Scarab
What it's based on: Basica Audio Scarab Deluxe
A Basic Audio Scarab Deluxe clone built on Jason's Bad Medicine PCB. A really rather good little fuzz that can do some quite different things.
A bit of recycling going on here, so it's an old enclosure (re-decalled), bottom end wiring and knobs with a new effect in it. We don't like to throw things away.
The Hype
What it's based on: Devi Ever Hyperion
A clone of a Devi Hyperion for Lester. I like to think it's a little tidier than a real one
Mk2 Tonebender
What it's based on: Mk2 Professional Tonebender
Well I wasn't expecting to build one of these! Found a bag of PNP transistors so it'd have been rude not to build a Mk2 bender. One of which turned out rather awesome so got boxed up.
The Duke
What it's based on: 1976 Colorsound Jumbo Tonebender/B&M Fuzz Unit
I managed to talk Rej into the '76 Tonebender board and here is the proto built, tested and awesome.
Indulging my love for Monster Magnet just a little on this one...
;) It's a Satanic drug thing, you wouldn't understand ;)
Megapussy
What it's based on: MountainKing Megalith
Built on a Ultra-Fk PCB. This is a Megalith clone that I consider to be one of the most massive and epic fuzzes I've ever come across. Subtle it isn't. But if you want big, thick, ball-shaking doom. This is the pussy for you.
Arcadiator
What it's based on: Fredrik Lyxzen Arcadiator
Rully did a board for Fredrik's bonkers Arcadiator. I decided to put it into a 125B because I'm trying to take up less space in my storage, which was silly. Also it means that after realising it'd be awesome with an LFO on the PWM, I'd run out of space to add one (another switch and two knobs). Also I screwed up the decal (Thresh should be Vol). Ah well.
What's there to say about this other than it's actually capable of some really usable glitchy octave fuzz tones, as well as sounding like a broken 8bit computer.
UXF (Unexpected Fuzz) / Fuzz Unit / JTB / Arjan
What it's based on: Colorsound Jumbo Tonebender
We've build things on the 1776 Effects Sucker Punch PCB before. However we had a '76 Jumbo Tonebender pass though our mitts briefly and were blown away by it. Enough to sneak a peek under the hood and make a note of all the bits.
It's a magnificent beastie, somewhere between a bender and a muff... It's unexpected because I didn't expect to build, yet alone box up a fuzz today. It just happened that we had an approprate enclosure in the recycled stash. I really should have got the light tent out for the pics though, I'll update them later.
Tjaeand managed to snag my UXF, so I got the bits in to make me another, only for Impmann on FSB to snag the next. His has a switch to allow it to go from the '76 Jumbo Tonebender to the B&M Fuzz Unit as only two parts were different. Sonically the FU has a fair old scoop on it and gets it more into Edwyn Collins territory.
I've ordered two boards this time, just in case!
...and it proved sensible, the next is for Shaun! Yes this fuzz really is that epic.
...and another! I still haven't built one of these for Cleggy yet. This one is for UnclePsychosis of the TFB forum.
...and another! This one for Arjan.
Misery Machine II
What it's based on: Frantone Peach Fuzz
Built on a Bajaman layout, etched by Haberdasher. It's a bit of a like for like layout clone so it's got all the switching there that I've omitted and the mad huge cap which is a bit overkill for the fuzz on it's own. But I had one and it fit nice, so it's there anyhow.
Really impressed with this one. Something different just when you thought you'd heard all there was to do with a fuzz.
In a recycled enclosure with a recycled decal, hence it might look a little familiar.
Even More Bacon
What it's based on: Mid-Fi Demo Tape Fuzz
Built on a Madbean layout, etched by Haberdasher. I have huge respect for Mid-Fi as he does things a little differently to everyone else.
This fuzz is really unique, it's the way the fuzz is slightly chaotic at times, but it's always defined and just sounds so damned good. I really rate this one.
This is the More Bacon enclosure recycled with the same decal and a couple more holes. The Spitfire is destined for other things... (see the 'multis' section).
We liked it so much, we made a board for it, hence the 2nd one.
FaceBender
What it's based on: Ff(x) NoMojo Fuzz
Part of the Function f(x) fundraiser package, this is Pickdropper's NoMojo Fuzz. An SMT Fuzz Face and Tonebender (it's on both sides of the board). Cleggy had to populate this as I had no chance, I can barely see the resistors! I was going to put it in a 1590A but in the end CBA, so I've dropped it into a much more sensible 1590B.
