Here's a collection of vero (stripboard) and tagboard guitar and bass effect layouts that we have put together covering many classic and popular effects in growing numbers. Many of these have been posted on freestompboxes.org, so check that site out for great discussions on building your own effect pedals. Enjoy the builds and please also visit us on Facebook and Twitter
Pretty close to the earlier version of Jen Fuzz, and i may have promised not to do Fuzz Faces nor Benders, but here i go again... Seems to be a classic - so some of you might want to clone this one to the specs too.
Love this Fuzz. Had the uk version (JHS Fuzz). Slight difference in transistors had a 238b, but otherwise exact to this. Very bright snd excellent in front of a dark tube amp.
mwaaaaah! in 1985 or so i bought one for...50 french francs! (approx 5 pounds sterling or 7 us$.... then in 1996 i turned 30 and i lived in london and stupidly said "to hell with electric guitars and all that! i'm too old for roque and rolle! and gave it away to some squatter who probably lost it in an eviction... % years later i was strumming like mad anew but .... how could i get a jen mark 3? ...then i saw the internet prices and felt like slashing my wrists with a butter knife to celebrate my stupidity! i LOVED the uniquely insane trashy sound of this pedal! and now i don't have de balls to build my own... i am a miserable failure! i want the old flat blue thing back!
Built one of these today, these are my suggestions for essential mods. Up the input and output caps from 10n to something around 20n, I went for 18n. Crucially, up the 1.2n cap to something around 10n, this pedal is painfully trebly untill you up this cap. If you suffering from oscillation, put a 100uf filter cap in, it completely solved this problem in my build. A nice pedal when you do those things, I used bc550 transistors. Cheers Dave
Really nice one this.Using the Bloviator to give it that extra punch. Quite like the thrashy nature to this one. I am using BC109cs as only have one BC549c and it sounds good. Maybe the slighter lower volume is attributed to that. Will check when i make/get my next order. I use Bitsbox and Dr Tweek in the UK to get most of my supplies (shameless plug) and Dr Tweek should be back online again very soon hopefully.
Finally built this one! Sounds like it's supposed to, I think. I am going to up the 1.2n to see if it gets eq'ed lower than my dog's sense of hearing!
PROBLEM: I have to back off my guitar volume to get any sound at all. Seems like till then the it is overpowering the first stage. Besides sticking a resistor before the input to, what do you think could be happening?!?
I tried a 100k resistor in front, and had the same problem. A 220k works fine and you still get gobs of fuzz. Ended up with a .01uf cap in the middle, and it is bright by not silly. Plus, it looks cool with matched red caps!
Recently acquired a Ricken's branded version. Very piercing highs, annoyingly so. Since it's a later Vox Tonebender derivative, anyone building this should try adding a 10n cap from input to ground. +m
2n2222 didn't provide much excitement in my build. I upped all the cap values. 18nF on the ends and 10nF in the middle. I settled on BC109cs after trying 549c, 550, 2n3904 (which gave me clean output). I'm getting oscillation at full attack so will need to take care of that before boxing. I think I'll keep it.
Not bias in the usual sense of this kind-of-a-fuzzface type pedal, but it will do something useful. In the zvex woolly mammoth (which has the similar Q2+3 arrangement) a pot in this position was labelled "pinch", and "PW" for Pulse Width. It affects the "voltage feedback biasing" arrangement and effectively goes from cleaner (low resistance) to increasing saturated and gated as you get to higher settings. The exact effect will slightly masked by the clipping diodes on the output, but it might still be a useful mod - You'll need to replace the 150k in the layout with a minimum-setting resistor (maybe 10k-27k?) because the sound will cut out altogether if you short Q2b and Q3e (or near short through the 220r).
I would put a cut to the left of the 220r, put a 22k in place of the 150k, hook-up lug1 of your bias/PW/pinch pot (250k?) to the left-hand end of that row, and connect pinch pot2 to Q3's emitter two rows down from +9v
Thank you. Will give it a try. Before I do that, I need to see if I can get a little more volume out of it. Which transistor change would help boost the volume.
I settled the pedal now. I put 18nF instead of 10 at the input, 22nF at the output and upped the 1.2nF cap to 33nF: Very nicely sounding now, more a low-medium distortion pedal, than a fuzz, but with great presence and attack. Great for solos. Thank you, as always...!
Love this Fuzz. Had the uk version (JHS Fuzz). Slight difference in transistors had a 238b, but otherwise exact to this. Very bright snd excellent in front of a dark tube amp.
ReplyDeleteIs it a gated fuzz like the sustain and fuzz?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTag it! It´s a great sounding fuzz and cleans up really well, sounds great before my ic big muff (which i made with the layout posted in this page) :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Luis!
