Tuesday 21 September 2010

Catalinbread Merkin Fuzz

Info about the original:

The Catalinbread Merkin is a fuzz pedal that's just 'rite' for classic sixties fuzz sounds and beyond! Extended and refined from a classic fuzz circuit, this 3 silicon transistor circuit is very textural, varying from blunt to ripping. It's controls are simple, a volume, and a texture knob with huge range, from cleanish blend counter-clockwise to full fuzz as you turn the knob clockwise.

When developing the Merkin, we chose components for sweet yet buzzing tone which still has a very touch sensitive response. The Merkin is also very responsive to your guitar's volume and tone controls so you can spend less time stooped over your pedalboard, and more time actually playing. Along with a slew of sixties fuzz sounds from the Ventures to the Stooges and many points in between, The Merkin Fuzz is able to do octave-up sounds by using your guitar's neck pickup with the tone rolled off. It works great for bass too.

The life-blood of a fuzz is its power supply and the Merkin is no different. Use a carbon battery for warm vintage tone and smooth response. Use an alkaline or 9 volt dc supply for a harder sound, or run on 18 volt DC supply for even more output and an aggressive sound! Volume unity for the Merkin resides around 9:00, which means there's lots of boost on tap.




Updated 20/3/14.  A slightly more compact version:



Posted by at 20:50
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44 comments:

  1. Mel x22 September 2010 at 23:15

    Oh, nice... thanks for posting this.. I think I might build this next.

    Now my only question to myself is "did I put 2x linear 500k pots on that futurlec order?"

    I bet I didn't *faceplam.

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  2. Mel x22 September 2010 at 23:18

    just checked... 2x log 1x lin

    typical!!

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  3. IvIark23 September 2010 at 01:12

    500K log may be ok for the volume, give it a try and see what you think of the sweep. Or you could use a 250K for the volume if you've got one. It may be a bit brighter in which case you could up the 100nF cap to a 220nF but just have a play.

    Told you to get 5 of everything! :o)

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  4. Mel x23 September 2010 at 22:10

    haha, yeah, I'll get around it.. I'll probably just use a log for the volume, I'm sure that will be fine.

    lol, I bought 3 of everything in random A and B types. I don't think I've every used a 500k lin pot before, probably why I only bought 1.

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  5. IvIark23 September 2010 at 23:11

    Aah you probably haven't got a Meathead making addiction like me then! :o)

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  6. SirAstatine16 January 2011 at 22:26

    Just built this, sounds good.

    I used 470k lin for tex/vol and I had to sub two 22k resistors in series for the 47K ones as I forgot to order them properly. Still sounds good - do you think these would make any difference?

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  7. IvIark17 January 2011 at 14:25

    470K to 500K and 44K to 47K are both within around 6% and so closer than you may expect out of components with 10% tolerances, so I wouldn't worry about it. I often use 470K pots in places where schematics call for 500K.

    Thanks for confirming the layout.

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  8. diyer10 July 2011 at 02:24

    Having trouble with mine. I dont seem to be getting output from the 3rd gain stage. Any schematic with this?

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  9. diyer10 July 2011 at 02:45

    These are my voltage readings. Still trying to figure out whats wrong here. My layout seems to be spot on.

    2n222A
    C B E
    Q1 .63v .56v 18.8mv
    Q2 .65v .56v 18.8mv
    Q3 1.76v 1.34v .76v

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  10. diyer10 July 2011 at 15:22

    I found my problem. The 47k into the base of Q3 was inserted incorrectly and I tied into the emitter which broke that stage. Works great now. I'm sure with most new builders you run into problems building so patience is key.

    Thanks for these layouts. I will try some more. This one really sounds great and glad I gave it a try.

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  11. IvIark11 July 2011 at 15:16

    Excellent, glad you got it sorted.

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  12. snailke4 August 2011 at 04:16

    I know this is a basic question, as I'm looking at this possibly being my first build, but what do the black lines and red dots in boxes represent? I recognize the rest of the board, but just want to know since I've been really wanting one of these pedals for a while, and know a bit about circuitry already.

