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Saturday, 8 April 2017
Suzy-Q Harmonic Clipper Fuzz
John Fogerty's fuzz sound in a box.
Can find original thread, schematic and sound clip here.
MOSFETs are sensitive to static electricity therefore it's good practice to include a protection diode across the source and gate of the input stage. The original schematic doesn't have this diode, perhaps because the MOSFET wasn't exposed to the outside world as it is in this application.
One common method to protect stompboxes with MOSFET inputs is a 9.1V zener such as a 1N4739 with the cathode (stripe) connected to the gate. There's an open spot on this layout next to the input MOSFET where a zener could be stood up.
Well I just built this with 2 1N34s, 2N7000s and a random J201 and it works well - really cool sounding overdrive. A couple of points - it seems to like the 201 to be biased at 5V. It works just fine at higher voltages but is very noisy. At 5V there is plenty of level - unity with both gain and master at noon.
The other thing is that 1MB is an on-off switch as a volume! 1MA works much better. Maybe my 1MB pot was faulty but it really sucked as a vol pot.
I socketed the 2N7000s as I want to try BS170s next. With a Strat the dirt is quite polite. It took my P90 Gibson to get it to really break up.
I've now had a chance to play this some more... I like BS170s as a replacement for the 2N7000s but they are quite noisy unless you bias the 201 to around 1V. Why? I have no idea! But even at 1V the pedal sounds good. BS170s add some robustness to the sound - it's a bit less "lo-fi" and a bit tighter. Slightly more gain too. I still like the sound of the 2N7000s though and may go back to those. Hey - maybe I'll build one of each! :-)
I built this because even though I'm not a massive CCR fan I have always liked John Fogerty's Les Paul tones on those albums, and this pedal really gets you there. It's very much an overdrive, not a fuzz. The low strings stay well defined and dare I say twangy. It reminds me a bit of the Sonic Titan. Really fun pedal, and a great layout. If only I could get it a little quieter it would be a mainstay on my board.
This is the Suzie-Q Harmonic Clipper. The thread is here; http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=101178.0
I initially helped Jimi out with isolating the fuzz section, and there was the recovery section from the Gemini III fuzz, but there were different versions that evolved over time. I think the MkII version was less hissy. It really does have that Born in the Bayou feel though. The assholes at Tone Report went as far as publishing this as a DIY project without giving any credit to the people that worked on it. When Jimi flicked the light on them, they sprayed all kind of lip service on how there would be kudos given to the forum in the next issue, but it never happened. Bunch of blood sucking hypocrites. I've scratched Tone Report off my mailing list since then. Fuck them, and their free pedal give aways. But I digress. Great circuit.
Thanks Dino! I've changed name and link. Any news on the Guyatone PS-021? I also wanted to draw the Frostwave Resonator but can you check my questions in the Frostwave Funk-a-Duck comments?
Thanks Alex! It'll warm Jimi's heart. Kevin is still tracing the Guyatone, and I'm pretty sure it's sort of on the back burner until the DC-2 release. He told me that he would send the schematic my way as soon as he has it completed. I prefer to wait, rather than tear mine open at this point. Heading over to the F-a-D comments.
much more info here, and the final circuit as shown in the suzy q thread here on tagboard: http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=101178.0
I just built this one with 1N60P´s, 2N7000´s and J201. It sounds really great, but the bias-pot doesn't work for me. When I crank it the sound gets really low and broken. I will swap the B50k pot and see if it works better. The only changes i've done is that i used a 20k trimmer (instead of 25k), and a 620K(470K+150K) instead of the 640K.
I have changed the the earlier mentioned resistor to a 640K now and I also changed the trimmer to a 50k. Now it's easier to set the voltage for the J201. The bias-pot still doesn't work though. It does reduce the voltage for J201 a bit when you turn up the pot, but it's the same problem as earlier. And i think it is more noisy now, i hear the river... :P I think I'll wait with boxing this one. I want to figure out what's the purpose with the weird bias-pot, and i want to lower the fuzz-level and reduce the noise. With the gain at 0 it sounds great for a blues tone, with the gain at 1-2 it's awsome for soloing, but above that it's way to fuzzy for my taste.
Not sure to whom this is addressed, but the red squares are cuts. Which means you have to strip the veroboard on that spot (so that there's no continuity in the horizontal vero-line ). The black lines are links. What they do is connect vero-lines. Typically a wire or a cut-off resistorleg. Anything that would connect it. There is a great explanation written about all of this in the Layout guide you can find in the top of your screen.
made it brighter, louder, less gated, and a hell of a lot gainier. i use a vn2222 mosfet for q1, a GE ac176 for q2, and a 5088 for q3 also added the tone control from my monkey balls pedal, which implements a feedback loop and "fake variable cap" to attenuate some of the highs without fucking up the gain too badly.
removed the ge diode clipper between stages 2 and 3, it just killed the circuit too much. i've learned a bit since the original one i think. i moved it to the output of the circuit, and so far prefer either schotke's or plain old 914's. you may wanna either add a switch between the clipper and ground, or a resistance.. a 100k trimmer would let you dial in how much clipping occurs.
