Tuesday, 4 March 2014

Demeter Fuzzulator

This design was pretty awkward to get down to a reasonable size due to two opamps, a trimmer and mere ten diodes on board. I'm not liking the asymmetry, but i still fitted it in a quite compact size. In the demos, this one sounds like a nice and creamy opamp fuzz..

From Demeter site:  "The Fuzzulator was designed to be a fuzz with focus. So many fuzzes sound cool but get lost in the mix because they don't have a clear sound image. I solved that problem with tonal pre emphasis before the sound hits the distortion generator. The unit also has both LED or germanium diode distortion available at the flip of a switch." - James


Posted by at 08:40
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33 comments:

  1. mirosol4 March 2014 at 10:25

    Built it. Works and sounds very good. Fat, creamy, defined and loud. The trimmer sets how high signal gets fed to the the TL061, so one can get more overall level by turning it clockwise. Original units apparently have it set dead center, which boosts enough as it is. Not going to bother, but if i build another, i'm probably going to use 20K or even 50K lin pot for volume. That should result in better feel of the pot. Not that there's anything too badly wrong with the log though. Only downside is the switch. The difference between the modes isn't that big, but still noticeable.

    Very nice opamp fuzz indeed.
    +m

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  2. tinkercreak4 March 2014 at 17:45

    This is awesome, Mirosol.Have wanted this one ever since hearing Jack Zucker's demo a while back. Just placed an order to Mouser for the LF442 - the only part I don't have on hand for this. At least I can get the rest done and then just plug in the IC...

    Thanks man!!!!

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    Replies
    1. mirosol4 March 2014 at 17:57

      I think you could get away with TL072 or JRC4558. Or basically any dual opamp. solder a socket for it and try a couple different ones out. I used sockets on my board, but didn't test any other chips yet.
      +m

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    2. tinkercreak4 March 2014 at 18:05

      Will do. Wasn't sure if the others could be subbed because I saw that it was referred to as a "dual low power Jfet" in the description at Mouser. I do always use sockets for ICs and Trannies. Not only for fear of burning them up, but it's also cool swapping around for more sonic options....

      Thanks again

      Delete
    3. Unknown8 March 2014 at 20:32

      I too did not have a LF442, and tried JRC4558, TL072, N5532, and LM1458. ALL exhibited significant fizzle in the last 20-30% of the Fuzz pot rotation.
      Tried a OPA2134, schazaam!
      I am assuming that the LED's are always on and SW1 brings in the array of 4148 and 34's.
      Any reason why D1 is not a 4001 or 5817, just curious.
      As Always, thank you for the layout.
      And now onto to #3 in the series the Fat/Flatulator.

      Delete
    4. mirosol8 March 2014 at 20:44

      Flatulator :P

      About the LEDs, you're correct. About the polarity protection - This time the schematic states 1N4148 as series polarity protection, so i went with that. That will drop the voltage more than 5817, so there's a chance it is 4148 on purpose.
      +m

      Delete
    5. IvIark8 March 2014 at 21:02

      The 1N4001 and 1N5817 can both handle more current but with most of these effects there'd be no problem using a 1N4148 for reverse polarity protection.

      Delete
  3. johnk5 March 2014 at 17:53

    I built this one yesterday and I love it. on mine there's a huge difference with the loose/tight switch. thanks for posting it. pics below:

    http://johnkvintageguitars.homestead.com/Effects/Fuzz-ODs/Fuzzulator/FUZ-1-01.jpg

    http://johnkvintageguitars.homestead.com/Effects/Fuzz-ODs/Fuzzulator/FUZ-1-02.jpg

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    1. mirosol5 March 2014 at 20:11

      Very nice work once again John!

      I think i may need to check that board of mine...
      +m

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    2. mirosol7 March 2014 at 19:17

      Just played with the circuit for a while. The switch is just as i remembered it. There is a distinct difference between modes, but i wouldn't call it huge. Nevertheless, both modes are usable.
      +m

      Delete
  4. Philly6 March 2014 at 20:07

    Just finished mine - a great fuzz sound! Very Eric Johnson and extremely quiet when you're not playing (with single coils!) - big thumbs up. I used 1N60's instead of 1N34's and sounds just perfect. I've built way over a dozen fuzzes and this is my fave yet :)
    As an aside, love Demeter stuff - the trem and compressor are on my pedal board fulltime. Now the fuzz will join them!

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  5. johnk7 March 2014 at 19:39

    hmm. the switch is pretty drastic on mine.

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  6. Philly8 March 2014 at 19:11

    Swapped the input cap for a 10n instead of 20n - this reduced the boomy bottom end to more realistic levels as I found it overpowering at stage levels.
    Hope this helps!

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  7. tinkercreak11 March 2014 at 17:38

    Got mine finished last night. Sounds very much like my AC128 FF, but with more gain available. I used 1N60s as well since that's all I had on hand. There is definitely a fairly big change on the switch. I usually prefer one diode switch option over another on my pedal builds with this option, but on this, I like both modes pretty equally - both settings very useful.

    I think I will try swapping that input cap as Philly suggested or the tone cap. I did use a 25k for tone since i didn't have a 20k so that may have affected the tone control a bit. I'll get the 20k before the next build and socket those two caps to play with the tone a bit.

    Thanks again for the layout Miro - Very happy with this one

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  8. G.G.29 April 2014 at 20:14

    I finally got this one put together with correct pot values. It's a really nice & creamy fuzz, which is what I'm looking for. As mentioned previously, quite with single coils but a little bass-heavy for me. I used Philly's 10n input cap suggestion and still would like a little less bass so I might try a slightly smaller tone cap. My switch doesn't do much either so I might just leave it off. Thanks for putting up the layout!