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  13. IvIark4 August 2011 at 10:26

    The black lines are just links between tracks and the red square/dots are cuts in the tracks. You can just use a drill bit and twist it at the appropriate place to make the track cuts.

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  14. Anonymous23 April 2012 at 15:22

    Just made this up, Discovered I only 3n3's (2n2's on order) so I've put that in... I've not tried it yet so Though I may as well check in the meantime.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous23 April 2012 at 15:23

      P.s, my typing is fricking terrible!

      Delete
  15. Anonymous23 April 2012 at 17:57

    Just boxed it and tried it.. sounding kind of as it should but what the effect of me putting a 3n3 instead of a 2n2 be?

    It seems to be kind of 'boomy compression' at times?

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    Replies
    1. IvIark23 April 2012 at 18:30

      It forms part of the texture circuit, with the 3n3 there should be slightly more bass content in the fully counter clockwise position of the Texture pot.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous23 April 2012 at 18:40

      Ahh that sounds about the effect I'm getting.. I'll replace it with a 2n2 when they arrive. I think it'll sound better.

      Delete
  16. jokersmile3230 April 2012 at 02:23

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  17. jokersmile3230 April 2012 at 02:40

    I was having trouble with this, only getting a loud swooshy sound with no guitar signal. First i thought it was because i substituted a 5n6 for the 4n7. Then i tested my 2n2222a's and found i had a Q3 with an hFe of only 27, so i swapped it for one with an hfe of 80 and now the circuit works fine. Thanks for posting this layout.

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  18. mirosol7 August 2012 at 16:08

    I just put the circuit together and it's sweet! Good addition to my fuzzes. There is some slightly violent character to it that reminds me of FF, but it's meaner in some way. Nice build though. This will get boxed in my next boxing frenzy i'm sure :)
    +m

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    Replies
    1. mirosol20 August 2012 at 21:35

      And so i did. I'm calling this one "Puzzy". There's some hair on it...
      http://mirosol.kapsi.fi/varasto/boxes/Puzzy.JPG
      +m

      Delete
  19. Anonymous23 August 2012 at 12:37

    I'm having an odd issue with this, It all works perfectly BUT when I release my hands form the strings I get bad noise similar to a grounding fault? If I touch the metal part of the jack on the guitar cable it stops? I've tried a different guitar cable and it reduces the noise a lot but you can just hear it slightly still... It's all grounded as ground all the effects I've done so this is a little strange

    Any ideas?

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    Replies
    1. Doron Barness20 September 2012 at 23:31

      Did you try grounding the in and out with a shielded cable? sometimes higher gain pedals get noisy and the only way to quiet them down is by proper shielding, metal enclosures and even shielding the pots wires. Shorter cable lengths and and clean builds are a must.
      I will build this one in a few weeks and see if I get similar issues.

      Good luck. Sounds like a really good addition to any fuzz collection.

      Doron

      Delete
  20. Unknown20 April 2013 at 11:24

    Gathered a few, tried 2n5088, 5089, 2222, and MPSA18
    definitely need to put MPSA18.

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    1. Unknown20 April 2013 at 14:48

      Wow, a girl builder?

      Apart from Devi and Frantone who make their living building this stuff, I've never heard of a female builder...

      Or maybe I'm just living under a rock...? :)

      Delete
    2. mirosol20 April 2013 at 15:08

      Goran: :D You must be...

      Ekaterina: Did you ever get the reverb to work?
      +m

      Delete
    3. Unknown20 April 2013 at 15:25

      No, never achieved, I think this project is to collect later
      http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=99803.0

      Maybe not a lot of girls. in Russia have not met anyone ((
      My latest project
      http://cs410219.vk.me/v410219967/76cb/0N4tAyQ_Pmo.jpg
      Great Destroyer+Bland+Clari(not)
      No picture, but added an optical sensor.
      You can choose between the optocoupler modulation control and sensor.

      Delete
    4. Unknown20 April 2013 at 16:44

      None around here either, I guess there must be more than a few up north... :)

      Bland? I know a GD and a Clari but not this one?

      Delete
    5. Unknown20 April 2013 at 16:47

      OK let's see, just guessing here... only two footswitches, ten knobs. Five for Clari, four for GD, is the last one blend between the two?

