Rage Face — Aion Flare

[Aleph Null]

Given that this is a direct descendant of the Fuzz Face circuit, and an iteration on a pedal that has a reputation for being user unfriendly, the name seemed appropriate.



Giant 10mm red bypass LED sits between the fuzz and volume knobs.

R7 was reduced form 150k to 100k to improve the range of the "soft" control, which I've labelled "gain". The name change means the "gain" knob works backwards, but that's hardly the most confusing part of this effect. C6 is 22nF instead of 18nF because that's the closest value I had on hand. This also increases the range of the control a bit, which helps to tame the more "velcro" settings.



Transistors are from Small Bear:

Q1: 2N3904
Q2: 2SB175 (gain 50–80)
Q3: RCA 2N652 (gain 110–150)

I tested 2N3906s in Q2 and Q3. I don't recommend them. The "fuzz" control started at "too much" and went up from there. The "soft" control was useless. The transistors I settled on are in the commonly accepted sweet spot for gain in Fuzz Faces and with them all the controls are more useful.



This was a fun build. I'd say the extra three knobs increase the versatility (and unwieldiness) of the circuit.

[mjg]

Lol, I love that graphic.   

Looks good on the inside too.

[Tremster]

[somnif]

I use 2n3906's in my Flare and rather like it. Granted I did go through a whole pile of transistors to find two examples that worked well together.

And yeah its a very different flavor of fuzz than germanium's would give in there. But I like it, ridiculous number of controls and all. I even ended up making a pickup-similuator so it would play nicer with my effects chain.

[aion]

I even ended up making a pickup-similuator so it would play nicer with my effects chain.

I'm planning on updating the Flare this fall to match the new 125B projects and was actually planning to include a pickup sim! Just what it needs, one more control...

Killer build, it looks awesome!

[Aleph Null]

I use 2n3906's in my Flare and rather like it. Granted I did go through a whole pile of transistors to find two examples that worked well together.

I probably could have gotten better results if I sorted through a few dozen 2N3906s, but I wasn't willing to. It was fun, but it was too much for me.

I'm planning on updating the Flare this fall to match the new 125B projects and was actually planning to include a pickup sim! Just what it needs, one more control...

Killer build, it looks awesome!

Thanks! I really dug the 125B layout for the Luna. I like the choas of feeding a tremolo or phaser into this thing, so no regrets for me going with the 1590B version.

[oip]

perfect!  that graphic is hilarious

i can't actually remember what silicons i ended up putting in a fuzz factory but i need to revisit it i think.  works in the ballpark for most settings but doesn't match the original for squealing

[Thewintersoldier]

I love this, I'm looking forward to doing my soon whooly mammoth/mastotron build.