Astrotone Fuzz [schematic]

[theehman]

Well, guess what, my friend was going to sell it to whom you call 'the king of solder Jockeys', and as far as I know, finally he didn't. Instead he soldt it in some kind of vintage gear shop, got $350 for it. Blatant Rip-off.

Guess who's selling a clone of this one now... AstroTone fuzz

I've been selling them for years: http://www.ronsound.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_5&products_id=4&zenid=77310a53497816c64a9c75b32e5b7193

[DougH]

http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main.php/v/DougH/fuzz/AstroTone/

[jrod]

http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main.php/v/DougH/fuzz/AstroTone/

Nice sound clips, Doug!

[Fuzzer]

I jsut don't get it. It's not that great.

[dajm]

gut shot of the Analogman Astrotone over at the gearpage forum, shown below the Bi-Compressor in this post.

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showpo ... tcount=832

[analogguru]

Hey, thats rip-off what Analogman is doing here. This unit has nothing to do with an Astrotone clone.

The unit with the 1M2 at Q2 had a 3M3 resistor at the base of Q1 (instead of the 1M2 used). And the unit with equal values had 2 x 1M (instead of the 1M2 used). There was never used a 470n capacitor, neither in the Astrotone nor in the Sam Ash Fuzz Box. The capacitors were 47nF, and in the Astrotone were ceramic types:


Analogman knows this exactly, as you can see here:
http://www.analogman.com/graphics/astro ... rotone.htm

analogguru

[5thumbs]

Slightly off-topic from the circuit analysis going on in this thread, but did anyone else notice the letter upon which the AstroFuzz was lying on AnalogMan's page? Looks like Mike got to repair David Gilmour's AstroFuzz. (Lucky bastard. *jealous*)

Kind of reminds me of Dano (of Beavis Audio Research) getting to fix a delay unit originating from Frank Zappa's "Utility Muffin Research Kitchen".

Just an observation, that's all...as you were, gentlemen.

[Electric Warrior]

Hey, thats rip-off what Analogman is doing here. This unit has nothing to do with an Astrotone clone.

The unit with the 1M2 at Q2 had a 3M3 resistor at the base of Q1 (instead of the 1M2 used). And the unit with equal values had 2 x 1M (instead of the 1M2 used). There was never used a 470n capacitor, neither in the Astrotone nor in the Sam Ash Fuzz Box. The capacitors were 47nF, and in the Astrotone were ceramic types:

Analogman knows this exactly, as you can see here:
http://www.analogman.com/graphics/astro ... rotone.htm

analogguru

It's not supposed to be an exact clone: http://www.analogman.com/astrotone.htm

[analogguru]

It's not supposed to be an exact clone:

Oh, I see....

I always thought when there is "Mercedes" written on a car then it is a "Mercedes". And when there is written "Astrotone" on a pedal.... Maybe with "Astroclone" I wouldn´t have had this problem.

Sorry about my mistake.

So the Analogman "Astroclone" is a modded Astrotone (Sam Ash Fuzzz Boxx) with the following sacred component values:
input coupling cap: 470n
bias resistor Q1: 1M2 collector resistor: 22k
coupling cap: 47n
clipping diodes: silicon (or schottky)
coupling cap: 47n
bias divider: 1M2 - 470k emitter resistor: 1k8
output coupling cap: 470n
tone resistor: 470 Ohm (instead 1k8)

analogguru

[Electric Warrior]

here's an interesting one: http://dam.10.forumer.com/viewtopic.php ... highlight=
but I guess the wiring of the tone pot may be wrong in the schematic.

[lolbou]

I always thought when there is "Mercedes" written on a car then it is a "Mercedes".

My Dad always says "if the toilet lid reads Bénédictine, don't drink as it's not"...

Though I'm with you for the Astroclone name to have been better instead... At least he almost clearly mentions the origins and "mods" of his unit...

[jrod]

here's an interesting one: http://dam.10.forumer.com/viewtopic.php ... highlight=
but I guess the wiring of the tone pot may be wrong in the schematic.

I actually read last night on another forum that a couple of values on this schematic might be wrong. The 3M3 and the 820R from Q1 emitter are not on other schematics. Someone built this one and it had very little gain.

Edit: Found the link - http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/i ... ic=71289.0 (about halfway down page)

[Electric Warrior]

Leon mentioned that it has additional resistors, where some other units have wire jumpers (like the one AG posted earlier).

Edit: There may be more mistakes in that schematic, but we have no indications of any..

[DougH]

I jsut don't get it. It's not that great.

It's not really all that great. It's okay, that's it. The tone control really sucks, and I think a lot of diy-er's (me included) modify that to improve it. I thought it was sort of cool and enjoyed the challenge of using the PVC pipe but once I built it I rarely use it. But then I rarely use any gain pedals anymore.

I think the interest in it was due to it being another "uncovered rock" in the world of stompbox circuits at the time. Most of the good ones had already been uncovered, now this was one of the other ones that was left.

[Seiche]

sorry for digging this out. I was wondering if there is any schematic of the Analogman Version of this pedal. I know Analogguru already named the differences, but it's difficult for me from this thread to tell which schematic is wrong or incorrect and which isn't. Cheers.

[Seiche]

Would this be the correct schem? can anyone confirm?

[roseblood11]

no idea...

but which program do you use to draw those schematics?

[Seiche]

no idea...

but which program do you use to draw those schematics?

you should ask fuzzer (thread starter), i used ms paint

[Seiche]

If i wanted to build this, what would you guys recommend as the transistors? I imagine the ones from the 60s have fairly low gain around 100. Any advises?

would give it a shot soon.

[Solidhex]

2N2222's