BAJA Brighton Fuzz - (an updated silicon fuzz face variant)

DWBH · Post by **DWBH** » 25 Nov 2010, 19:28

Has anyone tried to mod this circuit to another variant of the fuzz face? Will it work as intended?

The reason I'm asking is because I've always had problems with a fuzzface variant (the DAM Meathead) in the way that if I stick a buffered pedal AFTER the fuzz, I loose all it's low end goodiness, and it becames VERY VERY harsh and fizzy. I always have my fuzzes first in the chain, so I don't have a need for an input buffer - however, it seems wise to have an output buffer that matches the output impedance of the fuzz, so it's usable with buffered pedals down the chain.

http://analogguru.an.ohost.de/001/schem ... athead.gif

mictester · Post by **mictester** » 25 Nov 2010, 23:10

DWBH wrote:Has anyone tried to mod this circuit to another variant of the fuzz face? Will it work as intended?

The reason I'm asking is because I've always had problems with a fuzzface variant (the DAM Meathead) in the way that if I stick a buffered pedal AFTER the fuzz, I loose all it's low end goodiness, and it becames VERY VERY harsh and fizzy. I always have my fuzzes first in the chain, so I don't have a need for an input buffer - however, it seems wise to have an output buffer that matches the output impedance of the fuzz, so it's usable with buffered pedals down the chain.

http://analogguru.an.ohost.de/001/schem ... athead.gif

Why don't you increase the 22n from the output of the circuit to the top of the volume control - try 1µF - and reduce the value of the output pot to (say) 10k? This will substantially reduce the output impedance of the circuit so that it will "play nice" with subsequent effects, and will cost almost nothing.

Your other, more expensive and complicated option is to keep the circuit as it is, but feed the wiper of the output pot through a capacitor to the gate of an FET. The FET can then be configured as a simple buffer, which can give a nice, low output impedance.

DWBH · Post by **DWBH** » 25 Nov 2010, 23:44

humm... I have tried to reduce the pot to 100k but with no avail. I will try that, yes. Thanks
Regarding the fet buffer, would one have to configure it to have a 500k input impedance?

mictester · Post by **mictester** » 25 Nov 2010, 23:47

DWBH wrote:humm... I have tried to reduce the pot to 100k but with no avail. I will try that, yes. Thanks
Regarding the fet buffer, would one have to configure it to have a 500k input impedance?

You'd want higher than 500k - remember a lower impedance source will happily drive a higher impedance load.

DWBH · Post by **DWBH** » 26 Nov 2010, 00:05

but the fuzz itself has a high impedance output (500kish?) right? don't I have to tune the output buffer to have an INPUT impedance of 500k and a low impedance output?

mictester · Post by **mictester** » 20 Sep 2015, 01:43

I tried this out some years ago, and found that I'd made a couple of small changes. I found one again today while having a clear-out, and decided to try it out. It's a great little fuzz pedal. The Fuzz pot was changed to become a 1k pseudo-anti-log taper - it gives a better range across the control and doesn't have all the effect bunched at one end. I used a 1k resistor, but 1k5 or 1k8 might give a slightly bigger range of control. The buffering is useful - unity gain, but it can drive long cables and plays nicely with other stacked effects even when bypassed. I added a pair of status LEDs - red and green - which look pretty!

: Buffered!

I built three of these - two on Vero and one on an etched board. Results were identical.