Finishing New Pedals - '71 Fuzz

This is the '71 Fuzz, which I finished yesterday.

I used metallic green, vibrant purple and vibrant orange paints, as well as some purple glitter, to give the pedal a '70s feel. I did have some trouble when the internals of the 1 mega-ohm pot set on fire (!), so I had to use a 500 kilo-ohm pot and some resistors instead, which limited the range of the pot (so it's really like a one-sound pony!). Nevertheless, the sound of the pedal is really good, and there are some interesting ideas that I could incorporate if I wanted to make this pedal again.

Sound sample of my vintage pedalboard (including this pedal):
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/vintage-pedalboard-sound-sample

(The '71 Fuzz on its own is the second sequence of chords, with the first being a clean guitar signal.)

Pedalboard Demos

I finished the '71 Fuzz yesterday! So here are some sound samples for my vintage pedalboard ('71 Fuzz, into Para Para Paradise, into EA Tremolo, into LPB Boost) and my Frantone pedalboard (Francard Fuzz, into Brooklyn Overdrive, into Thunderhead Bass Booster, the latter two I had already owned).

https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/vintage-pedalboard-sound-sample
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/frantone-pedalboard-sound-sample

(Vintage Pedalboard Sound Sample: Clean signal, then '71 Fuzz on, then Para Para Paradise added, then EA Tremolo added, then LPB Boost added, then everything on maximum!)

(Frantone Pedalboard Sound Sample: Fran Fuzz on (pots on minimum, then maximum), then Brooklyn Overdrive added (for the last two tests).)

Finishing New Pedals - Sound Samples

EA Tremolo Sound Sample:
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/ea-tremolo-sound-sample
(Volume pot on halfway throughout; Depth and rate pots on minimum, then halfway, then maximum)

Francard Fuzz Sound Sample:
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/francard-fuzz-sound-sample
(Both pots on minimum, then halfway, then maximum)

Finishing New Pedals - Francard Fuzz

This is the Francard Fuzz, which I have finished recently.

The original idea was to make a pedal based on Fran Blanche's 'Fuzzcard' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DMsNxn7kBg). The Fuzzcard was based on 'stacking' two LM386 chips, which is the basis of most of Fran's fuzzes. The two strange things about this are that the LM386 is an op-amp (so it is designed as an amplifier, not a fuzz!) and people don't 'stack' them in the way Fran does.

The main difference between my pedal and Fran's Fuzzcard is that Fran left pins 1 and 8 (of the chips) unconnected, so the chips had a fixed gain of 20. However, I connected pins 1 and 8 with a potentiometer (one per chip), so the chips have a variable gain (25 to 200).

Firstly, I made my own schematic and stripboard layout based on Fran's video. I then tested the circuit on breadboard, but it was difficult to test as breadboards can be noisy and the chips amplify the noise.

Eventually, I built the circuit and it sounded good, but there was a lot of 'hiss' and the fuzz was 'stuttery'. So I looked at a Peach Fuzz schematic (the Peach Fuzz is one of Fran's fuzzes) and worked out that one capacitor value in my pedal was probably incorrect. (I also put in a capacitor to eliminate noise, like on the Peach Fuzz.) I tested this on breadboard and it seemed to work.

I then applied those fixes to my pedal - it worked!

I also wanted to paint the case as a homage to Fran, so I used 'Hepcat' colours (light blue and white) and the 'F' from her signature. I also put in a purple LED, as it matches the colour of the closing credits of her videos.

Finishing New Pedals - EA Tremolo

I have finished a couple of pedals recently. Here's the first.

This is the vintage-style EA Tremolo from Fuzz Dog. It was an easy-enough build, but I chose for the LED to flash at the same rate as the tremolo itself!

Hong Kong Garden

This is my performance of Hong Kong Garden, by John McGeoch/Siouxsie and the Banshees, which I have been learning from AnyoneCanPlayGuitar.

I am playing it on my Harley Benton Les Paul through my home-built Jeds Peds LPB Boost and Para Para Paradise low-gain overdrive into my Fender Rumble bass amp. The low-gain pedals sound really good, and can be really aggressive if you want them to be!

https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/hong-kong-garden

Painting new pedals

 Painting the first coats on my next set of pedals. (The green is metallic!) They will be a fuzz, a fuzz and a tremolo.