Zvex - Fuzz Factory

Jarno · Post by **Jarno** » 24 Jun 2009, 12:17

I did a woolly prehistoric elefant, with Ge NPN's and all I changed was the polarity of the power supply and the electrolytic caps, works fine.

trad3mark · Post by **trad3mark** » 24 Jun 2009, 12:20

I get the bit about the electrolytes, but what about the battery? Will the +ve still go into the same place on the board?

trad3mark · Post by **trad3mark** » 24 Jun 2009, 13:07

http://fuzzcentral.ssguitar.com/fuzzface.php

looks basically identical to what i have...

Rawree · Post by **Rawree** » 12 Jul 2009, 17:55

Hi there. Just finished building one of these and everything seems great but I do have one problem which I can't seem to pin down. Basically when the pedal is bypassed you can still hear the pedal oscillating: it's much quieter than when the pedal is active but it's loud enough to be a problem. The volume control on the FF affects the volume of this oscilation and the other four pots all alter the pitch just as when the pedal is engaged. It's worth mentioning as well that the signal is clean apart from the oscilation, there's no fuzz when the pedal is bypassed. Like I say everything else about it seems to work fine so this is really bugging me.

The DPDT switch is wired based on this diagram

The jacks are wired based on the FAQ guide (here and the layout is the stripboard one posted here with the on board pots. I'm new to this electronics lark so any help would be really appreciated. If you need any more info or pics or anything let me know.

Cheers.

Scruffie · Post by **Scruffie** » 12 Jul 2009, 18:06

You need to input ground the pedal to help solve that http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/dia ... ut_grd.gif

Rawree · Post by **Rawree** » 12 Jul 2009, 19:32

That's brilliant, problem solved. Thanks a million dude!

teej212 · Post by **teej212** » 21 Jul 2009, 16:06

if anyone wants the pcb that was on the french site that went down, i have the file

M_ark · Post by **M_ark** » 23 Jul 2009, 17:54

Hello everyone! Firstly I just want to say that I think it's great that you're all so helpful! Secondly, I need help (See what I did ther??), I built this today with BC558 transistors and everything seems to be working perfectly, except that when I turn the stab knob a small bit down from full it immedietly loses a large amount of the sound, I am using 4k7 pots instead of 5k. Also It's using a DPDT switch with no LED. Hopefully you can give me a hand!

Scruffie · Post by **Scruffie** » 23 Jul 2009, 22:31

M_ark wrote: Secondly, I need help (See what I did ther??)

My brain is so confused

Well I don't think the BC558 transistors or 4k7 pot is gunna have done that, unless did you accidently use Log Pots rather than linear? And have you checked the solder joints?

M_ark · Post by **M_ark** » 24 Jul 2009, 01:14

Well B does mean linear in terms of pots yes? Yeah they're all linear. Em, should I be looking for anything specific solderwise? I had a check and I think they're alright but this is my first build so my opinion mightn't be worth much on the subject. Actually I'll take a pic now that I think of it.

The red is going to the DC jack, the green to the board and the yellow to drive, also tell me if this picture doesn't help, I can take another. Thanks!

Jebe- · Post by **Jebe-** » 25 Jul 2009, 16:42

Damn... I finished my FF yesterday, but I didn't get any sound out of it.

Today I've triple-checked everything and to me it seems that I soldered everything correctly.
I used 3PDT switch and soldered the switch using Tonepad's offboard wiring instructions
(http://tonepad.com/getFile.asp?id=76 - instruction 5 on the document).
When the pedal is bypassed I get normal sound, but when I switch the pedal on the LED lights up, but no sound

When I turn the volume of the amp up I can use the volume knob on the pedal to turn the hissing off.
The hissing is VERY silent and can be only heard when the amp is cranked up.

I tried with new transistors, but that didn't do anything. Any hints where to start looking for errors?

Scruffie · Post by **Scruffie** » 25 Jul 2009, 16:44

M_ark wrote:Well B does mean linear in terms of pots yes? Yeah they're all linear. Em, should I be looking for anything specific solderwise? I had a check and I think they're alright but this is my first build so my opinion mightn't be worth much on the subject. Actually I'll take a pic now that I think of it.

