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This is an old thread, but I've come back to it several times, and think this is relevant to the topic. I used a Bosstone, muff, and some pitch shifting to get this sound.


This is the closest I've been able to get, with one single guitar. It's in D standard, so I didn't practice it to the actual song and just played it from memory, but was trying to get as close as possible to the sound with one single guitar track. (I'm positive the solos on the album were mostly multitracked and perhaps even comped!)
https://soundcloud.com/christiannoir/smashing-pumpkins-cherub-rock-solo-cover-in-d-standard

Ever since I read that the Smashing Pumpkin's Siamese Dream album owed a lot of it's fuzz tones to an MSA pedal steel guitar fuzz unit, I've been trying to find out what that fuzz circuit was. I finally settled on the fact that it must be a version of the Jordan Bosstone, specifically the Sho-Sound Nashville version. But I know the EHX Microsynth was also used heavily on the album as well, most likely in combination with the MSA unit to get those really heavy, gated fuzz riffs (sorry Big Muff).

One of the fuzz pedals I breadboarded a while back was an ESR Graphic Fuzz. I didn't have a 741 available for the circuit, so I used a curious IC from a Cadillac 8-track player labeled "DM90", made by AC Delco. Since it was an 8-pin metal can IC, I figured it could be an old 741, so I tried it out.
It worked!
Kind of. The only way to get it to really work well was to put a 10k pot between pins 1 and 5 with the wiper to ground. I thought I was adjusting the offset null, but I was getting this heavily gated fuzz sound, nothing like a 741. It made it sound more like the fuzz tones from a Microsynth. Well, the Microsynth is full of OTAs, so I figured that must account for that unique gated fuzz sound. I ordered a CA3080 and put it in the ESR Graphic Fuzz circuit. This time I set up a 10k pot just on pin 5 to V+ for the gate bias. It worked almost exactly like that old "DM90" IC from the 8-track, so that must have been an old metal can OTA (unfortunately that original metal can IC from the 8-track is dead. If you ever see one for sale anywhere, BUY IT! You can make some incredible fuzz tones with it).

Now back to the Bosstone circuit. I breadboarded that up and got it sounding the way I wanted, then also breadboarded the modified ESR graphic fuzz circuit with an OTA chip in it and ran the two in series.

And there was that fuzz tone! It took a little bit of tweaking on the amplifier bias control, and the filter control, but at full tilt this thing produces a sound that I've only really heard on songs like Cherub Rock. Especially for solos, it changes the way the guitar "feels". I'm worried to disassemble the components to try to put it on a pcb, but I'm going to make sure to document all the connections. I'll have to hand-draw the etch because there are some mods, and I have yet to see an accurate ESR graphic fuzz pcb layout (if there is one I'd like a link ).

Here's a picture of the breadboard mess (I am the world's worst breadboarder). I can't believe it makes any sound at all. I'll try to get a soundclip up as well, while it's working :



I've since decided to call this project the "Triclops Fuzz" in recognition of Triclops Sound Studios in Atlanta, where Siamese Dream was recorded.