Buzzalike
What it's based on: Burns Buzzaround(ish)
This is IvIark's Buzzalike layout. Made to experiment with and ended up quite liking it so it got dropped in one of ColesBD's prismatic black enclosures.
Elephant Bell
What it's based on: D*A*M FR-70 + SHO
DAM's take on a silicon Mosrite Fuzzrite, the Fuzzrong, with a SHO on the end for Iain.
MiniWulf
What it's based on: Mellowtone Wolf Computer
Finally a replacement to my original Wolf Computer pedal. It's a noise machine so I had to build it. It's my weakness. It's made out of a lot of surplus parts so owes me less than a tenner, for that I can afford to keep it around until I once again realise it's actually completely useless (the Fuzz Factory does this sort of thing better IMO).
Mini Frank
What it's based on: Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face
Another FrankFace for Matt from his (very nearly depleted) transistor stash. This time in small and about the best one of these I've made.
Supervan Multifuzz
What it's based on: SJ Effects Dirt Triumvirate
Steve's Dirt Triumvirate which consists of a One Knob Fuzz, Bazz Fuzz and LPB. It's all kinds of dirty.
Baby Bender
What it's based on: MkII Professional Tonebender
Built using Stomptown's ultra-tiny (and very symmetrical) MkII Tonebender board. It's very, very wee.
Also of note is that this is the first polished and Envirotex'd mini build. Made possible by using 16mm pots. It's the future!
Matt's is next. It's using a completely random selection of transistors (an unknown Mullard, an AC128 and some Hitachi thing!) all with too much gain if you go with accepted knowledge. Yet it sounds fantastic and makes mine sound shit. EDIT: mine now updated with new transistors and sounds rather awesome.
Sucker Punch
What it's based on: Colorsound Bass Fuzz
Another 1776 Effects PCB (which Cleggy populated). This time the Sucker Punch built as a Coloursound Bass Fuzz. We were lacking in bass fuzziness. Not any more.
More Bacon / Bullgod
What it's based on: Roger Mayer Spitfire
A Spitfire-a-like built on Grind Customs Pit Fighter PCB. It's a monster fuzzstortion of massive gain... and bacon.
Bullgod is more fuzz for Iain, a fellow Magnet devotee.
Bend Over / Clint / Mushroom
What it's based on: Grind Customs Bend Over
Grind Customs Bend Over. We've used a pair of BC208s in Q1&2 and a BC115 in Q3. All in Tone Bender sort of ranges from Matt's stash. As that's what this is; a silicon Tone Bender, and an epic one it is too. Bloody brilliant in fact.
Matt, taking a break from Zombie Monkeys, has got Clint on his. The amply bosomed Tanya Song returns for Cleggy's.
BeefHeed
What it's based on: D*A*M Meathead M-25
Another DAM, this time a Deluxe Meathead clone. I've not gone for the mojo this time, just a nice tight build.
The box is another masterfully coated enclosure from ColesBD of the Madbean forum.
NeoSholicon
What it's based on: Doug Hammond's Hot Silicon & Zvex SHO
As part of my ongoing downsizing I built myself a new Sholicon (Son of Sholicon) and Ian grabbed my old original Sholicon. However he was having issues so he sent it back. The prob was likely the PSU to be fair, but he preferred battery anyhow so I decided to add that.
Well one thing led to another and it's been re-built in a new enclosure. Mainly to get the battery in there snugly (mine was never made with it in mind and it didn't fit) and because it was a bit scruffy compared to a recent build (I am OCD Man). The PCB has come from Jim over at BeeJive effects once again. Cheers dude!
Halfdub
What it's based on: EffDub 1/2 Double
This is half an Ibanez Double Sound Fuzzwah (the fuzzy half). A creation of the enigma that is Effdub. It's surprisingly different to the Standard Fuzz in that there's no octaving and it's not as nasty. It is however quite large and scooped on one setting and a bright fuzzstortion on the other.
I really quite like it, though it's very picky when it comes to the diodes. The two in there are quite a bit apart so it's almost asyncronously clipping which sounds great. Definitely worth experimenting to see what you like.
More stolen Malleus art. I love their stuff.
Greasebox
What it's based on: D*A*M GB-83
Another cracking fuzz from DAM. This one is a fettled silicon MkIII/IV Tonebender of sorts. The vero that's out there has taken a stab at the two precision resistors that are in heatshrink on the original pedal and it isn't right. The biasing is off.
