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Wednesday 18 November 2015

Mojo Hand Colossus Fuzz

Info about the original:

ALL HAIL THE COLOSSUS!!! Unleashed on an unsuspecting public, the Colossus is THE be all end all Russian/Civil War Muff style fuzz. Ridiculously tweakable, insanely versatile, and packed with 10 tons of Colossal Mojo. Rich harmonic drenched chords, sweet singing leads, sludgy stoner goodness, filthy bluesy mcnasties, Pumpkin flavored raunch…you name it, it does it. It features a 3 way toggle for different EQ voicings, as well as a full range “Mids” control to help you cut through the mix in a live setting.




  Edit: Corrected 2 values. the 2.2nF cap in the tonestack (column k/rows f-h) should be 22nF, and the 5.6nF cap (column b/rows h-l) should be 56nF. This should fix some of the issues with the tone and output of the effect that has been reported.


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65 comments:

  1. Evan18 November 2015 at 05:27

    What is this chart type? I've looked in several places including Creately Diagram Community

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  2. Unknown18 November 2015 at 06:20

    "filthy bluesy mcnasties" may be the worst series of words I've ever seen put together.

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  3. ashkan18 November 2015 at 10:50

    another muff variation. I'm learning Zack ,you see? do you recommend this one or should I try the Green Russian first?
    anyway thanks

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    1. Zach19 November 2015 at 05:00

      correct, this is just another muff variant, this one being a modded russian civil war muff with an added mids pot, and switch to alter the frequencies that enter the circuit, and "eq" switch so to speak. i've played an original and liked it. it's a nice little twist on the big muff and worth a build.

      there's a lot of muff variants out there like the black arts pharaoh & LSTR, blackout effector musket, frantone sweet, and mojo hand iron bell, just to name a few. so really in the end it's really up to you man. i'm a bassist and really love a massive amount of low end, so i'm a huge fan of the original green russian muff. it's massive and the fuzz is smooth and creamy. nothing else really like it in my opinion, especially in the big muff field. mine has slightly different values to the one in the layout posted here to "better match," i saw that since there was a huge variation in many of the component values, and i used gain matched russain kt3102e transistors and KD521V diodes. it's a monster to say the least.

      but with that in mind, i've got or built one of every muff and each one has their own flavor and i really love each one. it's just what you're in the mood for now, cause you'll eventually build them all. lol

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    2. Bohemian H24 November 2015 at 20:01

      Der Pharaoh ist meine JAM, suckah. :D

      Delete
  4. Unknown19 November 2015 at 02:51

    Shouldnt d1-d4 be 1n4148 instead of 2n4148?

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    1. Zach19 November 2015 at 04:37

      correct. i must have hit the 2 by mistake and didn't notice. nice catch, and the layout is updated.

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  5. BlueOysterCult19 November 2015 at 11:22

    anyone built it ? I built it today and it does not work. Do you have the schematic ?
    Is the 2.2µ capacitor on the switch polarized ?
    Thanks a lot

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    1. Alex19 November 2015 at 14:22

      This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. Alex19 November 2015 at 14:49

      This is the schematic:
      http://www.bigmuffpage.com/images/schematics/Colossus%20Schematic.jpg
      Lugs 2 and 5 need to be connected.

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    3. Alex19 November 2015 at 14:53

      Thne 2u2 cap is polarized ("+" side on pin 1)

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    4. Zach19 November 2015 at 18:40

      correct, but i figured you could just use a 2.2uF multilayer ceramic. which is non-polarized and mounts much easier on the switch.

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  6. ksysetapapariasou19 November 2015 at 11:35

    Building it right now, will test it within the day.

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  7. Ciaran Haslett19 November 2015 at 14:22

    Seems to me that the middle position of the switch will cut off the input signal if the switch is on-OFF-on. Also the series values between the 10n input and the other two on the switch would only give a value of between 9n-10n.

    If it were me I'd remove the 10n from the board and put a 5.6n on lugs 2-5, a 4.7n on 1-4 and then a much higher value on 3-6.

