Are there any potential issues with this design?

sporadicmotion · Post by **sporadicmotion** » 22 Feb 2011, 03:21

I modified a Maestro FZ-1B to have more muff like gain stages but I'm wondering if there are any foreseeable issues? This is my first design, I've already test built it and it seemed fine (and sounded very fun) but I don't know a lot about electronics. I wired it up with a 3PDT and an LED. Here's what I came up with, please criticize.

EDIT: Pots are 100k log

Mugshot · Post by **Mugshot** » 22 Feb 2011, 07:44

hmmm, looks good, but im kinda confused why you'd need 2 volume(?) controls. maybe you could put another resistor (10K perhaps) on lug 1 of the pot before the 47K and feedback switch.

how does it sound on breadboard?

sporadicmotion · Post by **sporadicmotion** » 22 Feb 2011, 08:44

The first pot is a blend pot to give you a mixed fuzz/clean sound. The switch disables it.

It sounds pretty decent. Smooth and medium gain.

I'll post a clip tomorrow. I'm a newb and I'm worried about my diy pedals damaging other pedals due to a dumb oversight on my part. Am I just being paranoid?

MicMicMan · Post by **MicMicMan** » 22 Feb 2011, 13:49

yes you are
unless you use unusual power sources, there aren't much risks

DrNomis · Post by **DrNomis** » 22 Feb 2011, 14:05

I can't see any real way that you could damage any of your pedals, unless you fed an unusually large signal into them, or maybe used too high a voltage to power them...

By the way, your design looks fine to me.....

Hides-His-Eyes · Post by **Hides-His-Eyes** » 22 Feb 2011, 14:36

I'd use a non-polarized for the 100n cap if I were you.

roseblood11 · Post by **roseblood11** » 22 Feb 2011, 14:59

He just used the wrong symbol:

All Caps are Ceramic

sporadicmotion · Post by **sporadicmotion** » 22 Feb 2011, 19:39

Good, so I'm just being paranoid. Here's what it sounds like. I've removed the blend to try a fuzz control instead. Not sure which I prefer.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2011/2/22/3084972/fuzz.mp3

sporadicmotion · Post by **sporadicmotion** » 22 Feb 2011, 22:01

Oh yeah, this was recorded through a P90 Neck pickup into the fuzz -> Vox AC4TV and recorded with an SM57 into my interface. The fuzz is dimed and the volume is in full until the last 1/3 of the clip when I dialed the volume back to 2 o'clock.

DrNomis · Post by **DrNomis** » 23 Feb 2011, 10:00

That's actually a pretty cool sounding fuzztone, I like the smoothness of it.....

RnFR · Post by **RnFR** » 23 Feb 2011, 23:04

not bad! but there is a down side- now yer hooked! expect to spend hours fiddling over a breadboard playing the same 3 chords, over and, over and, over and, over...

Chugs · Post by **Chugs** » 23 Feb 2011, 23:29

RnFR wrote:not bad! but there is a down side- now yer hooked! expect to spend hours fiddling over a breadboard playing the same 3 chords, over and, over and, over and, over...

This is so true. My girlfriend thinks I only know one riff!

Mugshot · Post by **Mugshot** » 24 Feb 2011, 02:22

RnFR wrote:not bad! but there is a down side- now yer hooked! expect to spend hours fiddling over a breadboard playing the same 3 chords, over and, over and, over and, over...

so true, man, so true

dukk · Post by **dukk** » 24 Feb 2011, 13:11

DrNomis wrote:I can't see any real way that you could damage any of your pedals, unless you fed an unusually large signal into them, or maybe used too high a voltage to power them...

By the way, your design looks fine to me.....

I knew some geezers playing with a fuzz pedal, wondered if it would sound better (louder? I dunno) connected between the amp and the speaker.

it didn't.

I only know 3 chords, and only after looking in the book.

now the hard part of prototyping, coming up with a name.

dukk · Post by **dukk** » 24 Feb 2011, 13:19

.... and I fergot to ask, what does "dimed" mean?

Hides-His-Eyes · Post by **Hides-His-Eyes** » 24 Feb 2011, 13:27

dukk wrote:.... and I fergot to ask, what does "dimed" mean?

In the united states a "10 cent piece" is called a Dime, so 'dimed' means at 10.

Generally when one talks about a 'dimed' amp you either mean the volume and gain both at max or every control at max (including the tone control)

Seiche · Post by **Seiche** » 24 Feb 2011, 16:12

before i looked up "dimed" i always though that's how you spell "dimmed", which is of course the opposite. So i was always wondering why anyone would talk about speakers working hard when the amp is dimmed. lol one of the reasons i finally looked it up.

DrNomis · Post by **DrNomis** » 24 Feb 2011, 16:27

It's like referring to an electric guitar as an "axe", even though it doesn't literally chop wood....

Seiche · Post by **Seiche** » 24 Feb 2011, 16:47

most of the time I nickel my amp, because otherwise it's too loud, even with the 5W champ.

sporadicmotion · Post by **sporadicmotion** » 24 Feb 2011, 17:52

Yeah, I'm Canadian.

If amps really did go to 11 then our terminology would be shot.

Thanks for looking this over. I'm really quite fond of it. I built one into a hammond enclosure and it now has a home on my pedal board (beside the FY-2 clone I just built). Here's a pic.

: Photo on 2011-02-24 at 09.04.jpg (19.45 KiB) Viewed 2018 times