The resistor from Q1 base to ground needs to be something in the range of 39-47k. We stuck a pot on and turned sustain to max which squealed like hell, then adjusted the pot until the squeal went. Ours ended up at 42.4k. Insanely we had a 39k carbon comp that measured exactly that, gotta love those tolerances! Anyhow it sounds great, very much like the clip on the DAM site.
No decal?! Yup, another hammertone finish done by ColesBD of the Madbean forum. Classy.
Fuzzmite
What it's based on: D*A*M FR-70
This is a gem of a fuzz. It's DAM's take on a silicon Mosrite Fuzzrite, the Fuzzrong (Dave also does the germanium version called a FR-69). The board is one of Steve's (Raulduke / SJ Effects), though he makes it a little differently. I've gone with the DAM values across the board.
No decal?! That's because this badboy in the flesh looks awesome. It's a turquoise-ish hammertone finish done by ColesBD of the Madbean forum.
Frank Face
What it's based on: Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face
More from Matt's stash. He wanted a Fuzz Face that cleaned up. So we went through a load of his scavenged transistors and these got the best pair in it. This might also be the quietest Fuzz Face I've ever encountered when it comes to noise.
It's a Frank Face as the stash was Frank's (Matt's grandad).
Bender MkIII / Skeletor
What it's based on: MkIII Tonebender
Another Bender, YAY! This one is using some germs from Matt's stash. The second is Matt's.
Box of Zombies
What it's based on: Zvex Fuzz Factory
Board is a Madbean Zombii fabbed by Haberdasher.
I built this to replace the Sabre Wulf (Wolf Computer) that never quite worked properly. This does and unlike the other, can actually do some useable stuff as well as the mad stuff.
Son of Sholicon
What it's based on: Doug Hammond's Hot Silicon
As part of my downsizing thing I've got going on, I decided to make myself a new Hot Silicon on a PCB in a little box.
The PCB is the Hot Chilicon board from GuitarPCB. Again it has our favoured transistors in this one: Q1&2 2N3904, Q3 2N2222 and Q4 2N5088.
This one's been revisited a bit. As it's prone to RFI we've added a 3K3 resistor on the input and a 470pf capacitor to ground after it. Which eliminates it completely. The 2nd one is built on a JimmyBJJ Verroa board and has been snagged by Ole (Kiichi of BKP).
Standard Suspect
What it's based on: Ibanez Standard Fuzz
JMK Effects Standard Fuzz. Lots of velcro octavey nastiness. I love it! ...Shame no one else does.
Slut Machine
What it's based on: Skreddy Screw Driver Deluxe
The second half of my DYOF pedal rehouse. This time I've rebuilt the Screwdriver on a Madbean Cosmopolitan board etched by Haberdasher.
I've put this in the fuzz section, but in reality it's somewhere between a fuzz and distortion. The extra knobs (trimmers on the old version) really are useful on this one, where on the L.E.M. below I could live without them.
L.E.M.
What it's based on: Skreddy Lunar Module Deluxe
This is the first half of my DYOF pedal re-house as I was never happy with the internals of that one. This one is the GuitarPCB Lunar Module clone with the two trimmers as pots like a LM DLX.
The other notable thing about this build is that it's on a black enclosure. I really don't like doing these as it means using white labels which are a bit of a pain to deal with. However we have a new supplier for labels so thought we'd give it another go. Yep, it's still a PITA.
Buzzsaw
What it's based on: Roland BeeBaa
Built on the Buzzsaw board from 1776 Effects, this is a clone of a Roland BeeBaa Fuzz, and what a versitile fuzz it is!
Capable of vintage fuzz face tones, scooped stoner goodness, a huge wall of fuzz and everything in between. I really, really like this one. Just for it having that proper vintage vibe to it but without the downsides of Ge transistors.
Also being a fan of vintage fuzziness, Phil has snagged a Buzzsaw. His has been made to match the style of the Colorsound Overdriver we did for him.
Last one of the first batch with a slightly tweaked decal is Colin's.
I've re-decalled mine as it was done during the printer's red phase and had faded badly. This time it has a Wo Fat album cover on it.
Fuzzy Russian
What it's based on: Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face
Using up the last of the good NPN germanium transistors, we've made a brace of fuzz faces. This is the first. Mr C will be making one for himself and I'll be adding a final one into a multi-pedal project.