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    1. Zach19 November 2015 at 19:05

      you're correct. i took a look at the schematic again, and i drew the layout to how it's shown, but it should put the caps in parallel, rather then in series. it's an easy fix from how it was on on the last layout. i've updated the layout to put the caps in parallel.

      also, you can change the caps to match your preference, it's essentially taking the focus control from the musket and instead of a pot sweeping between 2 input caps it's a 3 position switch.

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    2. Ciaran Haslett19 November 2015 at 20:04

      Yeah a parallel cap switch makes better sense to me...a more noticeable effect with the given values but also a really obvious place to tweak to your own liking. Top job!

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    3. Zach19 November 2015 at 20:48

      thanks man. it's funny that i didn't catch it when i made the layout, cause it does make more sense that it would be parallel rather then in series. even looking at the schematic it still doesn't really look as though the switch is parallel, but whatever it's part of the joy of diy.

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  8. ksysetapapariasou19 November 2015 at 16:31

    Well... I may have not built one fuzz pedal but I surely created one of a kind signal killer (LOL). When the battery is connected signal is killed!!! Plus I have 9V reading on my guitar's cable... Any ideas???

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    1. ksysetapapariasou19 November 2015 at 16:33

      I forgot to mention that when baterry is disconnected I get clean guitar signal on my amp

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  9. Ciaran Haslett20 November 2015 at 19:08

    Post some pics in the debugging section of the forum. There's no way you should have DC on your jack cables so there must be some serious build issues.

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  10. Anonymous28 November 2015 at 02:30

    Not sure if you noticed or not but the switch routing and labels are different on the bare board diagram. Hoping to build this one soon. Thanks!

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    1. Zach28 November 2015 at 07:53

      thanks man, and good catch. i did some flipping around of the switch and must have forgot to make the same changes on the board with cuts and jumpers. it's been updated. if you started on it already, just follow the complete board and you should be good to go.

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  11. doomkraft4 December 2015 at 18:28

    Should it really be a 104r resistor from input to gnd? And a 33k going to the input-caps? Almost all the signal should die in gnd right?

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    1. Zach5 December 2015 at 02:02

      Hey bro. Not quite. It's exactly as laid out in the schematic, so it should be good to go.

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  12. doomkraft4 December 2015 at 18:34

    Btw. My first footprint on this site. Although I've been using it for a while now. Just want to let all of you know that I'm grateful for all your work! Thanks!

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  13. Hozy3112 December 2015 at 16:09

    Verified this today. Fired up straight away with no issues. Nice muff variant. Cheers Zach.

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    1. Zach13 December 2015 at 08:12

      great man. thanks for verifying and glad you're digging it.

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  14. doomkraft14 December 2015 at 13:50

    The link in the down/right corner is in different places on the layout and the "cutout/link-layout". The one who connect cap+resistor between base and collector on q2.

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    1. Zach14 December 2015 at 15:27

      odd. something really strange must have happened, cause i checked the original file and it's fine. thanks for the heads up, i re-uploaded the layout and it looks all good again.

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  15. Unknown5 January 2016 at 05:39

    If you built this and it doesn't work also note that the 2n5088's from tayda have a reversed pinout to the layout picture. Rock on!

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    1. Zach5 January 2016 at 05:57

      hey ryan. nice catch, surprised it wasn't caught before. i updated the layout so the transistor image is facing the right way. i didn't realize since i made this off my russian big muff layout, which uses transistors that face the other direction.

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  16. Unknown5 January 2016 at 07:49

    Also The 5.6nf and 2.2nf are 22nf and 56nf according the the kit rae schematic. Thanks for the layout. you guys make them so much smaller than the ones I do.

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  17. Unknown1 March 2016 at 07:03

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. Zach1 March 2016 at 23:58

      layout has been updated to fix 2 cap values. those that built it may want to make the changes.

      Delete
  18. J.D. Ryan2 March 2016 at 00:22

    Definitely like to know if I can use the 100R, I can't find 104r's anywhere, unless I order 500 of them.

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    1. Zach2 March 2016 at 00:54

      i don't see why not.

