Giannini - FZ-110 Axcess Fuzz

All about modern commercial stompbox circuits from Electro Harmonix over MXR, Boss and Ibanez into the nineties.
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Alex Frias
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Post by Alex Frias »

Well... it's from a new line of guitar pedals this brazilian company is distributing for cheap.
I have one in my hands, so I tested it and after some playing with it I devided to open it to know its guts.
It's a Belcat fabricated one, as I saw in the PCB, FUZ-520. It looks like a OpAmp (uA741) with red LED's at the output for clipping. It has a J201 too. The footswitch is a miniature 3PDT. I didn't dislike its sound, but unlike my beloved fuzzes, it does not clean the guitars sound when I lower the volume pot on my guitar, as a good Ge Fuzz Face does with elegance.
Some shots:
IMG_0033.JPG
IMG_0054.JPG
IMG_0034.JPG
IMG_0048.JPG
IMG_0049.JPG
IMG_0052.JPG
I think if I could do some improvement on this thing, I like it anyway, very crude and the constructions is good.
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bool
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Post by bool »

Perhaps it would clean better if you solder a loading resistor across the input jack gnd and hot pads. (maybe use a 100k trim-pot to find the "good" value first..)
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Alex Frias
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Post by Alex Frias »

I will try to figure out the circuit complete architecture to have a better vision of how it deals with the signal flow, but thanks for the tip anyway!
Maybe I will test to replace the LED's with Ge diodes...
As it doesn't implement SMD build it's great for modding this thing!
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Post by analogguru »

Alex Frias wrote:Maybe I will test to replace the LED's with Ge diodes...
I would first figure out the circuit. Sadly on the pictures some parts are hidden, but it appears to me, that the LED´s are configured like in a tube-screamer in the feedback-loop.

analogguru
There´s a sucker born every minute - and too many of them end up in the bootweak pedal biz.
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Post by Dirk_Hendrik »

forget about this whole fuzz.

Where can I get those switches!?
Sorry. Plain out of planes.

http://www.dirk-hendrik.com
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andersom
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Post by andersom »

About the switches closest to you would Germany..
http://uk-electronic.de/onlineshop/prod ... 8d6fa40d9a

€ 4,80

Hope thats what you are looking for
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Alex Frias
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Post by Alex Frias »

Belcat may answer that!

AG, you're absolutely right!, the LED's are used in the feedback loop of the 741.
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Post by PmCimini »

andersom wrote:About the switches closest to you would Germany..
http://uk-electronic.de/onlineshop/prod ... 8d6fa40d9a

€ 4,80

Hope thats what you are looking for
Nope, those are 3P3Ts....

And btw quantos reais (how much is one of those pedals)??
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Alex Frias
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Post by Alex Frias »

Basically R$ 120,00.

I'm finishing the circuit drawing. It's a very plain LED clipper on the feedback of an OpAmp, very basic. The input cap is 22nF and it uses a hi frequency rolloff cap after it of 1nF. Maybe I will try to make the input cap higher and put the rolloff cap out... and maybe a Ge diodes pair in antiparallel at the output of the OpAmp. I think it will make it soundo more like a fuzzy fuzz than like a "plain distortion" box.
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Post by Guilherme »

At R$ 120 it may be cheaper than to import the switch and a hammond box...
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Alex Frias
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Post by Alex Frias »

OK, but it's not at Hammond box level, it's very thin and a bit longer, but very usable anyway.
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Post by king_arthur »

Hey, Alex! do we have do speak strictly english here?

i just got one of these fuzz, and i'm very happy with it.. but just like you, I would like it to clean up better. Did you mod yours successfully?
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Post by Ice-9 »

These are the switches

[url]http://uk-electronic.de/onlineshop/prod ... a40d9a[url]

Although the body is quite a bit smaller than the std blue 3PDT's the pin spacing is the same.
It's fairly straight forward, if you want to start it , press start. You can work out the rest of the controls for yourself !

No silicon heaven ? preposterous ! Where would all the calculators go ?
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Post by Ice-9 »

Couldn't edit my last post so hopefully this link will work

http://uk-electronic.de/onlineshop/prod ... 8d6fa40d9a
It's fairly straight forward, if you want to start it , press start. You can work out the rest of the controls for yourself !

No silicon heaven ? preposterous ! Where would all the calculators go ?
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Post by king_arthur »

I'm thinking of changing the caps. I think what gives the impression of "cleaning up nicely" is the brightness of the sound, given the right amount of gain so it doesn't clip too much. My question is: if i want the sound to be brighter, do I need an input cap higher or lower?

Alex, did you try to remove the output rollof cap? I might try that too.
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Post by atreidesheir »

I am pretty these are the same as Artec and Modtone pedals.
"Contemplate it - on the tree of woe." :Thulsa Doom
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Post by atreidesheir »

I did a quick fix for friend at a gig on a modtone pedal; loose connection at the dc jack. It had the same Belcat pcb.
"Contemplate it - on the tree of woe." :Thulsa Doom
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