FuzzHugger - Algal Bloom and Blend v2

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wecallthepolice
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Post by wecallthepolice »

So I have this unique little Algal Bloom v2 with a clean blend in a mini format I've never seen before. I liked the concept of the voice switch (which either leaves your signal unchanged or runs it through one of 2 capacitors for lo-pass) but thought the values of the two caps in question were both a little high and thought possibly they were affecting the cutoff of my clean signal as well so figured I'd see what was going on while I soldered in a couple of new caps. Turns out it likely does affect the clean signal as well although I'm not *entirely* sure how the thing works.

Here's what I've got. clockwise from the left you've got independent clean and fuzz level knobs, the voice switch, power, bloom, a choke switch (which increases gain and allows for stutter effects, etc), and gain
sample above got flipped 90 degrees when I uploaded it, click for proper orientation
sample above got flipped 90 degrees when I uploaded it, click for proper orientation
Here it is flipped and opened up. He crammed so much in such a tight space I wound up having to disassemble the entire pedal to get everything out.
Again the sample got flipped 90 degrees when uploaded but is properly oriented if you click. Top board is the original Algal Bloom v2, bottom board is the clean/blend circuit.
Again the sample got flipped 90 degrees when uploaded but is properly oriented if you click. Top board is the original Algal Bloom v2, bottom board is the clean/blend circuit.
After a couple drafts all done far too late in the evening I eventually tackled it during the day and came up with the following layout
IMG_1418.JPG
Which, after two drafts (again, first attempted well into the morning cuz I'm excitable and never learn), resulted in the following schematic
FullSizeRender(8).jpg
He's used 2% tolerance resistors which use a brown band to indicate tolerance, so a few resistor values are actually ambiguous but the ones on the schematic seemed to make the most sense... i.e. the 10k could be a 120 ohm and any given 1M could be a 140 ohm but... those seem dumb, except for the 120 which is a possibility because i'm not entirely sure what's happening in the JFET circuit. I guess the clean signal and the effected signal are put in parallel between the source of the J201 and the base of the first 2n5088. I believe the first 2n5088 provides some gain which allows both the level and the clean knob to provide some pretty significant boost at the output. not sure how the JFET affects their behavior, but I know generally two circuits in parallel should have the same voltage across them, so my guess is it provides some regulation allowing the level of both the clean and fuzzed out signals to be controlled independently. neat!

I cant breadboard this accurately at the moment, don't have a j201 (got a 2n4857 so I might try that) and dont have any 2n50XX whatsoever, so if somebody with the means wanted to do a breadboard test that'd be uhhh, swell.

I guess the choke switch bypasses both the 2.2uF cap into the second stage of the fuzz and the 1k connected to the emitter in the first stage, while the voice switch gives the option of putting one of two capacitors in parallel with the level knob, which is the fuzz level. given that this is in parallel with the clean circuit, you're also putting that capacitor in parallel with the clean level, hence the voice switch affects the cutoff of the entire output (minor inconvenience to most, pretty big bummer from an EQing perspective for me).

Pretty sure the protection diode in the fuzz power supply is a 1N4002 (002 is clearly visible and i think the preceding number is a 4) but 1n4001 works just fine

my guess is this layout would work with the doom bloom schematic directly replacing the original v2 schematic... or really whatever 9v pedal you'd like in there but that latter guess is suspect/serious conjecture
Last edited by wecallthepolice on 30 Nov 2016, 20:05, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by wecallthepolice »

Ayoooo just found an error... Don't think it's gonna be a pattern but we'll see. new schematic forthcoming. it's a learning process... :?

EDIT: nvm second guessing myself. but DO pay attention to the layout diagram if you try this out, specifically the area around the 2N5088s (bottom board, far left) just in case there are any errors there. THINK WE'RE GOOD THO

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Post by wecallthepolice »

NOT SURE IF ANYONE IS STILL LOOKING AT THIS but in the power supply where the 1N4002, LED, 100uF and 47nF meet, that should be hooked up to ground... lol. I'm going over this today or tomorrow i'll post any errors i probably didnt check this enuff

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