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    2. J.D. Ryan2 March 2016 at 01:05

      One more... any more available resistor than the 140? I can get a 150 in with my Mammoth order, but if I need 140, I need to order separate and pay extra for the shipping. Thanks again, Zach.

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    3. Zach2 March 2016 at 02:07

      found these on ebay, cheap and you get 100

      http://www.ebay.com/itm/140K-Ohm-1-4-Watt-1-Metal-Film-Resistor-Lot-of-100-Pieces-271-140K-RC-/161394888484?hash=item2593e28f24:g:JFwAAOSwPe1T7Rxe

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    4. J.D. Ryan2 March 2016 at 02:31

      Thanks!

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    5. Zach2 March 2016 at 02:45

      no problem. remember a lot of times you can sub parts that are fairly close if you don't have the right value, or you can combine parts to get the exact value if need be.

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    6. J.D. Ryan11 March 2016 at 04:18

      Putting this together now, I'm just realizing the ones I got at that ebay link above are 140k, not 140r. So, I guess my question is still useful... what would be the best available substitute for the 140r? thanks.

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    7. mirosol11 March 2016 at 06:26

      100R will be just fine. 120R even better if you have those.
      +m

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    8. J.D. Ryan11 March 2016 at 07:11

      I have some 100's and some 102's.

      Delete
  19. T22 March 2016 at 05:58

    That 104R is definitely wrong, it's supposed to be a 1M pop protector. I know it shows 104R in the schematic on Big Muff Page, but it's just a case of someone misreading resistor codes. I'm guessing someone saw brown-black-green and read 105 when they should have read 1M, and went with 104 because it's close and I guess more common. Who knows?

    Anyway, I stuck a 100 in there for sanity check and as expected got almost no signal though the circuit. Replacing it with a 1M of course fixed it, making for a pretty awesome muff!

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    1. Benagro31 March 2016 at 20:32

      Oh, this is interesting, and it actually makes sense. I was wondering why killing almost all of the signal input to ground and, on the other side, I build the Colossus but had almost no gain and low volume, tho I checked everything. I was going to unsolder the transistors, put sockets and check, but I'll try this first. The brown-black-green intuition is clever! :-)

      Only... how is it possible that someone build it before, verified it, without having problems?

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    2. Zach31 March 2016 at 23:05

      well since someone has now swapped the 104r for a 1M and it works as it should. i've corrected the layout. we are officially good to go for sure. great job benagro

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    3. Benagro1 April 2016 at 00:00

      Thank you, actually the great job has been done by T!
      I'm glad I can fix that one, I was sad about having a case of failure in making one of the circuit on this wonderful site!
      Although I still have problems with the Galileo... :-)
      Thx a lot for your work people! And thanks to T!

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    4. Zach1 April 2016 at 01:25

      i hear you man, it happens to us all. sadly enough you'll find that there will be one pedal that you just cant get to work or work right. mine happens to be the catalinbread manx loagthan. i've built it 3x with 2 different layouts and nothing. one of these days i'm going to go back to it and get it to work.

      in any event i'm glad this one working for you and you're happy with it.

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  20. Unknown25 April 2016 at 18:46

    Why a on Off on switch? Does it mean that you have 2 diffrent sounds?

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    1. Zach26 April 2016 at 03:41

      check the video, there are 3 different settings. the middle position is off meaning that the switch is essentially not connected.

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  21. mardn20 May 2016 at 09:59

    hey there,
    built this one and its sounding great. thanks for the work.
    one little problem though...
    when turning the mids knob all the way up, the signal cuts completely out at the last position. do you guys have any idea, what could be the problem? i checked all the parts and wire connections and also did continuity check a million times now and couldn't find a problem...mh.
    cheerio

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  22. Benagro14 June 2016 at 08:15

    Hello everybody,
    I post another comment because I'm having a little problem with this.
    When I build it, some month ago, I tested it quite rapidly and everithing seemd fine to me, but now I took it out from the closet to use it and I noticed it sounds... muddy! I have to use it with tone and mid all the way up to obtain a barely usable sound. Lot's of gain and volume really loud, but really "closed" sound.
    I think it might be a cap problem, I double checked everything and all the values are correct, so maybe some component is not working properly somewhere, but I'm too ignorant to understand where I should start to check.
    Could anyone give me a help? Thanks in advance.

