Saturday 9 March 2013

BBE Free Fuzz

Modern adaptation of the classic Fuzz Face. Nothing too special about the circuit, except for the fact that it uses biasing methods side by side with the fuzz pot. Original units have two resistors in parallel from Q2 emitter to ground, but i've replaced those with a 22K trimmer for this layout. There's a lot of power filtering going on, and i suspect that the 1000µ may be a slight overkill. You could omit it altogether or try something like 470µ, 220µ or even 100µ in its place.

The manufacturer doesn't list this one on its site anymore, but there seems to be a few aroung the interweb in pricerange of 80-180 usd/gbp/euro...




17 comments:

  1. 22k Trimpot? Is 20k good enough?

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  2. Completed this about a week ago - very nice fuzz for simple build.

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    Replies
    1. Cool. You've done a few builds lately :P
      +m

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  3. Anybody else have updates with the bbe free fuzz circuit? Mine has a tone/ volume suck issue in the bypass mode.

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  4. With the fuzz switched it has gobs of fuzz.... And volume.

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  5. With the fuzz switched it has gobs of fuzz.... And volume.

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  6. Anybody else have updates with the bbe free fuzz circuit? Mine has a tone/ volume suck issue in the bypass mode.

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    Replies
    1. Did you wire it true bypass following the offboard wiring from Mark?

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  7. Sorry....my pedal is an original bbe free fuzz..stock pcb? Everything appears connected?
    Scratching head? Thought somebody with more savy might point me in right direction. Thank you.

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  8. It has very little signal not engaged.... Like no clean signal. Engage fuzz and it seems to work.

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    1. Probably not the best place to ask guidance for debugging a factory pedal.. But. This sounds like dead footswitch. Replace it.
      +m

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    2. Hummm.ok ...never had a switch go bad before? But it was purchased used...so I'll give it a try. Thank you.

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    3. Hummm.ok ...never had a switch go bad before? But it was purchased used...so I'll give it a try. Thank you.

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  9. Replaced the switch and took out the C4 cap (advised for better sound)...she's alive! Thanks for the help..mirosol.

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    1. Which value is C4 please? I've built this and am swapping transistors around in it currently. Ok circuit so far, I don't actually have any BC550c. I used 550b and 549C, 5088 and 89.

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  10. I've settled on 2n5551. A bit less all out fuzz but kinda nice as crunch with a little more. The 2n5551 is a little softer sounding than the BC5 devices.

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