Sunday 14 February 2016

Seppuku Space Fuzz


Rev2 addresses slight error pointed out by our friend Mr. Bond. Should not affect tone or behaviour too much..


56 comments:

  1. Love it.
    Is there any alternative to 1N5817s? (Just got 4001/4007, 1N914, 1N34a)

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    1. 1N914/1N4148 work much better than 1N4001 for the two that go to the inputs on the 386. I tried some 1n34a also, and they were very very noisy, but not in a good way. The 1n4001 blocked too much signal and caused a lower output volume as well as a darker, less distorted, less prominent octaving effect even when doubled up in parallel to decrease fwd voltage drop.

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  2. 1N4001-7 are fine. Both (400X and 5817) are barrier schottkys with only slight differences between them. 5817 being with lowest DC voltage drop. Since we usually draw polarity protection in series and use 1N5817 for it, i strongly recommend getting a bunch of them. They usually come rather cheap and can replace all need for 400X diodes.
    +m

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  3. Love this. Ordered the transistors and the he diode. Will try it tomorrow.

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    1. yes. so you're going to have a wire running from the board to lug 2 of the volume pot, and another wire from lug 2 of the volume pot to the output lug of the 3pdt switch.

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  6. How do this compare to the ampeg scrambler?

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  7. Just built this. Sounds like the clip.

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  8. Built it this morning. Got distracted by a fuzzhugger ab synth and a nurse quacky yesterday but it works a treat. Strong octave. Loads of fuzz.

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  9. It works well!
    2n5088 but not quite.
    long time to choose between 2n2222a (to -18) and AC 176.
    Second squander on volume, but sound awesome!
    He stopped on 2n2222a.

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    1. Cheers Евгений!
      I'll tag it right away.
      +m

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    2. 2n5089 working the same lot better specified.

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  10. Have parts on the way for this.I keep telling myself to stop building fuzz pedals and do some other stuff.lol!Well,I did build a Zombie Chorus recently,so there's that.

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  11. mirosol, I have the schematics for the Seppuku Mind Warp if you need them.

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    1. Post it at FSB. There's a thread with just speculation. It's supposed to be relatively close to Clarinot. Might take it on at some point...
      +m

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    2. Hey Casiotone1331 can you share the mind warp schem please?? Id be very interested to see it. thanks

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    3. Check the tagboard effects forum section. Posted it a while back

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  12. Is this layout based on v0.3 schematic from the FSB thread? If so you're missing the 6.8K to Q3 base, R8 on that schem.

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    1. So it seems. Thanks for heads up. I'll fix it... Should not affect the behaviour much.
      +m

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  13. I´ve just realized that haven´t got 6.8k resistors. Got 2k2s and 10k though...

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  15. Hi There! This was my second build and works first time! I find it much brighter than the video though - like the Unexpected Surprise with the treble boost on. I've put in a 220n in what I think is the input cap (the 100n on the node where the input is) and don't really here a difference. I've checked cap values and all correct. Is it meant to be so bright? and if so, what can i do to cool it off a little? What can I look for?
    Awesome site! Thank you

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    1. Also should mention that it behaves as it should except for the brightness

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    2. No idea of the cause. Just checked the layout against the v03 schem again - just to be sure... It should be 1:1..
      +m

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    3. May be lowering the cap that goes before 6k8 resistor?

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    4. I finally built it.
      I thing that highs and mids are fantastic, but this could be just the description of what I hear... There is a complete lack of lows, (nothing like the videos), but this could be useful for cutting through a dark fuzz or a cranked amp though.
      After buffers it sounds just horrible, losing all the attack to the point that it seems to fade in like when you increase the attack amp control setting on a synthesizer.

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  16. Or the 100nf cap that goes before Vol3 and after 1N34a diode...?

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  17. i cant make it work i check all the solders and stuff it only gives the clean sound:'((((

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  18. I have built this pedal but only when it's not engaged i get sound but when it's on i can only hear the scraping from the sustain pot when turning it. can someone help me?

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    1. Sounds a bit like a short (unwanted solder bridge) or some other issue.

