Suggest-a-fuzz

[Guybrush]

Hi all

Like probably everyone else here I "need" a new fuzz and was hoping for some suggestions please. I'm looking for something that ticks the following boxes:

1. Thick Big Muff style fuzz
2. Distinctly fuzz (not distortion)
3. Does the fuzz face glassy clean tone when you roll back the volume (so probably germanium based)

I realise I may be asking for something that doesn't exist but if anyone can point me in the right direction I know I'll find them here.

All suggestions very welcome.

Thanks as always

[Betty Wont]

Buzzaround/Dizzy Tone

[Guybrush]

Thank you, I'll check it out

[Thewintersoldier]

Buzzaround/Dizzy Tone

I second this, I've built both and the dizzy tone is the nastier of the two so I recommend that one

[Bret608]

I did an early Supa Fuzz/MkII on vero (the "OC75 specs") and I would say it ticks all of those boxes. You can tailor how good/glassy the cleanup is depending on how leaky the transistor you use Q2. Lower leakage = better cleanup and less gating, plus it will work better with single coils/lower-output pickups. I sacrificed a bit of that the more gated sound I was craving, but good to know the option is there. It is super-thick and fuzzy, but does not scoop the mids.

[thesmokingman]

devi ever hyperion

[jubal81]

Out of the loop a bit. What's a dizzy tone? Schematic?

[Invertiguy]

I'll throw in another vote for the Dizzy Tone. I've been messing around with a 'flipped' negative ground version of it lately and it sounds incredible, very gnarly and mean. I even got two sets of boards made up for it, one all PNP and the other using PNP for Q1 and Q2 and an NPN for Q3 to make use of some of the GT404s I have laying around. Time will tell which version turns out better, although I definitely have more NPNs that fit the suggested leakage specs in my stash than PNPs. Both sounded great on the breadboard.

Out of the loop a bit. What's a dizzy tone? Schematic?

It's basically a Buzzaround with a few parts values changed. Here's the schematic I used (found on the freestompbox forums):

[Guybrush]

Really appreciate the suggestions! I'll definitely check them all out.

Thank you.

[Netnnk]

I also built a Dizzytone with a GT404 and it sounds extremely fuzzy and mean.
Though I also used germanium for Q1 and Q2, many say you can use silicon there and get a similar sound.  I added a volume control to mine because adjusting " balance" changed the tone too much. 

[Invertiguy]

I also built a Dizzytone with a GT404 and it sounds extremely fuzzy and mean.
Though I also used germanium for Q1 and Q2, many say you can use silicon there and get a similar sound.  I added a volume control to mine because adjusting " balance" changed the tone too much.

I wouldn't be surprised, Q1 and Q2 are mostly just there to ramp up the signal gain to overdrive Q3 and don't have much impact on the character of the circuit so substituting them with silicon devices shouldn't have too much impact. I've even heard of people omitting the darlington pair entirely and substituting it with an opamp gain stage with good results. Q3 is where the magic happens, and unlike the other 2 transistors the specs of the device you use really matter. You want something with both high gain and fairly high leakage or it won't bias right, which is why I made a hybrid PNP/NPN version; very few of the couple hundred Russian PNP germaniums I have even break 100 microamps of leakage and the circuit really needs around 200-300 microamps for best results, which the batch of GT404s I have meet easily.

As for the volume control, I wholeheartedly agree that it makes a very useful addition to the circuit. Even though the 'Balance' control does indeed function as a sort of volume control on it's own, the fact that it does so by changing the Q3 collector voltage means that the character of the fuzz changes a lot depending on setting. Better to just stick a 100k pot on the end for a nice independent solution.

[destro]

Out of the loop a bit. What's a dizzy tone? Schematic?

Jext Tellez's take on the buzzaround. I was lucky enough to have a fellow want to add master volume to a few and got to play through a few versions. I really dug the v7. OC81z and two GET113 70/80/90 fain ranges if I remember correctly. 

[Invertiguy]

Out of the loop a bit. What's a dizzy tone? Schematic?

Jext Tellez's take on the buzzaround. I was lucky enough to have a fellow want to add master volume to a few and got to play through a few versions. I really dug the v7. OC81z and two GET113 70/80/90 fain ranges if I remember correctly. 

The Dizzy Tone was actually originally made by the Italian company Elka back in the late 1960s, Jext Telez just cloned it (although they certainly did a great job).