RNFR - Green Bomb Fuzz

RnFR · Post by **RnFR** » 17 Feb 2010, 01:23

here's something i was working on the other night. it's a revved up mosrite fuzzrite based off of gus's gusrite circuit. i basically juiced up the gain even more, did some stabilization and frequency response adjustments and added a nfb based tone control to add even more weird phase shaping possibilities than what was had in the original. it's basically like a fuzzrite on steroids. i'd suggest a mid gain transistor for Q1 and a high gain for Q2. different transistors do different things, so it's worth trying out some different ones. oh, and it can totally do that spirit in the sky thing perfect! when you turn the gain all the way up you get that ratty almost misbiased thing that ol' normy greenbaum had going on in his onboard fuzz. back the gain off and rattyness goes away. this thing is my new go to for crazy psych madness. if you want more of a honky sound, lower the transistor gain a bit. i'll probably try and do some more tweaks in the future, and i'll post them when i get a chance.

i've got a tagboard layout that i'll post when i get it verified, too.

salocin · Post by **salocin** » 17 Feb 2010, 01:29

Awesome. Can't wait to build this. Have been meaning to play around with a fuzzrite type design for a while.

Chugs · Post by **Chugs** » 18 Feb 2010, 02:57

Any juicy sound clips?

RnFR · Post by **RnFR** » 18 Feb 2010, 03:33

i might be able to make one. i just found this little m-audio thing that someone left at my work. if it works, and i can figure it out, i'll make some clips.

RnFR · Post by **RnFR** » 19 Feb 2010, 10:32

i built up this tagboard layout today. sounds great! you can get lots of different tones out of this thing with all of the gain and phase cancellation going on, but it always sounds like a FuzzRite!

sinner · Post by **sinner** » 19 Feb 2010, 11:15

SPeter · Post by **SPeter** » 19 Feb 2010, 21:04

Excellent!

THANKS RnFR !

devastator · Post by **devastator** » 26 Feb 2010, 17:10

Thanks !

Why you didn't keep the diffirent output cap in the second gain stage ,playing with tone and fuzz level in the same ? that wasn't the particularity of the pedal ?

Can you explain how work the "shape" control into the second stage ?

I'll breadboard that in the next days !

RnFR · Post by **RnFR** » 27 Feb 2010, 08:29

devastator wrote:Thanks !

Why you didn't keep the diffirent output cap in the second gain stage ,playing with tone and fuzz level in the same ? that wasn't the particularity of the pedal ?

i did! if you look, you'll see that each stage has a .1 input cap and .047 output cap. the big input/small output was something that was in the original that gus did away with in his ritefuzz design. i wanted to bring back some of this, but not as extreme as the original, so i settled on .047uF. i still plan on tweaking this guy a bit more, as i'm very happy with how it sounds. i got it built up, and found that with low output single coils it really shines, so i think i am going to add an internal trimmer to adjust the input impedance a bit for using different pickup types.

devastator wrote:
Can you explain how work the "shape" control into the second stage ?

okay, lets see if i get this right!

-

the fuzz control on the fuzzrite works by adding the output of the first stage, an out of phase signal, with the output of the second stage, in phase signal. this is what produces some of the thin, hollowed out, phase cancelled sounds that the fuzzrite is known for. the shape control takes the non-inverted output of the first stage, with the output of the second stage, which also gets mixed in with the output of the first stage with the fuzz control. the shape control has a low pass filter due to the .01 cap to ground, so when when it's negative feedback takes place, it only cancels out the lower frequencies and leaves the highs. with this control you are still able to get the brite, zippy sounds of the original fuzzrite, but are now also able to get the thicker sounds of gus's ritefuzz- all through the same negative feedback techniques similar to what was used in the original fuzzrite!

jeez- what a mouthful! if i'm off base here. or if anyone has anything to add, feel free. and for the record, i nicked the shape control from a presence control that was used in certain Hiwatt amps, but adjusted it for the two stages of the fuzzrite instead of the way it was used with a single stage in the Hiwatt.

i just sent this thing off to a hotshot player buddy of mine to give it a run through. i'm looking forward to hearing his feedback. no pun intended!

and, just for the record, i attached gus's ritefuzz for reference. if gus has a problem with this, i'll pull it.

RnFR · Post by **RnFR** » 27 Feb 2010, 13:25

cool! did you build it?

i've got a pcb layout that i made fore kicks the other day, too. if anybody wants it, just holler.

RnFR · Post by **RnFR** » 28 Feb 2010, 06:06

kick ass! i'll give this a listen when i get home from work tonight.

RnFR · Post by **RnFR** » 28 Feb 2010, 11:41

very cool! awesome that you got a bunch of sixties style riffs in there! thanks so much for making the clip! it sounds great.

i do just want to point out that there are lots more higher gain tones available. it sounds like you didn't get the gain turned up all the way during the clip. it can definitely get even zippier than that.

but please don't think i'm ungrateful! it's awesome that you made the clip! i feel very honored that you would even go out of your way to do it. one question- what guitar and pickups did you use? i'm thinking about adding a an internal trimmer at the input to adjust for different output pickups.

a thousand thank you's mr. dog!!!

and i dig the simulated verb. sounds groovy!

RnFR · Post by **RnFR** » 02 Mar 2010, 00:59

ah, ok- another reason for the lower gain tones.

devastator · Post by **devastator** » 04 Mar 2010, 00:13

thanks for your last post RnFR , actually I didn't see the different input cap of the second , so Yes that's the same as the fuzzbrite.

The shapes control looks really interesting !

RnFR · Post by **RnFR** » 04 Mar 2010, 00:29

no problem d!

i just wanted to say thanks to martin(soulsonic) for giving me the heads up on gus's fuzz, or else i would've never bothered with this thing in the first place.

oh, and for the record, my buddy is lovin this thing. he's going to buy it for sure, but i might add a trimmer on the input so he can adjust the amount of compression it gives for different types of pickups he uses.

RnFR · Post by **RnFR** » 04 Mar 2010, 02:41

hell yeah! this thing is a blast ain't it?? i've had so much fun playing my Airline Town and Country through this thing, i almost stained my jeans. this is what building pedals to me is all about.- finding THAT sound that makes you not want to put the guitar down.

and i agree about the log pot- i think i would have used one had i had one on hand.

RnFR · Post by **RnFR** » 13 Mar 2010, 22:25

new green bomb clips here!

http://www.myspace.com/pedalblog

as well as a little pic of my build. unfortunately, no guts tho-

thanks to my buddy Double A!

RnFR · Post by **RnFR** » 16 Mar 2010, 23:03

some pics- mojo and all.

seriously though, these green paper russian caps are nice, but i don't find them to be much different than most, if at all. i like their size for working on this type of board, but i don't think i'll be buying any more of them. although, i believe the teflon ones are another story.

irmcdermott · Post by **irmcdermott** » 17 Mar 2010, 20:41

I love the sound of this fuzz. Awesome job! RnFR, do you think this PCB I came up with would work? Can't wait to build this!

irmcdermott · Post by **irmcdermott** » 17 Mar 2010, 22:21

also, is it ok to just use a BC109, or does it have to be the BC109C? looking at the datasheet the difference is in the min/max hFE. the BC109 is 200/800 and the BC109C is 420/800.... i'm still new, so please forgive me if that's a dumb quiestion.