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  23. Andy7914 October 2016 at 16:03

    Hi to everybody. I made this pedal and it sounds good. But I have a question... I can't ear big differences in mid regulation... what can I try? Change pot.... change caps 22nF e 56nF

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    1. Zach14 October 2016 at 17:11

      Check your wiring. It should be noticable. I know the first muff I built I had the same issue, turned out I had put one of the switch wires in the wrong place.

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    2. Andy7918 October 2016 at 19:11

      Thank you Zach for your answer. I'll check wiring. But... I don't understand... how the wires of the switch can influence mid regulation? Thanks again!

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    3. Andy7913 November 2016 at 19:34

      Hi guys! Wich caps can I change for try to change mid pot range? Thanks in advance. This site is amazing!😆

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    4. Zach13 November 2016 at 22:44

      if you take a look at the schematic:

      http://www.bigmuffpage.com/images/schematics/Colossus%20Schematic.jpg

      you'll want to play with the tonestack values. try changing the 22nF connected to mids 1&2 and/or the 56nF connected to mids 3.

      Delete
    5. Andy7913 November 2016 at 23:10

      Thank you very much!!!

      Delete
    6. PETARD20 March 2019 at 19:41


      hello friend the problem I think is that the scheme is wrong, you should change the capacitor of 22nf to one of 3n3 to 10nf if you look at some BMF schemes you will see that the tone section only has 3n3

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    7. PETARD20 March 2019 at 19:43


      I also change the capacitor to ground of 10nf by one of 47nf following the scheme

      Delete
  24. Unknown11 July 2017 at 16:45

    Dear Rocket88, Zach and all others involved,

    I would like to thank you all for this amazing layout. I've build it and have enjoyed it more than i would have ever imagined! I've got some original muffs around....and this one knockes them ALL out of the park.

    The Civil war ones have always been my favorites. But this one has the mids control that makes it so much more usable. The tone control to die for. And the gain that can be really saturated, but also singing leads without having to crank the gain....WAUW!

    I've build mine with some 2n5089's. Q1-4 hfe 675 and Q2-3 hfe 720.

    But one tiny thing. The volume knob...is it really a 100k linear? Because mine gets unity gain at like 9 o'clock, and the real one has unity at like 1-2 o'clock. Any thoughts?

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  25. D. Garlans27 January 2019 at 07:21

    Just finishing one of these now, in the process of hooking up the led for the footswitch. It sounds absolutely badass. The mid switch is more subtle than I expected, so I have to double check I didn't make a mistake, but the mid knob is quite nice. I changed the clipping diodes to red and green LED's, and also added two switches to select led/silicon/germanium diodes for each clipping stage.

    There is an enormous volume difference, the LED's are massively louder, and have a killer, raw tone. The silicon diodes and germaniums have a very significant change in tone too. The EQ settings that you need are quite different for all three. I like having all the options though, the range of sounds is very, very wide.

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  26. cringe12 January 2020 at 10:03

    Has anyone dabbled in other diodes? I'm asking mainly because I'm down to my last 2 1N4148s and was curious what I could try for the other pair.

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  27. cringe19 January 2020 at 02:37

    Mine is up and running, like a few comments, the mids pot appears to do nothing. I tried 5089s in Q1 and Q4, then moved them to Q2 and Q3 (I only have 2 of them). Both trials made the sound a bit mushy. Red LEDs in D1 - 4 sound ripper. Waiting for 1n4148s in the mail to hear if there is much difference. Infra red LEDs in D1 & D2 pushed the clipping over the edge I thought.

    Various other diodes all sounded a bit less focused than the originals or the red LEDs. Good fun to socket and play though.

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  28. Mike Legris10 November 2021 at 23:47

    My mids pot was doing nothing until I swapped the 22nf for a 3.3nf. Now it's working well.
    Also the tone pot weird until I changed the 10nf cap to ground for a 47nf.
    I'm also not hearing a difference on the dpdt switch between the 2u2 and 100nf caps

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