Delete+m
mwaaaaah! in 1985 or so i bought one for...50 french francs! (approx 5 pounds sterling or 7 us$.... then in 1996 i turned 30 and i lived in london and stupidly said "to hell with electric guitars and all that! i'm too old for roque and rolle! and gave it away to some squatter who probably lost it in an eviction... % years later i was strumming like mad anew but .... how could i get a jen mark 3? ...then i saw the internet prices and felt like slashing my wrists with a butter knife to celebrate my stupidity! i LOVED the uniquely insane trashy sound of this pedal! and now i don't have de balls to build my own...
Deletei am a miserable failure!
i want the old flat blue thing back!
It isn't just a little bright... it is more like a swarm of ice hornets attacking your eardrums with knitting needles.
ReplyDeleteI have yet to decide if that is a good thing.
Would BC109 transistors work in this build?
ReplyDeleteYup. Those would be fine.
Delete+m
Built one of these today, these are my suggestions for essential mods.
ReplyDeleteUp the input and output caps from 10n to something around 20n, I went for 18n. Crucially, up the 1.2n cap to something around 10n, this pedal is painfully trebly untill you up this cap. If you suffering from oscillation, put a 100uf filter cap in, it completely solved this problem in my build. A nice pedal when you do those things, I used bc550 transistors.
Cheers
Dave
I got oscillation with high attack. Where do you think I can put the 100uf filter cap..?
DeleteThanks
Andrea
I got oscillation with high attack. Where do you think I can put the 100uf filter cap..?
DeleteThanks
Andrea
I got oscillation with high attack.
DeleteWhere do you think I can put the 100uf cap..?
Thanks.
Andrea
thanks... i used to own one and i've been dying to get it back... it will be my first build (but i am no stranger to the soldering iron)
ReplyDeleteReally nice one this.Using the Bloviator to give it that extra punch. Quite like the thrashy nature to this one. I am using BC109cs as only have one BC549c and it sounds good. Maybe the slighter lower volume is attributed to that. Will check when i make/get my next order. I use Bitsbox and Dr Tweek in the UK to get most of my supplies (shameless plug) and Dr Tweek should be back online again very soon hopefully.
ReplyDeleteFinally built this one! Sounds like it's supposed to, I think.
ReplyDeleteI am going to up the 1.2n to see if it gets eq'ed lower than my dog's sense of hearing!
PROBLEM: I have to back off my guitar volume to get any sound at all. Seems like till then the it is overpowering the first stage.
Besides sticking a resistor before the input to, what do you think could be happening?!?
What kind of pickups does your guitar have?
DeleteMedium output humbuckers.
DeleteI tried a 100k resistor in front, and had the same problem. A 220k works fine and you still get gobs of fuzz.
Ended up with a .01uf cap in the middle, and it is bright by not silly. Plus, it looks cool with matched red caps!
Recently acquired a Ricken's branded version. Very piercing highs, annoyingly so. Since it's a later Vox Tonebender derivative, anyone building this should try adding a 10n cap from input to ground.
ReplyDelete+m
2n2222 didn't provide much excitement in my build. I upped all the cap values. 18nF on the ends and 10nF in the middle. I settled on BC109cs after trying 549c, 550, 2n3904 (which gave me clean output). I'm getting oscillation at full attack so will need to take care of that before boxing. I think I'll keep it.
ReplyDeleteIf I replace the 150k to a pot would that give me a bias control ?
ReplyDeleteAny ideas if the 150 k can be used as a bias control ?
ReplyDeleteNot bias in the usual sense of this kind-of-a-fuzzface type pedal, but it will do something useful. In the zvex woolly mammoth (which has the similar Q2+3 arrangement) a pot in this position was labelled "pinch", and "PW" for Pulse Width. It affects the "voltage feedback biasing" arrangement and effectively goes from cleaner (low resistance) to increasing saturated and gated as you get to higher settings. The exact effect will slightly masked by the clipping diodes on the output, but it might still be a useful mod - You'll need to replace the 150k in the layout with a minimum-setting resistor (maybe 10k-27k?) because the sound will cut out altogether if you short Q2b and Q3e (or near short through the 220r).
ReplyDeleteI would put a cut to the left of the 220r, put a 22k in place of the 150k, hook-up lug1 of your bias/PW/pinch pot (250k?) to the left-hand end of that row, and connect pinch pot2 to Q3's emitter two rows down from +9v
Thank you. Will give it a try.
ReplyDeleteBefore I do that, I need to see if I can get a little more volume out of it.
Which transistor change would help boost the volume.
Any ideas if there is a way to increase the volume, would one of the resistors need changing ?
ReplyDeleteI settled the pedal now.
ReplyDeleteI put 18nF instead of 10 at the input, 22nF at the output and upped the 1.2nF cap to 33nF: Very nicely sounding now, more a low-medium distortion pedal, than a fuzz, but with great presence and attack.
Great for solos.
Thank you, as always...!
I used the BC547 but output level really low...any clue please? I followed components value in main picture.
ReplyDelete