Zvex - Fuzz Factory

Scruffie · Post by **Scruffie** » 27 May 2009, 15:18

Yea it really does work, glad your pleased with the results.

Yea of course it hisses lol, it's boiling metal touching cold water, thats why I said be careful of spitting solder (my arms have got a couple of scars from that to go along with the paint stripper scars from my guitar building days, man that stuff burns)

Hope that the clean lugs clear up your soldering issues and don't use the sponge to do the washing up... lead and food don't go to well together...

trad3mark · Post by **trad3mark** » 27 May 2009, 15:39

lol! it's lead free that i'm cleaning off anyway. i'm getting more mixed results now. each lug has a lot less solder on it, which is obviously good, but i cant seem to get ALL the solder off. some of them, when the solder cools, is still going that kinda sparkly-dull-grey which i assume is cold solder.

Scruffie · Post by **Scruffie** » 27 May 2009, 15:45

Yup thats cold solder, don't worry too much if theres a bit left, as long as it's generally cleaner and your not just adding more and more solder when you solder it should be fine, just to get the bulk of it off then the cold should mix with the fresh well enough to get a good shiny joint.

trad3mark · Post by **trad3mark** » 27 May 2009, 16:06

4 down... 1 to go. when i go to solder stuff again now, if the fresh solder is going to mix with the crap solder to make a new shiny joint, should i use more or less solder?

Scruffie · Post by **Scruffie** » 27 May 2009, 16:08

Well i'm assuming that theres not much crappy solder, just ignore it and use the same amount you normally would, you just want a nice clean little bump of shiny solder so the wire and pot lug are just coated nicely. I'l try and take a picture of a good joint later if you want.

Scruffie · Post by **Scruffie** » 27 May 2009, 16:11

If you want I assume you used the 16mm pots then they have that little hole going through them, just put the wire through that hole and solder it on the back side of the pot so you have a nice blob like you would on the connections of the veroboard, that can be a good idea sometimes and then if you want to make sure its really connected, connect it there and thenn run some extra length of wire and wrap it round the lug and solder it there too so you have 2 connections.

trad3mark · Post by **trad3mark** » 27 May 2009, 16:11

i'm gonna start soldering now, back soon...

right, well i've done the first pot. On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is totally dull, and 10 is perfectly shiny, the joints are about a 7, maybe a 7.5. So i'm optimistic.

vmazzone · Post by **vmazzone** » 27 May 2009, 16:25

vmazzone wrote:Greetings everyone..I am a semi-newbie in DIY effects..Ive got a green ringer (GGG), TS808, Phase 45 builds and some mods under my belt..and most recently im workin on this FUzz Factory..Its doin some great fuzz stuff(my first fuzz build) I am using pnps I pulled some old SB33s out of a stereo there GE Japanese trannie equivalent to an AC128..funny thing is when I put in the npn silicon ( ive tried 2n222,bc107, bc 337 etc) It doesnt function as well ..for example I lose the oscillation interaction with the guitars tone and volume knobs...without Q3 it sounds very cool to my ears and seems plenty loud. I thought the npn Q3 was for a boost but regardless of pinout or orientation I cant get it to work right with it in.
Anybody have similar experiences? BTW im using the factory de fuzz vero layout.
Thanks

Any comments on this issue?

Scruffie · Post by **Scruffie** » 27 May 2009, 16:33

Pff, hazard a guess that your transistors are very high gain, or very leaky making them high gain which is meaning that the extra boost from the 3rd transistor is saturating the output.

The pedal is very loud when it's working properly, stupidly loud infact, don't think you'd ever turn the volume past 10 o'clock.. but if yours sounds good how it is, keep it like that! I guess without the booster it's just a modified fuzz face... which is basically what the fuzz factory is anyway, you could try some silicon PNP's where you've used the Germaniums to confirm there the issue, try replacing them with 2 2N3906's or prefferably BC558B's if you want to you could put a switch in to switch between germanium and silicon transistors for Q1 & Q2 and/or to take Q3 out or in the circuit like this http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main. ... R.gif.html

But thats just my ideas i'm by no means the most knowledgeable person on this forum, perhaps someone with more experience could confirm or disprove my ideas?

vmazzone · Post by **vmazzone** » 27 May 2009, 17:34

Thanks Scruffie, That makes a lot of sense that they might be leaky. It sure does sound like what you described with the q3 added saturating the circuit. I dont have any bc558 but I have 2n2907s, bc327s, and bc9012s..I think the 2n2907s would be the lowest gain. I think I may have tried those already as well with the same results. I guess I like the sound ..its just everybody talks about the output being so loud..I dont have that issue without q3..anyways thanks a bunch for your input.
Vmazz

Scruffie · Post by **Scruffie** » 27 May 2009, 17:41

From the Datasheet the 2N2907 has an hFe of 100-300 so you could have some high gainish ones of those aswell.

