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Saturday 8 November 2014

Moen Fuzz Moo

A great sounding and cheap Big Muff made in China by Moen which I believe is a clone of the now defunct Righteous Tones Sonic Mayhem.  I bought one of these before I got too heavily into DIY and it got plenty of use despite me also having a Skreddy Pink Flesh, so it's definitely a recommended build.  The 100K in the tone stack means that it isn't as scooped as some Muffs which is probably why I get on with it so well.



The PCB:




Info about the original:
Fuzz Moo Analog Fuzz Box Analog Sustained Fuzzy Distortion: Like any other MOEN Effects Pedal, the Fuzz Moo is designed with analog circuitry to ensure full processing and reproduction of the original signal without losing any details through digital sampling or processing. I have been playing with this one and it's pretty meaty with alot of headroom available. Kinda like an very early 70's Fuzz sound, but it is pretty flexible in acheiving different levels of raunch. Note.. when I say it kicks back, I mean it. There is a lot of gain in this box. This pedal will fight you back, but that is why everyone like its. When A/B'd in a studio against the Muff and some other well-known Fuzz boxes.... the Moo stomped all over them!! Very musical and workable Fuzz tones. Not one to pass by !!!





And the schematic using Pawel's drawing as a template, which I traced from my original:






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19 comments:

  1. glasspak738 November 2014 at 18:10

    In the picture of the circuit,what is the object just below the 100k resistor and right above the diode closest to the output jack? Is that a transistor?

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  2. glasspak739 November 2014 at 05:07

    oh ok,I see.im gonna try building this one.I cant seem to get my NPN germanium emulation fuzz to work.when it said to match each pair of transistors does that mean matching the hfe? and do i have to make all 4 transistor match exactly the same?Sorry i know i should ask this in the forum,will put my questions there too.

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  3. Unknown9 November 2014 at 09:07

    Hi,
    I may have missed something, but shouldn't the 10K resistor from the 9V rail be connected to the collector of Q4? At first glance, it feels like Q4 is currently not powered up...
    Only a newbie's two cents, so forgive me if I am mistaken... ;)

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    Replies
    1. IvIark9 November 2014 at 11:49

      You are indeed correct, I shifted things about so it's a misplaced cut. Correction on the way

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    2. Unknown9 November 2014 at 19:42

      Glad I could help. Glad, I was correct, too, for a change...! ^^

      Delete
  4. johnk15 November 2014 at 20:48

    just wondering...... how is this pedal any different than a regular big muff?

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    1. IvIark15 November 2014 at 23:25

      It isn't. It's just a variation on the commonly swapped components like coupling caps and collector resistors. The 100K in the tone stack does mean that stock it is quite flat (well low end boosted slightly) but there's nothing new about it. It does sound very good though and so I'd suggest anyone who does like a collection of muffs to give it a try.

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  5. Unknown16 November 2014 at 21:17

    What happened to the J201 fet from the PCB photo, the one on the right by the output socket?

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  6. johnk16 November 2014 at 21:31

    that's part of the millennium bypass and doesn't effect the pedal's tone.

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  7. Hozy3119 December 2014 at 18:49

    Just built this and it sounds really good. However it is my first fuzz build so i have nothing to compare it with. I socketed the transistors so i could try a few different types but not sure what to try and what combinations. Any suggestions?

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    1. IvIark20 December 2014 at 14:42

      Hi Gavin, thanks for verifying. Try any NPN silicon transistor, BC550C, 2N5088, MPSA18 etc etc. I seem to like the muff with higher gain transistors in so I'd probably stay away from lower gain ones personally, but give anything a try and see what you think about it. For diodes there is again lots you can go at. Try germanium like 1N34A, schottky like BAT43, BAT85 etc, and even something like LEDs may work well in there.

      Delete
  8. Hozy3119 December 2014 at 19:43

    Oh! i did also socket the diodes so suggestions on some alternatives would also be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

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  9. BlueOysterCult30 January 2015 at 08:29

    I'd like to build this one , I have all needed in hand. Just a stupid general question because I'm new in this hobby, is there a great difference I use ceramic capacitor instead of MKT for nano values ? Thanks !

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    Replies
    1. IvIark30 January 2015 at 09:57

      I doubt most people would notice any difference assuming the values are close. I'd always be happy to use ceramics in a Muff type effect anyway, they always sounded pretty good in the originals which were all ceramic

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  10. T6 April 2016 at 00:56

    Built this up for fun with 2N5088s. Holy high gain Batman! If you compare this to some other muffs you'll see some resistor changes (mostly at the emitters, but a few others) that make this thing a high-volume monster. This would be a great one it you want to push an amp hard, but I couldn't get the volume much past just barely on without the level being way too high above unity to be used except as an always on pedal. I'll probably stick a higher value pot on it and call it good, but if you want to mess around with different values in a muff this could be a fun starting point.

    Check out the following for great info on the muff circuit: http://www.kitrae.net/music/big_muff_guts.html

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    1. T29 March 2017 at 18:15

      Dug this one out a year later and replaced the 2k2 from Q4 emitter to ground (R4 on the schem, top left on the layout) with 3k6 to dial down the gain on the recovery stage. Volume is back in a sane range, no change to tone to my ear. 3k3 is the normal value in most muffs and should also be totally fine.

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  11. Unknown22 April 2017 at 11:31

    Hi, im pretty newby in this. which one is the C6 capacitor on breadboard please? I think it might be the one in 10th column and 10th row. can you correct me please if im wrong? i tried to add a switch, wich disconnects the clipping diodes on Q2 transistor. It should be the easy way for turn the muff into tonebender. thank you for answer

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