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EarthQuaker Devices - Hoof Fuzz

Posted: 06 Jul 2008, 09:51
by Bernardduur
Check; nice inside shot!

My guess? Big Muff with 2N130X transistors with LED's as diodes for the fuzz stages.

Edit: found another gut shot at Discofreq

Edit2: from their werbiste:
Hoof Fuzz
EarthQuaker Devices Hoof Fuzz can produce sounds all the way from gritty overdrive to a huge wall of doom! It is a germanium/ silicon hybrid big muff style fuzz (it's based on the old green Sovtek Big Muff but it's a pretty different dude now) with massive amounts of volume and sustain on tap. It has a tighter sound than most muff's which makes palm muting an option and open chords ring out clear. The altered tone control (as well as a few other keys changes) eliminate the problem of being lost in the mix and sends your guitar ragin' on it's way!

Re: Earth Quaker Devices Hoof Fuzz

Posted: 06 Jul 2008, 14:56
by MoreCowbell
2n1304's for Q2 and Q3 it looks like. 2n3904 for Q1 and Q4.

Re: EarthQuaker Devices - Hoof Fuzz

Posted: 30 Sep 2009, 16:46
by disorder
anyone have the values for this beast?

Re: EarthQuaker Devices - Hoof Fuzz

Posted: 30 Sep 2009, 18:05
by devastator
I made a Russian big muff with supposed specifications of this pedal. I tried it quickly , it seems to sound good but I haven't tried it more because I haven't box to put it into.

I believe it used LED in feedback loop, low gain transistor , and a Mids control (AMZ presence control).

Re: EarthQuaker Devices - Hoof Fuzz

Posted: 30 Sep 2009, 18:19
by disorder
I figured that's what the added fourth control was. Shouldn't be too hard to wire up to an existing Big muff board.

I know it uses LED's in the earlier stage and then silicon diodes as well. Not sure if he changed any of the resistor or cap values.

Re: EarthQuaker Devices - Hoof Fuzz

Posted: 30 Sep 2009, 18:25
by WhiteKeyHole
Poof.

Re: EarthQuaker Devices - Hoof Fuzz

Posted: 30 Sep 2009, 18:55
by Lawnchair
I had the 3 knobber here for a few months. Didn't quite stand up to a vintage Russian green. It lacked the huge low end when you crank the tone to the left. A bit scoopier too.
Just didn't seem worth tracing.

Re: EarthQuaker Devices - Hoof Fuzz

Posted: 08 Sep 2010, 03:43
by SGJarrod
Has anyone got any new info?..such as a layout for the 4 knob version...If somebody had a vero layout they would be my personal hero for the day :thumbsup

Re: EarthQuaker Devices - Hoof Fuzz

Posted: 25 Jan 2011, 10:28
by Valoosj
Does anybody have a picture of the trace side of the board? I wouldn't mind producing a schematic if I have the right pictures.

Re: EarthQuaker Devices - Hoof Fuzz

Posted: 13 Mar 2011, 19:54
by azrael
Are those high gain Germaniums? I thought you needed at least 300 hFe to make this circuit work well.

Re: EarthQuaker Devices - Hoof Fuzz

Posted: 14 Mar 2011, 11:58
by Hides-His-Eyes
azrael wrote:Are those high gain Germaniums? I thought you needed at least 300 hFe to make this circuit work well.
Depends on your idea of working well.

Re: EarthQuaker Devices - Hoof Fuzz

Posted: 14 Mar 2011, 21:05
by SpencerPedals
And yes, they are

Re: EarthQuaker Devices - Hoof Fuzz

Posted: 31 Oct 2011, 11:04
by Sadcadaver
A friend wants me to build him a Musikding Russian Muff kit, and I suggested we try swapping out the trannies and diodes to make it more like the hoof. However, those Germanium trannies are a bit expensive to just 'try'. Can anyone else suggest some cheaper alternatives? Doctor Tweek has some AC176's but they only have hfe between 50 and 180. Musikding has some AC141's. What are they like?

Re: EarthQuaker Devices - Hoof Fuzz

Posted: 31 Oct 2011, 14:45
by azrael
I used some silicons around 120 hFe, and just increased the B-C junction cap to around 800 pF. Seems like a very hoofy build to me.

Re: EarthQuaker Devices - Hoof Fuzz

Posted: 01 Nov 2011, 13:16
by Sadcadaver
I was planning on socketing the transistors and clipping diodes anyway, and I'm suspecting it's the diodes that make all the difference. I'd still like to try some high gain Germaniums though, but thanks for the input.

Re: EarthQuaker Devices - Hoof Fuzz

Posted: 01 Nov 2011, 20:59
by azrael
The diodes make the circuit, of course. That much is obvious. But the germaniums can be seen as having a treble roll off than silicon, so I wanted to use the Miller effect to my advantage and increased that treble roll off cap to make then sound more like germanium.

The transistors themselves are not doing any clipping, so making them germanium seemed useless.

I use some red LEDs, for clipping.

Re: EarthQuaker Devices - Hoof Fuzz

Posted: 02 Nov 2011, 00:49
by TheLemon
On the Hoof use from 100R to 51R on the germaniums emmiter resistors for best results and LEDs with a voltage knee of 1.8V for the smoothnes in their
clipping section

Re: EarthQuaker Devices - Hoof Fuzz

Posted: 02 Nov 2011, 01:00
by azrael
oh yeah, i used 100 ohm emitter resistors as that's what i could see in the gutshots posted. :)

Re: EarthQuaker Devices - Hoof Fuzz

Posted: 04 Nov 2011, 00:50
by TheLemon
What I like to do in big Muff circuits is use 15k (instead of 8k2) into the second stage, then 1K (instead of 8K2) into the third stage.

Re: EarthQuaker Devices - Hoof Fuzz

Posted: 01 Jan 2012, 16:57
by JVanDe7
Can anyone suggest any particular mods to help make a straight-up green russian muff clone sound more like a Hoof?

It looks like 4 diodes need to be LED's instead, right? And 2 transistors need to become Ge? Any ideas on how that 4th pot ( "Shift" ) is wired in?

Any other ideas/suggestions? I built the green muff from GGG and didn't modify the design at all. But now I wish it was a Hoof. :( :mrgreen:

Schematic http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/pdf ... a841b3e85a