Well to be honest, that sounds alot more useful really that it's quieter to me atleast, this pedal needs a bit of taming in my opinion however it's achieved so if it's working then I'd count that as a succesful build, could always build another one in future and try out some other transistor see if you prefer the sound although I doubt there will be that much difference.

Aslong as it's nothing like a misorientated cap and the circuit functions fine, box it up and enjoy the sweet fuzz tones...

Scruffie.

vmazzone · Post by **vmazzone** » 27 May 2009, 18:11

Testing them on my cheapo DMM my 2sb33 is 150ish and the 2n2907 is 170ish . Is that really high enough to push the output? Even if its leakage on the Ge does it matter? Just wondering ...Ill have to figure what to paint this thing soon.
Vmazz

Scruffie · Post by **Scruffie** » 27 May 2009, 18:25

Hmm, well the usual gain for a fuzz is 70-120 hFe per transistor, but I don't see that smaller margin saturating it.

No it doesn't matter, if it's not noisy, and it works no problem...

Ah the design process, can be the best bit or the most disappointing bit of any build, hope it goes well.

rousejeremy · Post by **rousejeremy** » 28 May 2009, 03:59

Hi guys. I'm new to this forum, but am blown away at the amount of stuff here.

I just built the Fuzz Factory with 2n404 transistor with hfe of 75 and 79 using the vero layout in this topic and it sounds fantastic. It does a great octave up on a certain setting, but you have to play lightly in order to hear it, or the fuzzier tone overpowers it. This means that there are two sounds happening at the same time? Is there a way to get the octave effect to be more pronounced in the fuzz factory?

Ozzie 88 · Post by **Ozzie 88** » 28 May 2009, 09:54

Well i've had slight progress! I got fuzz for about 5 minutes yesterday But there was a 'whining' constantly under everything i played, like the sound it makes when you change the stab but always there?? BUT then i touched the board to try some other trannies and then it stopped altogether! Can i actually blow up this board by touching it slightly? Now i just get a 'swooshing' sound when i turn the pots?

Scruffie · Post by **Scruffie** » 28 May 2009, 21:31

It is possible to blow transistors with static discharge by touching them yes, how easy this happens is debatable but it could have, it's especially easy to do to Germanium transistors, great care should always be taken with vintage devices.

The Whining could just be down to the circuit being unshielded because you hadn't cased it or if you used Germanium Transistors they may have been leaky which could also cause this, to reduce the chance of such things, Input grounding is a good idea as is on the General Guitar Gadgets Wiring section.

It's also possible you touched something and somehow accidently bridged to strips with a tiny bit of wire or something, check the copper side of the board for something like this.

It's also possible that something is wrong on the build (electrolytics with wrong polarity etc) and this was causing the whining and then it just happened to pack in when you touched it.

Scruffie · Post by **Scruffie** » 28 May 2009, 21:37

rousejeremy wrote:Hi guys. I'm new to this forum, but am blown away at the amount of stuff here.

I just built the Fuzz Factory with 2n404 transistor with hfe of 75 and 79 using the vero layout in this topic and it sounds fantastic. It does a great octave up on a certain setting, but you have to play lightly in order to hear it, or the fuzzier tone overpowers it. This means that there are two sounds happening at the same time? Is there a way to get the octave effect to be more pronounced in the fuzz factory?

The Fuzz factory does on some settings give an octave up sound to it, if you are just reffering to a straight octave up, rather than an octave up bend then you could try using a simple Octave add on circuit infront that are scattered around and usually only using 1 to 2 transistors, Pz did quite a nice little semi octave up add on circuit using 1 transistor on here and theres a vero I did floating about too.

As for octave up bend i'd probably use a different circuit to do it or you could try out some different gain transistors and see if you can get some better results (I hope you socketed them)

Octaves are notoriously hard to achieve clean & or pronounced though, fuzz will always try to overpower it in my knowledge but octave circuits are probably your best bet such as the Zvex Octane but anyway have fun and hope this helps some, perhaps someone with greater knowledge could indulge.

Paul Marossy · Post by **Paul Marossy** » 29 May 2009, 02:13

I built a Fuzz Factory clone about four years ago using that French website that appears to now be defunct. That's a fun little circuit to play around with, all sorts of great noises are available with a teak of the knob!

rousejeremy · Post by **rousejeremy** » 29 May 2009, 02:15

I tried transistors with different gains and actually got the octave to be much louder. This is one versatile little unit.

Scruffie · Post by **Scruffie** » 29 May 2009, 02:20

Whey, my advice was correct lol, even if you did it off your own back before reading what I said...

Well glad you got that more pronounced octave out of it, did you use lower or higher gain transistors to achieve it? which order they were in could also effect it I think...

But as you and paul say, it certainly is a versatile (read touchy & tempremental) unit, I still can't decide if I like my actual zvex one or my home brew one better...

Zvex - Fuzz Factory [traced]