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I've been enamoured by the DBA Apocalypse for a while. The filter is great, and having 5 different fuzz circuits is fantastic. However, the variation in volume between circuits has been increasingly bugging me to the point where I'm starting to wonder about alternative pedals.

I've realised I only really use the first two circuits (the scooped-mids (for Deftones-y goodness) and fuzz war). Are there any pedals that can hit the same sort of tones? If not, are there any solutions to the wild volume jumps between circuits in the Apocalypse?

Just mark two different volume settings with tape or stickers or something. If you're bending down to switch modes, you can take a sec to tweak the volume. Or get a second apocalypse/fuzz war.

That volume drop in the first mode really does put a damper on things. I loved the Apocalypse too, and honestly one of the only pedals right now I want to reacquire. I mostly used modes 2 and 3, which didn't have as dramatic a difference as 1 does in comparison to the rest.

One trick I always use is having a clean boost of some sort acting as a master volume for my entire board. the right pedal, set correctly, can boost the quiet pedals and also absorb the extra gain from louder pedals and thus equalizing modes 1 and 2.

Another thought is I wonder if you could use a Boss GE-7 to make mode 2 as scooped and gnarly sounding as mode 1? Then you would essentially have a footswitcheable way to get to mode 1 plus not worry about the volume drop. I once combined a GE-7 and a Metal Zone to get extra scooped fuzz tones, and the GE-7 also acted like a noise gate somehow it was weird.

Option 3 is getting a Fuzz War, and maybe a HM-2/clone (love my Throat Locust) or comparable distortion to get those ultimate scooped toans. Someone might have a better suggestion than an HM-2 circuit, but thats what I have in my arsenal that can get close.

MechaGodzilla wrote:Just mark two different volume settings with tape or stickers or something. If you're bending down to switch modes, you can take a sec to tweak the volume. Or get a second apocalypse/fuzz war.

This also would be v affordable.

Both posts are valid^

I tried to take a look, but it seems this is the one DBA dirt box there isn't a good schematic for...and conflicting ones for the Fuzz War. Will do some more digging.
Does anyone know if it's actually 5 different circuits, or just some extreme filter and bias tweaking a la Roland Double Beat?

edit: found some stuff...still checking

Jero wrote:Both posts are valid^

I tried to take a look, but it seems this is the one DBA dirt box there isn't a good schematic for...and conflicting ones for the Fuzz War. Will do some more digging.
Does anyone know if it's actually 5 different circuits, or just some extreme filter and bias tweaking a la Roland Double Beat?

edit: found some stuff...still checking

Curious about this because modes 4 and 5 are reminiscent of a Devi hyperion and soda mesier in chaos mode.

I'm just speculating here, as I've not taken a peek under the hood of the effect. It's probably a single circuit that is "reconfigured" through the switch placement; stuff like adding to, removing or bypassing resistors/etc. Five independent circuits that are chosen one at a time is overly burdensome from the bean counters perspective (but it would be a walk in the park to trim the output levels to unity so you don't experience these level shifts).

Employing a level compensating circuit on the output would also double the switch (which can get very expensive, depending on the current switch) and add some complexity.

If it is a reconfigurable utility circuit, that may also explain why finding someone's trace is more difficult, as there will be dead ends & superfluous parts to snare the mind's eye.

I have nothing to add except interest. This is a fuzz I’ve always been curious about/wanted, but I’ve avoided it because I’ve never been able to get enough volume out of DBA pedals to make them useable.

01010111 wrote:I have nothing to add except interest. This is a fuzz I’ve always been curious about/wanted, but I’ve avoided it because I’ve never been able to get enough volume out of DBA pedals to make them useable.

I thought they were renowned for being crazy loud

MechaGodzilla wrote:

01010111 wrote:I have nothing to add except interest. This is a fuzz I’ve always been curious about/wanted, but I’ve avoided it because I’ve never been able to get enough volume out of DBA pedals to make them useable.

I thought they were renowned for being crazy loud

I did too. But after owning a Super Sonic Fuzz Gun and one of their dual filters, and experiencing the same weird volume issue, I opted to avoid DBA stuff. Max volume on both of those were roughly unity volume in my setup

Ghost Hip wrote:

Jero wrote:Both posts are valid^

I tried to take a look, but it seems this is the one DBA dirt box there isn't a good schematic for...and conflicting ones for the Fuzz War. Will do some more digging.
Does anyone know if it's actually 5 different circuits, or just some extreme filter and bias tweaking a la Roland Double Beat?

edit: found some stuff...still checking

Curious about this because modes 4 and 5 are reminiscent of a Devi hyperion and soda mesier in chaos mode.