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  9. Kostis30 April 2014 at 12:26

    Did anyone wrote down any voltages to compare with mine? I do have sime issues. The LED distortion does not work at all and the germanium one does not sound as expected...

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  10. Larsa18 June 2014 at 06:53

    Hi! The switch is it on/on or
    on/off?
    thanks for a great site!!

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    Replies
    1. clive.hawnt@gmail.com28 May 2015 at 16:48

      looking at the wiring (and John Ks photos!) you're only using one side, so its a case of just shorting out two wires so it shouldn't matter which sort of switch you use (I'm using one side of a dpdt!)

      Delete
  11. Unknown22 April 2015 at 22:30

    I'm getting close to you John Kallas ;) Here are some pics:
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/95025812@N07/15467512650/
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/95025812@N07/15032318364/in/photostream/
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/95025812@N07/15466938978/in/photostream/
    Lovely fuzzzzzzzzz :*

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    Replies
    1. Zach23 April 2015 at 02:48

      the links dont work for me. and i was really excited to see.

      Delete
    2. Unknown23 April 2015 at 10:17

      https://www.flickr.com/gp/95025812@N07/G7h9HA
      https://www.flickr.com/gp/95025812@N07/04PGM2
      I think will work now :)

      Delete
    3. Unknown6 May 2016 at 01:54

      Very nice etching Ej. I use photo paper laser printed on my builds. I like yours better.

      Delete
  12. Hozy3123 April 2016 at 14:58

    This is a great fuzz. Built with OPA2134 and a 22n in place of the 20. Time to box it.

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  13. Unknown1 October 2017 at 15:24

    Can't get any output. Using 25k pots for tone and volume. The LEDs light up when strings are hit. TL061 and tried TL072 and OPA2134. Double checked all component placements and checked for bridges.voltages are...

    TL072
    1=7.77v
    2=7.80v
    3=7.80v
    4=8.26v
    5=8.28v
    6=7.83v
    7=8.17v
    8=8.89v

    TL061a
    1=8.19v
    2=8.28v
    3=8.25v
    4=8.25v
    5=8.21v
    6=8.17v
    7=8.90v
    8=0.00v

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    Replies
    1. mirosol1 October 2017 at 16:00

      Since your LEDs light up with the signal, the issue must be with the single opamp. And judging by the voltages, it definitely is. Pins 1, 5 and 8 are not used in that chip, so those voltages do not matter. Howewer. Pin 7 needs to have supply voltage (which is ok), but the rest are catastrophically wrong. Either you have a bad short in there, covering all the IC2 pins, or your chip is fried and shorted out internally. You'll need to have around 4,5V at pins 2, 3 and 6.

      Since the voltages look completely wrong for IC1 too, i'm wondering if you are measuring the pins correcly?

      +m

      Delete
    2. Unknown2 October 2017 at 09:56

      I did think the voltages looked way out. I'm grounding the neg probe and toughing the pos probe to the pins. I'm going to make another one tonight and see if theres any improvement. thanks for the info

      Delete
  14. Unknown3 October 2017 at 12:36

    Ok have the right chips in place and it's super quiet but the effect is there, will the fact the TL061 is followed by an a? The chips that turned up are all TL061a

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  15. Highsmith27 January 2018 at 10:28

    Built this today...with slight variations:

    a) used a LF353 and a TL071.
    b) used 1 red and 1 orange 3mm LED (just because)
    c) used a B50K for volume, and A25K for tone (because I don't have any B20k and Miro suggested B50k).
    d) used 1N60s instead of 1N34A (because I have twice as many).

    Sounds good on the breadboard thru a Marshall practice amp on the clean channel.

    As far as the switch, with the LEDs on it sounds more "airy and hairy."

    Cheers!

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    Replies
    1. Highsmith27 January 2018 at 10:31

      Oh, I forgot to mention, this seems more like a 'distortion' than a 'fuzz' to me...

      Delete
  16. Ben Spinks11 December 2020 at 12:17

    Built this and it sounds great, but I notice on the schematic and another layout some differences, such as a 1uf and 100uf electrolytic caps and a 1n4001. Just wondered what purpose of the change is?
    Cheers
    Ben

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    Replies
    1. Elijah-Baley12 December 2020 at 09:09

      I guess you mean the 1N4001 that replaced in another layout the 1N4148 in line with the 9v. It shouldn't make difference. Even a 1N5817 is a good choice. These diodes cancel eventually noise from the PSU and protect from an eventually inversion of the polarity. (Remember to use the tipical 9v PSU Boss style).
      Then, a 100uF is added in the power section in this alternative layout. It helps to cancel noise from the PSU. Good idea.
      If you see a different kind of the 1uF (film or electrolytic) this will not too much difference. Generically speaking a film cap is better in audio signal.

      Delete
    2. Ben Spinks12 December 2020 at 16:00

      Thanks a lot, that makes perfect sense. So with this current layout would it be possible to implement the 100uf? I think the board would probably have to be widened a bit to make room.

      Delete
    3. Elijah-Baley13 December 2020 at 10:21

      I think you have to try to move the diodes D6 and D10 and the LEDs D2 and D3 to get the space to move of two columns at right cut track close the 100k. The 100uF can be placed from the new hole you get until the ground stripe lower.

      Delete

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