclosure to arrive and see if I can lay out the above without everything looking too squashed.

If not I'll reduce the number of pedals inside, but as they're all fairly small boards I reckon I can squeeze them in. I could have got a deeper enclosure and had them edgeways on instead of flat but I don't think it's going to be an issue - the thing is that if I have to reduce the number then who cares? I'm only amusing myself anyway.

[Fuzzy Lumpkins]

Seems interesting.

Glad to see you're ignoring the hater(s).

OK, I'm going to guess the obvious stuff—Fuzz Face, Fuzzrite, Big Muff... maybe some variations/relatives of those three, like a Tonebender and Companion?

[Paul_C]

The enclosure has arrived and I've had one or two thoughts.

I'm going to draw out the vero board sizes on paper so I can lay everything out and see if I can make it all fit, and as it's not going to be something for sale and I don't have to please anyone but myself I'm considering fitting toggle switches instead of footswitches unless a 3PDT toggle is way more expensive than a footswitch.

As for what's going in - no "classics" unless it turns out one of my choices happens to be a descendant of a classic design, as I'm always more attracted to the "it's a bit mad" side of things.

[Paul_C]

It occurs to me that as the switch position would be a handy indicator of on or off I could dispense with LEDs and use DPDT toggle switches instead, which would save a bit of room - maybe just have one overall on/off footswitch or toggle.

My Drone Thing is set up like this and works fine as far as being able to understand what's going on, so I don't see any reason it wouldn't work.

[Paul_C]

one more thing, unless one of you is aware of a pedal out there with the same name (a very quick google didn't throw anything up) I'm going to call it FUZZ THING.

[Paul_C]

Here's a quick rubbish pic to give a vague idea of what might be possible.



Still a lot more juggling to do, but I'm still at a stage where it "might" be possible to get all eight in.

[frodog]

I'm not trying to be a "hater" but I'm quite sure eight circuits won't fit in that enclosure. I use the same method where I draw the insides of the pedal 1:1 on a card to see how everything will fit, and usually if I consider putting an extra circuit in there I find at that stage there's no room. At least if I want to wire it up inside the box, which I usually do. Plus I like having separate pedals with less knobs anyway.

But I wish you luck on your project, sure you'll figure out a way.

[Paul_C]

You're probably right - when the enclosure was actually in front of me that was my first thought, but I shall do my best to see if it can be done before giving up

There are at least three of the chosen eight which have four knobs, so losing one of those would make quite a difference - it's not as if it matters a whole lot either way as I'm only amusing myself

The full list of pedals I'm going to try and get in are:

Fuzzrocious - Ram The Manparts
Rockett - WTF
Mid-Fi - Demo Tape Fuzz (most likely to go if I run out of room)
Anchovie - Noise Ensemble (from the Parasit Studios site)
Devi Ever - Disaster/Krackle Fuzz (two in one layout, bringing the total to 8.5 pedals?)
Dwarfcraft - Great Destroyer
Fuzzhugger - Phantom Octave
ZVex -Fuzzolo

[eatyourguitar]

it will fit if you go SMD and start laying out your own PCB. there are kicad tutorials online everywhere. kicad is free. maybe I am biased because I do SMD layouts all the time. for me it would be fun. and no I don't want to do it for fun but if it was for me I would enjoy it.

[Paul_C]

I doubt I'll ever reach a point where I'll be etching PCBs or using surface mounted stuff, right now it doesn't interest me at all, and I've no plans to make things for other people.

If I can learn a little and maybe come up with one or two things that I can properly call my own then I'll be happy.

[crochambeau]

If you can get the *interface* to fit, the circuitry shouldn't be difficult to fit. So long as you approach everything with the compact mindset.

You're running perf/strip? You are in control of the actual layout. Nothing is stopping you from combining circuits/optimizing space or situating the populated boards in a "vertical" manner. I was going to simply suggest fitting multiple circuits on a larger board, and then sandwiching them, but I think going the vertical route will make servicing easier.

Finger space around knobs and switches has always been the bottleneck for me, circuitry can get small & tight (stand your resistors up if need be, etc.)

My only other advice is: make sure you have adequate power rail decoupling between each section.