Thursday 9 October 2014

Ace Tone FM-2 Fuzz Master

Slightly modernized layout for a forgotten classic. Transistor pinout is per the transistors you most likely have already. Original has C369s, which are rare and have a different pinout. There's added series polarity protection and for the clipping diodes, you may use what you like the best. Schematic i have doesn't specify which are used on the original, but i suspect those may be 1N34A or similar Germanium diodes. You should get a bit more output level with modern ones like 1N4148 etc.



Here's another version of the board with Beaker's modifications as discussed below. The switch and the poor "Fuzz Adjustment" controls have been replaced with tone pot that's way more usable and the volume control on this one should allow higher output levels.


42 comments:

  1. YEEAAAHHHHH

    I'll be building this one :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. This thing sounds awesome! Building!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nice fuzz pedal, I will have to build this one. Thinking about using a 125b enclosure and turning it horizontal with 2 stomp switches... not sure if it will fit that way but we shall see :-)
    Thanks mirosol !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pretty sweet build of this one with a tone knob
      http://fuzzmonster.blogspot.com/2006/02/dasiy-acetone-fuzz-master-fm-2-replica.html

      Delete
  4. hmmm
    looking at the schematic here...
    http://www.luciferstrip.com/fuzz/acetonefm-2.gif
    where would one edit to add a tone knob?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No idea.
      Adding something like 10k pot between 100n cap and ground should act as a mids control for the other position of the tone change switch...
      +m

      Delete
    2. Yeah, I will have to add a couple sockets and try a few things
      Thanks Miro!

      Delete
  5. Wohoo! Verified! Filthy, nasty fuzz galore. I used bc 550 for transistors (reversed), tantalums for the higher value caps and for the diodes I used some really cool looking old russian germanium pulse duides, I think theu're called D311. Anyway, this is going into a box in a near future.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great to hear! Cheers Anders!
      +m

      Delete
    2. Those D311's sound great, and look outrageous - I've recently got a box of them, so thaks for the tip on using them in this. Tusen takk Anders!

      Delete
    3. Yeah, they ound quite dark and compressed and if you want some real cold war mojo, nothing beats them,

      Delete
  6. Need to build this one - looks like a Superfuzz minus one transistor stage?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. can't agree more. this just sounds nasty & gnarly as hell, in a good way. i just took a quick look at a superfuzz, and they do look really similar, with one this having one less transistor stage.

      Delete
  7. Played with this on higher volume today and it's barely reaches unity level. Is a post boost the best way to go or is it another way to solve the volume drop?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You could try lowering the value of 1K8 below D3 for 470R or something. That should give it more level.
      +m

      Delete
    2. I lowered the value and now it screams! Thanks for the help.
      Cheers

      Delete
    3. Good work!
      Using a higher gain transistor for the gain recovery stage should work too - I have done this on Superfuzzes.

      Delete
    4. Thanks Beaker, I just swapped out the last transistor for a mpsa18 and yeah, it's definitely increases the output as well.

      Delete
    5. Anders, how does the "fuzz" pot work on yours? Mine acts like a combination volume / treble filter - does very little most of the sweep, then get a lot louder with more treble when near fully clockwise. I don't think mine is right.

      Delete
    6. Mine behaves the same way, Being still a noob I'm just happy the circuits works (sort of) :-)

      Delete
    7. Miro this has an error on it. As far as I can see it looks perfectly ok compared to the schematic, but the gutshot photos say otherwise.

      As shown, the Fuzz pot does nothing apart from act as a second volume control.
      Looking at the gutshots, I reckon you need to simply swap the position of the two yellow wires on the right hand side.

      Now the fuzz pot acts as a sweepable filter from low to high. It still acts partly as a tone control, with most volume at the highest treble setting (full clockwise), but is nowhere near as bad, and kind of makes sense.

      Delete
    8. I swapped the labels for Fuzz Adjust 1 & 2.

