Nintendo Fuzz

[chutneyfarmer]

Heya folks,

Saw this on DIY Stompboxes and Freestompboxes and thought it may be of interest to those of you who don't visit either of those sites.

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=84195.0

It's probably the most simple fuzz of all time and gives some crazy gated nintendo-esque sounds.

[Nychthemeron]

Oh man, I might just have to take a stab at building this at some point. I wonder how small of an enclosure you could fit it in...

[chutneyfarmer]

Oh man, I might just have to take a stab at building this at some point. I wonder how small of an enclosure you could fit it in...

I'd say you could easily squeeze it in to the smallest enclosure possible to be honest

[chutneyfarmer]

Hmmmm I wonder would a voltage starve pot be any use on this? Or would the IC just cut out??

[Scruffie]

Hmmmm I wonder would a voltage starve pot be any use on this? Or would the IC just cut out??

The 386 operates down to 4V according to the datasheet so you should be okay with a Starve knob, although i'd suggest putting a resistor in series with it so that it doesn't hit minimum because then the chip will receive no voltage which would be fairly pointless although you can of course just set the knob at a higher setting for minimum if you can't be bothered.

With the sound of it though I imagine it's gunna get fairly spluttery, gatey and useless down at lower voltages but no harm trying, I also suggest adding a Buffer to the front of the 386 to make it play a bit better with your guitar and other effects.

[inface]

I need to try this circuit!
Thanks for the link!

[phoenix_crush]

This looks interesting, but I've never built a pedal before... . someone wanna give me a helpful link pleeaasse?

[Scruffie]

This looks interesting, but I've never built a pedal before... . someone wanna give me a helpful link pleeaasse?

viewtopic.php?f=151&t=7209
Links at the bottom of the first post and throughout the thread.

[phoenix_crush]

This looks interesting, but I've never built a pedal before... . someone wanna give me a helpful link pleeaasse?

viewtopic.php?f=151&t=7209
Links at the bottom of the first post and throughout the thread.

thanks!

[Wizard]

probably gonna do this.

[fuzzmax]

From your experiences guys, could a 5.2nf cap be enough difference to make it sounds a little different than it supposed to? I did this pedal with this cap value for C1 (don't have a 5.6nf) and It sounds pretty much like a regular fuzz, only brighter and it's noisy too. thanx

[inface]

well Im no expert but...
in a super small circuit like this I would imagine ANY value change has the potential for a major change in sound.

[Jero]

I made something very similar to this a while back while destroying a small diy amp. It sounded amazing (though not nintendo'ish) for about 30 seconds...then it died

[Scruffie]

From your experiences guys, could a 5.2nf cap be enough difference to make it sounds a little different than it supposed to? I did this pedal with this cap value for C1 (don't have a 5.6nf) and It sounds pretty much like a regular fuzz, only brighter and it's noisy too. thanx

Shouldn't make that much difference... smaller caps will allow more Treble through so I suppose that might be why it's brighter, try enlarging that caps value, you shouldn't have to sweat values that much though...

It may be dependant on chip that it's not glitchy, some 386s react differently in certain circuits, even down to brand which is highly unusual for a chip as mostly the design of a chip stays the same for each producer and should therefore act the same but anyway, what model & brand of chip did you use?

Noisewise, are you using a Power supply? If so stick a 220uFish cap accross 9V to Ground to help filter it, that might help a bit, with such a simple design though that's meant to sound like a glitchy nintendo, i'm not suprised it's noisey.

Another mod idea springs to mind, try placing the input cap (C1) Down one leg of the IC to the 2nd Input... (IC Leg 3) might yield a different result, might make sod all difference.

[fuzzmax]

From your experiences guys, could a 5.2nf cap be enough difference to make it sounds a little different than it supposed to? I did this pedal with this cap value for C1 (don't have a 5.6nf) and It sounds pretty much like a regular fuzz, only brighter and it's noisy too. thanx

Shouldn't make that much difference... smaller caps will allow more Treble through so I suppose that might be why it's brighter, try enlarging that caps value, you shouldn't have to sweat values that much though...

It may be dependant on chip that it's not glitchy, some 386s react differently in certain circuits, even down to brand which is highly unusual for a chip as mostly the design of a chip stays the same for each producer and should therefore act the same but anyway, what model & brand of chip did you use?

Noisewise, are you using a Power supply? If so stick a 220uFish cap accross 9V to Ground to help filter it, that might help a bit, with such a simple design though that's meant to sound like a glitchy nintendo, i'm not suprised it's noisey.

Another mod idea springs to mind, try placing the input cap (C1) Down one leg of the IC to the 2nd Input... (IC Leg 3) might yield a different result, might make sod all difference.

Alright, I'll check this out!!thanx