      First of all. Your bypass wiring is ok. Second, the signal would be free to travel from the sustain pot to output, if it were still alive at that point. Scratchiness may point to you having supply voltage at sustain pot. Is the 10K resistor at the top row OK and really a 10K? Knife all the gaps. If that doesn't help, build yourself a probe to see where the signal dies. http://diy-fever.com/misc/audio-probe/

      However, it sounds like you signal doesn't make it from the switch to the first transistor.

      All this is just an educated guess, but should get you started pretty nicely on the debug session.
      +m

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    2. thanks for the help i will try and see if i fix it.

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    3. I found the problem(s) the 1M and 100nf doesn't continue the signal from the input and it doesn't seem like it's cold solder so i dont know if they are broken or something :/

      p.s. audio probe is the best thing i built so far :)

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    4. The 1M is a input pulldown to ground. That's there to prevent switch pop from appearing. Are you 100% sure the resistor is 1M? If it was by accident something like 1K, the signal would not be able to make it to the cap at all. You can try to remove that resistor completely and see if the signal runs to the Q1 base through 100n cap then.
      +m

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    5. Oh.. And is the cut between 100n and D2 good? A short there could explain your symptoms.
      +m

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    6. yes i'm sure it's a 1M i changed both 1M and 100nf to see if it would make a difference but it's the same still and the cut is good i will try to take out the 1M and see if it works.

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    7. it didn't work when taking out the 1M the problem is still there so i'm letting it be for the moment thanks for all the help.

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    8. i got the pedal to work the problem was that i put ground on sustain 3&2 and now when that's gone it works like a charm.

      P.s. if you can, change the layout so it doesn't say ground under sustain 2&3 it's kind of missleading for noobs like me :)

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    9. My bad. That was apparently left in place once i had moved the supply wires to the other side of the board - that label was left over and still there by mistake. Now removed.

      But. I think you learned a lot with this debug session... :)
      +m

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    10. yeah i have learned alot of stuff :) and i think it's kind of easier to debug now when i have an audio probe :) thanks for all the help :)

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    11. So I got the circuit together and it sounds awesome. However the LED on the board does not illuminate. What's the deal with the "LED +" on the layout? I took that to indicate the positive side of the LED is the right side?

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  19. Could someone tell me how to omit the LED & its Resistor from the board so that I can use the standard Offboard wiring from this site (Standard wiring link below)

    http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/offboard-wiring.html

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  20. Im sure its easy when you know how.

    But.....

    Where do you connect the other end of the LED To?

    (Im used to four offboard wires this has the extra 1 for the LED)

    Or alternatively,

    Could someone tell me how to omit the LED & its Resistor from the board so that I can use the standard Offboard wiring from this site (Standard wiring link below)

    http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/offboard-wiring.html


    If you can tell me how to do both,
    Then i may just learn something.

    thanks in advance.
    Matt.

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    1. Just wire it as per the diagram you posted but omit the resistor since it's soldered to the board instead of floating free.

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    2. The bit that I am not confident about is where to put the wire from the LED on the board.
      In the offboard wiring diagram I posted there are four connections:

      Input
      output
      9V
      Ground

      But for the Space Fuzz Circuit there are five:


      Input
      output
      9V
      Ground
      LED

      Where do I connect the LED wire?

      P:S Thanks for responding I was beginning to think I had a bunch of bits with no home.

      Matt.

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  23. Hi
    I've tried other transistor that I like, do you know how it is possible to make a switch between two transistor with a spst on/on? I don't know how to wire the CBE pins for switching. thanks

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  24. Hey built this today and it’s alive so verified man what an evil sounding fuzz pedal

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  26. A little late to the game but built this one today with exact parts. It's NASTY. Strange mix of a decent octave, fuzz, and even a noise gate. Thank you so much!

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  27. Finished this one. I find it sounds awesome on its own, but I get noticeable background static when it's in a chain of pedals on my board. Also, putting it near the start vs. the end of the chain seems to make a difference in the quality of fuzz. It needs a strong signal straight from the guitar.

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  28. HI, anyone know what watts is ok for the LM386? 0.5W ok or need to be 1W?

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