The red is going to the DC jack, the green to the board and the yellow to drive, also tell me if this picture doesn't help, I can take another. Thanks!

Hmm looks ok, try resoldering everything and see if that helps and double check you wired everything to the right places and theres no solder bridges etc., clears up my builds sometimes if they have an issue, this also applies to...

Jebe- wrote:Damn... I finished my FF yesterday, but I didn't get any sound out of it.

Today I've triple-checked everything and to me it seems that I soldered everything correctly.
I used 3PDT switch and soldered the switch using Tonepad's offboard wiring instructions
(http://tonepad.com/getFile.asp?id=76 - instruction 5 on the document).
When the pedal is bypassed I get normal sound, but when I switch the pedal on the LED lights up, but no sound
When I turn the volume of the amp up I can use the volume knob on the pedal to turn the hissing off.
The hissing is VERY silent and can be only heard when the amp is cranked up.

I tried with new transistors, but that didn't do anything. Any hints where to start looking for errors?

Try checking here aswell https://www.diystompboxes.com/wiki/inde ... =Debugging

teej212 · Post by **teej212** » 27 Jul 2009, 03:21

i opened up a fuzz factory today and found that it is an MPSA18 used in the boost section of the ff, not a 2n3904. probably wont make much difference though, but, if you want a closer replication of it...there ya go

Jebe- · Post by **Jebe-** » 29 Jul 2009, 08:20

Ok... I cleaned the stripboard gaps more with a sharp scalpel and now I can get some sound out of the FF. But the sound comes out strangely. When I turn guitar volume down, I hardly get anything out from the pedal. With full volume I gotta play quite loud to get stuff out from it.

So I made an audio probe and checked my FF last night with it.
Starting from input the sounds comes out nicely until I get to R1, because I can't hear anything after it with the probe. So I could have fried the resistor when I soldered everything in place or should I even hear anything between the R1 and the volume pot?

celadine · Post by **celadine** » 29 Jul 2009, 18:53

A little tip - its not a good idea to solder the holes in pots. They are closer to the pot innards, so soldering in the holes makes it easier to damage the pots from the soldering heat. For pots with pcb connection lugs, you could bend them before connecting wire and soldering.

This picture shows the concept:

Cowboy · Post by **Cowboy** » 11 Aug 2009, 18:47

Hi guys, i've just started a fuzz factory build and the schematic i'm following says to use polarized caps but what would the effect of using non-polarized caps have?

I have some poly film ones could they be substitued? I had a look through the capacitor board but nothing seemed to answer this specific querry.

Thanks.

ckyvick · Post by **ckyvick** » 11 Aug 2009, 23:52

wont poly film caps generally be too small in value? do you mean non polarized electrolytic caps?

Cowboy · Post by **Cowboy** » 12 Aug 2009, 07:42

They're Panasonic ECQ-B of the correct value. Thanks.

mttpkr · Post by **mttpkr** » 13 Aug 2009, 09:33

Hey guys Im new to this so this may be a bit of a nooby question. On the layout that everyone says "yes this is the right layout ect. ect. ect." if the pots are orientated 321 (with the twisty bit pointing downwards) wouldnt that mean that when you put it in a box they would be in the wrong order, with stab on the left of the box and volume on the right? Ive got the circuit made and working, im just trying to figure out how to the pots correctly. Any help please?

Greg · Post by **Greg** » 13 Aug 2009, 09:54

mttpkr wrote:Hey guys Im new to this so this may be a bit of a nooby question. On the layout that everyone says "yes this is the right layout ect. ect. ect." if the pots are orientated 321 (with the twisty bit pointing downwards) wouldnt that mean that when you put it in a box they would be in the wrong order, with stab on the left of the box and volume on the right? Ive got the circuit made and working, im just trying to figure out how to the pots correctly. Any help please?

I think you're confusing the numbering of the lugs on the pots with the actual pots themselves.
You should put the pots where you think is best.

Zvex - Fuzz Factory [traced]