      Heehee. But to be honest the error wasn't on my layout, but on the schematic. :)

      For many of these vintage circuits, the controls make very little sense as they are. So i just assumed the schematic was correct. Good thing that you found the root for the issue! Thanks Beaker! For those with issues on that control, just swap the wires on that pot...
      +m

      Delete
  8. Sorry Miro but that is stil not quite right.The yellow wire on row 10 should be labelled "Fuzz 2",
    and the yellow wire on row 15 should be labelled "Fuzz 1 / Volume 3". My explaination was not very good, so sorryfor getting you to do this again.


    Thanks for this - it really is a beast of a pedal. Not quite a Superfuzz - more like it's Evil Twin. I used D311 diodes as reccommended by Anders, and some military grade Motorola 2N2222 transistors from our Bulgarian friend. They really bring out the "wonky" octaves!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes thanks Miro, now matches the gutshot photos, and what I have got working on my build.

      Thanks again,
      Mark.

      Delete
    2. Great to hear it's ok. I really do hate erroneous schematics... :)
      +m

      Delete
    3. Hey Miro, I've been playing with this, and the controls are still pretty poor. I've come up with a simpler, more effective and more versatile control layout.

      The switch gives you two preset tones - I've replaced it with a 50k lin tone pot, giving you full sweep tone control between the two extremes.

      Removing the Fuzz pot loses nothing as this is a fixed fuzz pedal - like a one knob Fuzz Face. The Fuzz pot only seemed to add a little filtering to the signal.

      The wiring for this is as follows (I'm using your colours here):

      Row # 6 grey - tone lug 2
      Row # 9 grey - tone lug 3
      Row # 10 yellow - tone lug 2
      Row # 11 blue - volume lug 2
      Row # 14 grey - tone lug 1
      Row # 15 yellow - volume lug 3
      Row # 17 blue - volume lug 1

      So just to confirm, I have two pots - 500k log volume and 50k lin tone.
      The switch has now been removed.

      I'm MUCH more happy with this layout - I reckon it has turned a good pedal into a GREAT one - it is both awesome and terrifying on bass.

      Delete
    4. I'll cencentrate on the mod later tonight... Off to rehearsals.
      +m

      Delete
    5. Sooo. The 100p is omitted.

      Does it look ok?
      +m

      Delete
    6. Ooh yeah, I hadn't noticed that! I've just swapped the wires to match your layout, and yes it works great - so 100pF not needed.

      Kiitos Mirosol.

      Delete
    7. No problem man! Thank you for all the footwork!

      Now that i look at it, the 47k from tone 2 to level 3 could be a lot smaller... 10k maybe?
      +m

      Delete
  9. Thank Beaker for the corretctions, I guess I have to build another one. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  10. I rewired my circuit for the Beaker Mod and, yes, it's much better with a usable tonecontrol and a tad more output. NOW, I can box this evil fella.

    Cheers /anders

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's great Anders - I've never had my own mod published before, so I'm stoked.

      Unfortunately mine seems to have gone to pedal Valhalla already for some reason before I could box it up. Might have to start again, but definitley worth the effort.

      Varsogod,
      Mark.

      Delete
    2. aww man. what happened? did it just off itself? was it afraid of being caged in a box? :P

      Delete
  11. Ih dudes,
    Somebody knows how to modify this schematic so to turn it into the earthquaker devices' fuzz master general? Specifically, I'm interested in adding the germanium/silicon clipping switch..some clue?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Ih dudes,
    Somebody knows how to modify this schematic so to turn it into the earthquaker devices' fuzz master general? Specifically, I'm interested in adding the germanium/silicon clipping switch..some clue?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Guido, take two wires from where the pair of diodes in the centre are - one from the top of the first diode and one from the bottom. These go to the two centre lugs on a DPDT on/on switch. On the two outer lugs, you place both selections of diodes in an anti-parallel arrangement. Google 'diode clipping switch' for a picture of this.

      Delete
  13. So I just opened my original one up to have a look, the clipping diodes actually looks to be silicon diodes. The only markings I could find on them are a 'T' on one side and the number '5' on the other side. Transistors where indeed C369 in to-98 package.

    Finally the pots are A100K (with on/off switch) for the volume and a C500K for the fuzz adjust.

    ReplyDelete
  14. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete