Soul Sonic - TWMNBN Freakout Noise Fuzz

soulsonic · Post by **soulsonic** » 19 Jan 2009, 03:03

Here's my latest triumph; the TWMNBN (That Which Must Not Be Named!) Noise Fuzz.
members/soulsonic/schematic/TWMNBNFuzz.GIF

It's my attempt at the ubiquitous "bunches of boosters" noise fuzz thing... but I'm not content with a crappy sputtery junk sound, so this circuit has some cool little tricks which give it a pretty nice fat fuzz tone... kinda Tone Bender-ish... It has some raggedy edges, but overall it's surprisingly tight sounding. The diodes are a big part of the magic, and I'm glad I finally found something to put my BAT41s in!
The Freakout is a fairly standard positive feedback loop to get it oscillating, but it's tuned for a good range of noises, and the addition of the Touch Me! terminals brings a new dimension of fun to it... you tend to see things like that in some circuit bent stuff. There is a great interaction between Freakout!, the guitar's volume knob, and Touch Me!. By playing with those three variables, it becomes quite an expressive noise instrument - I was able to get alot of good glitchy radio elf sounds out of it fairly easily.
It's very loud, too.

There's no control for the amount of fuzz, but it cleans up very well with the guitar's volume control if you feel the need to tame it down.

Give it a whirl!
Layout to follow soon.

Cheers!

IggY · Post by **IggY** » 19 Jan 2009, 07:19

here: http://deviever.com/forum/viewtopic.php ... 7fa8f36e2c
you can learn how to get rid of the noise or how the noise is created without the use of extra components
and here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schottky_diode is the key to how to spell those diodes.

WhiteKeyHole · Post by **WhiteKeyHole** » 19 Jan 2009, 07:31

Damn, IggY. Damn.

IggY · Post by **IggY** » 19 Jan 2009, 07:43

WhiteKeyHole wrote:Damn, IggY. Damn.

you`re expecting a smiley with every post?

gus · Post by **gus** » 19 Jan 2009, 16:07

Have you tried different transistors with different hfes and at different stage temperatures and checked the collector voltages?

The touch me contacts are cool. I do wonder about static charge from a human on a dry day.

soulsonic · Post by **soulsonic** » 19 Jan 2009, 21:50

gus wrote:Have you tried different transistors with different hfes and at different stage temperatures and checked the collector voltages?

The touch me contacts are cool. I do wonder about static charge from a human on a dry day.

Haven't really tried different hfe yet... I will definitely experiment further with different transistor types because I'd like to know how immune the circuit is to component differences. It's really important to me to design things that are easily repeatable in a variety of circumstances.

Hadn't really thought about static... but the 100nF cap is there to at least prevent any DC shorts... do 2N5089 get hurt easily? I figured they're robust enough to take it.... and any additional noises caused by static are absolutely intentional - it's all part of the improv jam between you and the ether!

@IggY; wrapping the input and output wires of this effect together won't cause oscillation because the I/O terminals are not in phase with each other. See how the feedback loop connects to the Emitter of the first transistor...
And besides, the coupling capacitor values are specially chosen to make it oscillate the way I want.

Fuzzer · Post by **Fuzzer** » 20 Jan 2009, 01:19

Regarding the static discharge matter, ¿what about the diode protection used for OpAmps?, ¿will it work here?. I saw a Peavey Amp in which every Opamp has this protection; and I remember seeing it noted by analogguru in a thread about Marshall amplifiers.

soulsonic · Post by **soulsonic** » 20 Jan 2009, 01:46

I wouldn't do it. It'll surely change the sound and I don't want that. I think Gus was remarking more about what kind of noises that would introduce to the sound. BJ transistors like this aren't easily damaged by static.

Fuzzer wrote:Regarding the static discharge matter, ¿what about the diode protection used for OpAmps?, ¿will it work here?. I saw a Peavey Amp in which every Opamp has this protection; and I remember seeing it noted by analogguru in a thread about Marshall amplifiers.

soulsonic · Post by **soulsonic** » 20 Jan 2009, 02:25

There is also the fact that while using it, the player will most likely be grounded via the instrument's strings, so any static buildup will be dissipated.
I think the worst case scenario is an annoying *POP*, which may or may not be bad depending on your perspective.

I just finished etching up a board for this, so a layout is immanent...

soulsonic · Post by **soulsonic** » 22 Jan 2009, 06:52

I got a full working model built up... it's incredible - the sounds you can get with the Touch Me controls when it's in Freakout mode....
It's very sensitive to wiring when oscillating, but it seems to be fairly insensitive when used as a normal fuzz. You can "tune" the oscillation character by playing with the wires a bit.
I seriously jammed with the noises of this thing for about a half hour earlier... just kinda zoned out as my fingertips made new sounds happen at the slightest gesture.
Very bent!

earthtonesaudio · Post by **earthtonesaudio** » 22 Jan 2009, 14:03

Dr. Molly · Post by **Dr. Molly** » 22 Jan 2009, 15:25

Hi

Look's cool! Could the "touch me" terminals be attached to yr guitar by a cable for easy access or would the cable length mess some thing up?
/H

briggs · Post by **briggs** » 22 Jan 2009, 15:35

Dr. Molly wrote:Hi

Look's cool! Could the "touch me" terminals be attached to yr guitar by a cable for easy access or would the cable length mess some thing up?
/H

Just play it with your socks 'n shoes off, hippy style!

Dr. Molly · Post by **Dr. Molly** » 22 Jan 2009, 15:36

fuzzca · Post by **fuzzca** » 22 Jan 2009, 16:45

Any suggestions for suitable and less obscure diode subs for BAT41?

soulsonic · Post by **soulsonic** » 22 Jan 2009, 22:37

Dr. Molly wrote:Hi

Look's cool! Could the "touch me" terminals be attached to yr guitar by a cable for easy access or would the cable length mess some thing up?
/H

That would probably be way too unstable. Short wire lengths seem to be crucial to it working correctly.
But you could always mount the whole fuzz in the guitar! It's a simple circuit and can fit on a small board easily.

fuzzca wrote:Any suggestions for suitable and less obscure diode subs for BAT41?

They're 30 cents a piece from Mouser.
Any low drop diode would probably work. Probably any Schottky signal diode for sure.

ech0es · Post by **ech0es** » 23 Jan 2009, 20:01

any soundclips ? plzzz

I'm seeking for the ultimate fuzz to plug into my Diefet

adamthemute · Post by **adamthemute** » 13 Feb 2009, 10:16

I would love to hear this!

soulsonic · Post by **soulsonic** » 20 Feb 2009, 01:54

I've been recording with it alot lately, so I will hopefully have some clips soon. I got great results using it on drum machine the other day!

Post by **MarcoMike** » 03 Mar 2009, 20:07

Yes! please... samples.... I was really looking for a weird effect today, this may be it!!!

tomorrow I'm definetly going to the electronic shop and see if they have any bat41... but I'm not really confident... they don't even have BS170s or VTLs...