      Delete
    6. Olav20 April 2013 at 18:27

      Or Clean Blend?

      Delete
    7. mirosol20 April 2013 at 19:17

      Really cool looking build! Must sound like a monster! Blend for that is a good idea. Adds a little usefulness to it. Clari and TGD are pretty overwhelming circuits...

      Anderton's Stage Center reverb has been on my to-do list for quite some time.. The problem is the bipolar supply. I could take that on at some point..
      +m

      Delete
    8. Unknown20 April 2013 at 19:58

      clean blend.
      a mix of pure sound and TGD
      what do u mean "overwhelming circuits"?

      http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.ru/2012/05/negative-voltage-inverter.html
      would it solve the problem?

      Delete
    9. mirosol20 April 2013 at 21:04

      By overwhelming i mean that those are not subtle effects :) Both of them create hellish racket :)

      Yup. Voltage inverter would do it - or using two batteries. We have one of those circuits already (ETI Fuzz/Struzz), that i drew and didn't notice the bipolar until Madferret pointed it out :)

      Are you in a rush for that circuit? (I have my desk pretty full at the moment...)
      +m

      Delete
    10. Unknown21 April 2013 at 19:07

      I don't want anyone to rush)
      gather when you have some free time)

      Delete
  21. woodpecker8 June 2013 at 17:13

    Hi and thanks for this, I love this page!
    I've soldered this one but I just get a very quiet overdrive sound from it... Can't find any mistakes in the build so I checked the voltages of Q1 to Q3 and found (in Volts):
    Q1 C 2.88 B 0.51 E 0.01
    Q2 same as Q1
    Q3 C 7.8 B 0.66 0.15
    Could somebody maybe measure on his merkin (I mean the pedal...) if these are okay? They seem to make sense to me? the last transistor probably is meant to do a clean boost of the signal, so for that it should have the highest linear swing possible?

    Thanks in advance, any help is appreciated!

    John

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  22. Unknown31 October 2013 at 17:17

    Buff!! Just build this morning, it's amazing!!! The texture pot it's totally useful, my new favourite fuzz!!

    ReplyDelete
  23. fuzz daddy13 June 2014 at 09:09

    Everything worked fine on this pedal. I brought it to a guitar shop for them to try out. It was fine for a few more days then the 100uf cap blew. Any suggestions on why? 9volts running all the time. Also the led light wasnt working but after the cap blew it worked after a jiggle on a ground wire. I jiggled all wires before cap blew and no dice on led light but all else worked. Polarity was correct on all caps too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. IvIark13 June 2014 at 10:06

      If the cap blew without you putting in a reversed polarity power supply then it could have been a dodgy cap. But there are obviously other issues if the LED wasn't working and it certainly sounds like you have an intermittent connection on one of the ground wires.

      Delete
    2. fuzz daddy15 June 2014 at 04:07

      Okay. Here is something. I brought the pedal back and replaced the cap. The pedal worked but the led was off again. At home I was using a cge ac 9v 1amp adapter which the pedal works but the light is off. I then brought it too another shop and he used a 1spot 9v 1700millamp adapter. The same adapter as the previous guitar shop. with that one the light worked but the pedal was barley audible. I luckily brought my cge adapter. The pedal worked great but the light was off. What could this be? Thanks

      Delete
  24. giudis18 April 2015 at 20:09

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  25. giudis3 June 2015 at 11:38

    Anyone?

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  26. Unknown25 October 2015 at 09:37

    Just ran into this thing for the first time. Sounds amazing in the demos. I'm gonna give it a shot! Definitely has that fuzzrite feel to it.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Unknown24 May 2017 at 22:41

    Just built this one. Successful build (I'm pretty sure), but am wondering if there is anything that I can do to bring some low end back into the pedal. I'm a bass player and was hoping I could dial in some usable 60's tones, but it really is a very trebley pedal and mostly unusable without additional EQ afterwards for bass. Even my guitar players were commenting on the lack of body on it.

    Any components recommended that I can switch out to bring back a little bit of the low end?

    ReplyDelete

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