What has brought this about is that after the Bender below, Cleggy decided to read up on biasing fuzz faces and realised that we might be able to use some of the remaining Russian trannies we had. Let's just say he got it bang on and these sound great. Really love it.
Bender MkII
What it's based on: MkII Professional Tonebender
There is an unwritten rule in DIY Stompboxing in that if you build a Tonebender, you make it out of mojo parts and make it look like a DAM knockoff. I don't know when it started but everyone does it and it seems I've been drawn into it too.
But I don't like building look-a-likes (the COD still annoys me to this day for my own lack of creativity), so my rebellious side has added a watermarked style Bender shaking his fist at the pointless mojoness of it all.
Otherwise it is what it is, a clone of a MkII Professional Tonebender. As it runs -9v, it has a polarity flipping board hidden underneath (it'd have spoiled the look had it been on show) so I can run it on the same PSU as other pedals.
Evil Monkey
What it's based on: Tychobrae Octavia
Matt wanted a Octavia with a monkey on it (much like he wanted a phase 45 with a zombie on it...). This is built on Madbean's Retrograde board and it's exactly to brief.
Design Your Own Fuzz
What it's based on: Skreddy Lunar Module & Screw Driver
The Module is another GuitarPCB board. The Screw Driver is on vero.
The Screwdriver side is really more of a distortion than a fuzz (yeah, I mislabeled it fuzz when it should have been gain on that side), and like the other Skreddy stuff I've built, it's bloody awesome.
Update: I've decided this one needs a bit of a freshen up as it was a bloody mess inside. So I've rebuilt it as two separate effects; the LEM and Slut Machine.
Lunar Lander
What it's based on: Skreddy Lunar Module
Another built on GuitarPCB board.
I've heard a few of Skreddy's pedals now and they're awesome. This one is no different. It's a really impressive silicon fuzz.
This enclosure is the Doctor Daffy recycled.
Sune managed to part me from this one, hence I ended up building myself the DYOF above. He recently recorded a soundclip for it. Cheers dude.
2 Face
What it's based on: Catalinbread Merkin Fuzz & Fulltone 70
Originally this was going to be a Fulltone 69 and 70, essentially two fuzz face circuits, hence the decal. It's now a bodged 70 (no mids control, has more bottom end) and a Merkin Fuzz, which sounds kinda 60's anyhow. Though it's not a Fuzz Face... Ah well.
No real reason for them to be in the same box other than to save cost...
Elunium PU36 Explosive Space Modulator / Sneak Attack! / Space Megaforce / The Chaos Engine / Medusa
What it's based on: Tim Escabedo's Ugly Face + LFO
Is that annoying blue orb spoiling your view of Venus? Then just reach for the Elunium PU36 Explosive Space Modulator and rid yourself of any pesky planets that are in the way!
Marvin the Martian. Pretty much my hero and the coolest cartoon character of all time (closely followed by Wile E Coyote).
As for the effect, it's another of Tim Escabedo's wierd and wonderful creations. The Uglyface with the added oddness of an LFO. What can I say, part noise machine, part weapon and pretty much completely useless. But like the Gameboy Effect before it, it makes me giggle and I love it. There are some soundclips on the Homewrecker page (clip 1, 2 & 3) of just a few of the things it can do.
Update1: After hearing the following clips 1, 2 & 3, I realised that my LFO wasn't behaving as it should. The more I looked at it the more I came to the conclusion that the combined vero isn't right. So I sawed off the LFO from the original board and knocked up a new separate LFO based on the schematic. Now I can recreate the same effects and all is right again. It's also made me want to revisit this effect... (you'll notice an additional pot has appeared).
Update2: Sneak Attack! Made for Shaun. It has the LFO depth pot (on the side of mine) as an internal trim pot. Otherwise it's the same revised version.
Update3: Space Megaforce is Cleggy's. It's using an old 6 pot enclosure re-cycled (hence depth is a pot when it would normally be a trimmer). It also has a slightly different 386 and vactrol (using up some spare bits). Which might explain why it's slightly different to the first two. It seems to have a more percussive LFO and there's a point on the threshold dial where it oscillates a bit. Still mad as a box of frogs though.
Update4: The Chaos Engine, built for Sune who's provided this nice sound clip.
