Piggyback Pair

Germanium transistors are becoming more and more scarce and the ones that you do find aren't great options for the classic fuzz circuits. If only there was a way to use silicon transistors, both cheap and readily available, to simulate/emulate germanium transistors. Well the Piggyback method of tying two silicon transistors together does exactly that. It also allows the gain of the end transistor to be dialed in via trim pot. There are a few pedals on the market that use this method to produce their tones but it's really not that common. Try it out.

Please Leave A Message After The Fuzz

The ISD1820 Record/Playback IC has seen a resurgence in use the last few years. MidFi Electronics released his Propaganda Machine, Parasit Studios Subspace, BASTL did a project, WRAA did a project, Casper Electronics has fucked around with them, and even I myself have made a few designs with the old girl. Here is a pretty gnarly fuzz I whipped up. The tone/filter control is pretty versatile and has a wide sweep. Something different than another boring transistor fuzz. Check out my other projects using this chip the 'Flooper' and the 'Always Remember To Never Forget".

 

Radio(active) Fuzz

This is a unique and interesting fuzz circuit I found deep in the depths of the aronnelson archival website. The main IC is an AM/FM Radio chip and is used/abused to make a wide range of fuzz tones. Full blown silicon, gated velcro, 8bit, bitcrusher, and just general noise. The original designer left the project unfinished and with a few different modifications, I started with his schematic on breadboard and just experimented from there with values and a few other mods. These chips are still available on ebay and there's also several others in the same family that more than likely have an equivalent pinout. I encourage some more modifications and experimenting. 

Flooper

My first entrance into the world of ISD1820 answering machine ICs. They're designed for voice recording but depending on how its used/abused you can get some cool guitar effects. This is an interesting design I found on the DIY forums. A fuzz, a looper w/ speed/pitch controls, a lofi effect, a really loud boost. It's not the best looper out there but it is one you can build yourself. 

Terrible Tubes

A powerful preamp (of sorts) using a pair of 5840 subminiature vacuum tubes running at 36v. The gain and tone controls both have a wide range of of useable settings/sounds. When you max the gain knob you'll really want to call this a fuzz but everything below that is somewhere between an overdrive and a preamp. The switch isn't the most noticeable in all settings but it gives two gain settings ultimately. If it's got subminiature vacuum tubes involved you can almost guarantee it has something to do with Rick Holt/Frequency Central, this circuit is no exception. 

 

Buffer Fucker

 This is a guitar pickup and controls simulator. When using the classics (tonebenders, fuzz faces, univibes, etc) its a known fact that they pretty much require being placed first in the signal chain. Their simple circuitry cant handle being downstream from our modern effects, in walks the Buffer Fucker. The little transformer has a primary winding with a center tap, this emulates the actual coil (single or bucker), the two trim pots acts as your guitars volume and tone controls, the remaining parts acts as the tone cap and any further capacitance and resistance given by your guitars internal wiring and patch cable. Placing this circuit at the input of your "classics" will allow you to set them anywhere in the chain.

PenToad +

Similar to the "Pentoad" boost circuit, but this version introduces 1N60 diodes to clip the signal. Having the gain turned down will give you the sound and feel of the original pentoad circuit, whilst doing the opposite gives you a mid gain overdrive type sound. Cranking the gain knob will get you into fuzz territory. For my personal build I put two of these exact circuits in series in a single enclosure, gets really fuzzy that way. It should be noted that while the 5678 will work in the original, it will NOT work in the "+" version.