Gate Mod

[Moustache_Bash]

Is it possible to mod just about any basic fuzz with a gate control?

[McSpunckle]

Probably!

[eatyourguitar]

starve Q1 collector on a PNP fuzz face. thats how it works on the fuzz factory where the gate knob starves Q2. I dont know if it works on a NPN silicon fuzz face. it should work. what kind of fuzz face do you have? new or old? germanium or silicon? PNP or NPN?

[Moustache_Bash]

I don't have any fuzzes right now. There's just some fuzzes I've been looking at that I like, but would like a lot more if they had a gate control. So, was wondering if that could possibly be something I could add myself which sounds like I could.

Thanks, duderinos.

[McSpunckle]

There's different ways depending on the pedal, basically.

There's probably a way to add one to any circuit. If all else fails, a pair of diodes in series with the circuit will do some gating.

[eatyourguitar]

There's different ways depending on the pedal, basically.

so buy one and we'll tell you how to mod it. we can't help you if you don't have a pedal to mod or tell us what your getting.

There's probably a way to add one to any circuit

a starve knob works on almost everything but a muff. the problem is that it will change the sound of the fuzz as you get closer to the gated stuff.

a pair of diodes in series with the circuit will do some gating

yes this will work but you cant control the amount of gate. silicon will give you serious gate action @0.7v but thats usually too much gate. germanium is the lowest forward voltage of any diode @0.3v but you need to find 2 germanium diodes. they are like 2 for $1 plus shipping compared to 100 for $1 with silicon. starving each collector separately with a pot will work on any fuzz (yes even the muff).

also, there is a brute force approach with a opamp splitter running into a LED and LDR to clamp your output with a 1M inline.

[Jero]

Slightly offtopic but, is forward voltage the only thing that makes diodes sounds different? Like if you had 2 different types of germs, with the same voltage, would they sound exactly the same to the ear?

Does matching diodes have a noticeable effect?

[eatyourguitar]

Slightly offtopic but, is forward voltage the only thing that makes diodes sounds different? Like if you had 2 different types of germs, with the same voltage, would they sound exactly the same to the ear?

Does matching diodes have a noticeable effect?

diodes with the same forward voltage can sound different but its not always noticeable. depends on if its in a loop on a opamp or inline or clippers or what. also, if there are multiple clipping stages or you have a pedal with so much dirt or fuzz, it wont matter if you swap one type of 0.7v for another 0.7v. there was a thread on diystompboxes where they go into detail about switching speed and difference in capacitance of the diode that changes in nano or milliseconds. this is stuff that wont even work %100 in the simulator exactly how it is in real life.

using diodes as a noise gate, the 0.3v is the only one I think is usable unless you are running a boosted signal. its all relative. if your signal is +/- 1v then 0.3v gate is fine. if your signal is +/- 2.5v than 0.7v is fine. if you run a boosted signal and you still use 0.3v it works out pretty good. its not really noticeable as a gate but it will flatten your noise floor to 0.0v in theory anyway.