Update5: Medusa, another built for Shaun, man of many mad fuzzthings. Medusa graphic supplied by Shaun. It has green LEDs for the eyes. Couldn't not really.
BigBender
What it's based on: Tonebender MkII into a SHO
Another Russian Tonebender, this time in a big box with posh pots. It is however utterly impossible to photograph, not to mention a bit busy. I think I'm going to have to use something different for the next one.
Bought by Shaun. Good lad!
Foxxy Lady
What it's based on: Foxx Tone Machine
Pretty decent octave fuzz. Insides are a bit of a mess as it was built outside the enclosure to test.
Sabre Wulf
What it's based on: Mellowtone Wolf Computer
Similar in execution to a Fuzz Factory it can get some good fuzz tones. But it can also do glitchy 8-bit style fuzz, and can border on a noise machine at some settings. Though some settings you get nothing at all out of. Fun and borderline useful too!
This enclosure is the Super Duck recycled (it was something else before that too!).
Update: It turns out this pedal ain't quite right. Don't know what's wrong with it. Might even be tempted to see if I can snag one to see what's different.
Fuzzy Elephant
What it's based on: Coloursound Jumbo Tonebender
Essentially a 3/4 BMP.
ToneBender: Russian Bullgod Edition
What it's based on: Tonebender MkII into a SHO
This is our take on a Tonebender. The germaniums we're using are Russian from the 1980's (so quite recent in the scheme of things) that are in the right gain range.
Initial results have been very promising indeed. The NPN trannies are barely noisier, have far more bottom end and IMO sound much better than the PNP MkII Pro TB that I made before. The bias pot on it working particularly well giving a wide range of tones from compressed fuzz to thundering distortion. This thing is all kinds of dirty. It was originally twinned in the pedal with a matching Rangemaster for boost. But we couldn't get that to work quite as well as we wanted so we've fallen back on the SHO which once again, works perfectly.
Sholicon
What it's based on: Hot Silicon & SHO
As this is the first pedal that's being let out into the wild, I've gone about making it more bit more robust than our usual cheap and cheerful, stuff. Hence the posh pots, battery provision and switch back to proper stomps for this one. It's not painted either, as the paint we use chips quite easily and it'd start looking rough pretty quickly. So it's just lacquered like the Prom Girl. Plus I really like the finish we get when we do that with certain decals. This one is Afro Samurai. The only things about it that annoys me is that I should have replaced the hilt of his sword with the head of a guitar and that I didn't have a white LED for the glinting of the sword.
To the pedal itself. Dave (Twinfan) wanted a thickish fuzz, one that was not too ill defined, and that could be boosted sharp and thick. Having a fair old collection of pedals, we came to the conclusion the Hot Silicon just about met that brief, which boosts really well with a SHO on the end of it.
If you build this socket the transistors and try different things. We ended up using the following: Q1&2 2N3904, Q3 2N2222 and Q4 2N5088. A great combo.
Warm Silicon
What it's based on: Doug Hammond's Hot Silicon
We failed to make a silicon Tonebender ourselves. We tried and we failed. So this is *deep breath* Ulysses vero verson of Doug Hammond's Hot Silicon. Which in itself is based on Gus Smalley's silicon Tonebender with tone control. Which is a silicon version of Aron Nelson's Hot Fuzz (I hope that's right!).
We used particularly low gain 2N2369 transistors for this one which make the top end of the gain knob a bit useless. But it gets that BFG vibe totally.
Dirt Box
What it's based on: D*A*M Meathead
The original had a dirt knob, so this is obviously a dirt box...
Given the hype and the sometimes silly money these go for, I thought I'd give this take on a silicon Fuzz Face a go. It's a little dissapointing if I'm honest.
The second one was built for Marauder. In the end though neither of us were fond of this one, so they were both dismantled and reused for other effects.
Bender
What it is: BYOC E.S.V. 2 Knob Bender kit
What it's based on: MkII Professional Tonebender
'Extra Special Vintage' version of the kit with NOS Philips OC75 transistors. It really couldn't be anything but Bender on the decal, now could it.
Update: Now a 3 knob bender with an external bias pot as under/over biasing the transistors can be fun.
Update2: I sold this to Huw as it didn't really like my old amp. Annoyingly the Bullgod doesn't like the new one and I had this back recently to fit a Road Rage board into so it could be powered by the same PSU as everything else. Annoyingly it sounds bloody awesome on the MJW, so I'm going to have to make another at some point. GRRRR!