I'm still researching, but it seems it's at least 3-4 different circuits.

Pulled from DBA site...
Rotary Selector:
Twin-T Scoop: A circuit adding bass and treble simultaneously. Quieter volume than the rest.
War Fuzz: A very full and dynamic distortion with rich harmonics and sustain.
Dual J-FET: Similar to the War Fuzz setting but it uses dual J-FETs to get its sound.
Octave Rect: Sums the bottom and top halves of a waveform to create an octave up.
Gain x1000: The gain is cranked up super high on this post amp causing strange results.

The 1st setting appears to be a t filter in front of the 2nd setting Fuzz War (so same circuit there I bet), which makes sense to the OP's description.
(The FW is Jumbo Tone Bender/Big Muff based, for those who don't know)

3rd being "Dual Jfet" ...not sure if it's a parts swap, or different circuit entirely. Bias would need to change, in my mind, if it's a parts swap, but given it's DBA...it could be pretty unconventional in that regard.

While the 4th would appear to be the Octave Clang (which has a different setup than Hyp/Soda). It's an basic full wave rectifier using a small transformer+ge diodes (think octavia/brassmaster/etc), with an op-amp driver. Looks like the "Simple Octave Up" diy circuit, or a Jawari with opamp instead of transistor.

5th- Gain x1000 - IDK yet

...all this research and watching of clips is making me want to try one of these

EDIT: In regards to the Octave Clang
http://www.ilovefuzz.com/viewtopic.php? ... 7&start=15 that's pretty damn funny/ironic

Jero wrote: EDIT: In regards to the Octave Clang
http://www.ilovefuzz.com/viewtopic.php? ... 7&start=15 that's pretty damn funny/ironic

yo remember when I was 18 and made forum signatures for everybody?

01010111 wrote:

MechaGodzilla wrote:

01010111 wrote:I have nothing to add except interest. This is a fuzz I’ve always been curious about/wanted, but I’ve avoided it because I’ve never been able to get enough volume out of DBA pedals to make them useable.

I thought they were renowned for being crazy loud

I did too. But after owning a Super Sonic Fuzz Gun and one of their dual filters, and experiencing the same weird volume issue, I opted to avoid DBA stuff. Max volume on both of those were roughly unity volume in my setup

Modes 2-5 on the Apocalypse are loud as fuck. 3 especially which was my favorite mode. No apologies from that mode just loud and distorted to hell.

^ YES! and mode three sounds great to me too, but the burgs demo I watched he basically skips right past it

TheOndrakGuy wrote:I've been enamoured by the DBA Apocalypse for a while. The filter is great, and having 5 different fuzz circuits is fantastic. However, the variation in volume between circuits has been increasingly bugging me to the point where I'm starting to wonder about alternative pedals.

I've realised I only really use the first two circuits (the scooped-mids (for Deftones-y goodness) and fuzz war). Are there any pedals that can hit the same sort of tones? If not, are there any solutions to the wild volume jumps between circuits in the Apocalypse?

Build/have someone build one of these, with a twin filter that is buffered/boosted in account for the volume drop...https://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/Raw_Fuzz_ ... 89179.aspx

crochambeau wrote:I'm just speculating here, as I've not taken a peek under the hood of the effect. It's probably a single circuit that is "reconfigured" through the switch placement; stuff like adding to, removing or bypassing resistors/etc. Five independent circuits that are chosen one at a time is overly burdensome from the bean counters perspective (but it would be a walk in the park to trim the output levels to unity so you don't experience these level shifts).
Employing a level compensating circuit on the output would also double the switch (which can get very expensive, depending on the current switch) and add some complexity.
If it is a reconfigurable utility circuit, that may also explain why finding someone's trace is more difficult, as there will be dead ends & superfluous parts to snare the mind's eye.

I was able to find a confirmed schematic. Looks like most of the modern Fuzz War layout, with them adding an additional circuit at the output.
Essentially stacking 1 base circuit (jumbo tone bender type) into a t notch filter w/transistor (1), normal Muff output stage (2), dual op-amp stage (ROG Mockman?) (3), Octave Clang (4), and finally a single opamp gain boost stage (5). All of this comes in before the tone control.

So basically, your best bang for your buck DBA pedal. Phew!

Jero wrote:So basically, your best bang for your buck DBA pedal. Phew!

the fact that it generally goes for less than a fuzz war secondhand is a hilarious mystery that people should definitely take advantage of. yeah, it doesn't look quite as good on stage as a fuzz war but it's so much more useful