upped the gain of the chip, so now instead of 2x gain max, its more like 4 or 5x gain. the harmonics control really makes a difference now, and it can get VERY fuzzy. or can be turned all the way down if need be or for more of an amp sim kinda sound.
bumped up the final stage's gain substantially by changing the e resistor from 2.2k to 47r. you could also just ground it directly, but you probably don't need that much gain.
ditched the pair of caps between stages 2 and 3 as well, and made it a single .022 cap. .047 and .039 in series works out to almost exactly .022. go figure. ;)
switched around a couple components in the power supply as well, added another diode (yeah i know but i prefer this way... nothing tends to blow up, where as with a series diode the diode can fail and often does. by adding a reverse biased one to ground too an overvoltage or opposite polarity will just shunt to ground and nothing blows up)
added a bigger rfi cap to the power supply as well, and moved the ripple "choke" resistor.
i ditched ALL the fuckin snubber caps. no need for them. when i was testing stuff thru a little teeny amp, yeah, they sounded great to my ear at the time, but they really robbed the circuit of life pretty bad so i ditched all of them. the tone control works really nicely to do the exact same thing now anyways, so they were all unneccessary. the 100k feedback resistor on the chip you may wanna add a small treble peaker too, but i don't think its likely necessary.
so anyways... here ya go. the suzy q mk III kustom harmonic clipper
if ya set the attack about half, the harmonics about 1/4 and the volume about 10:00 it still really nails that green river sound, and if ya turn your guitar down its total suzy q.
but if ya crank the attack and harmonics knobs, it very much becomes a very "harmonic slurry" kind of fuzztone and can get ugly in a kinda beautiful way. the tone control can tame it down.
should have enough balls to kick any amp into overdrive.
put a fuzzface before this thing and be in guitar volume knob heaven. feels plays and sounds like you're playing thru a great classic amp.
funny, me ditching germanium from a circuit, huh? ;)
anyways... come meet the new hoss... similar to the old hoss, but more hoss power.
if ya build it and ya diggit, let me know. i'll try and lay out a vero at some point
Any particular JFETs recommended? Should they be matched at all?
ReplyDeleteAll the transistors are written: 1 x J201 and 2 x 2n7000.
DeleteNo matching involved.
Is sounding pretty interesting,thank you very much for Veroboard.
ReplyDeleteI have to build one when i find the time....
MOSFETs are sensitive to static electricity therefore it's good practice to include a protection diode across the source and gate of the input stage. The original schematic doesn't have this diode, perhaps because the MOSFET wasn't exposed to the outside world as it is in this application.
ReplyDeleteOne common method to protect stompboxes with MOSFET inputs is a 9.1V zener such as a 1N4739 with the cathode (stripe) connected to the gate. There's an open spot on this layout next to the input MOSFET where a zener could be stood up.
Well I just built this with 2 1N34s, 2N7000s and a random J201 and it works well - really cool sounding overdrive. A couple of points - it seems to like the 201 to be biased at 5V. It works just fine at higher voltages but is very noisy. At 5V there is plenty of level - unity with both gain and master at noon.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing is that 1MB is an on-off switch as a volume! 1MA works much better. Maybe my 1MB pot was faulty but it really sucked as a vol pot.
I socketed the 2N7000s as I want to try BS170s next. With a Strat the dirt is quite polite. It took my P90 Gibson to get it to really break up.
Thanks for the layout - I really like this pedal.
Cool! Thanks HamishR!
DeleteI've now had a chance to play this some more... I like BS170s as a replacement for the 2N7000s but they are quite noisy unless you bias the 201 to around 1V. Why? I have no idea! But even at 1V the pedal sounds good. BS170s add some robustness to the sound - it's a bit less "lo-fi" and a bit tighter. Slightly more gain too. I still like the sound of the 2N7000s though and may go back to those. Hey - maybe I'll build one of each! :-)
DeleteI built this because even though I'm not a massive CCR fan I have always liked John Fogerty's Les Paul tones on those albums, and this pedal really gets you there. It's very much an overdrive, not a fuzz. The low strings stay well defined and dare I say twangy. It reminds me a bit of the Sonic Titan. Really fun pedal, and a great layout. If only I could get it a little quieter it would be a mainstay on my board.
Awesome !
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis is the Suzie-Q Harmonic Clipper. The thread is here;
Deletehttp://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=101178.0
I initially helped Jimi out with isolating the fuzz section, and there was the recovery section from the Gemini III fuzz, but there were different versions that evolved over time. I think the MkII version was less hissy. It really does have that Born in the Bayou feel though. The assholes at Tone Report went as far as publishing this as a DIY project without giving any credit to the people that worked on it. When Jimi flicked the light on them, they sprayed all kind of lip service on how there would be kudos given to the forum in the next issue, but it never happened. Bunch of blood sucking hypocrites. I've scratched Tone Report off my mailing list since then. Fuck them, and their free pedal give aways. But I digress. Great circuit.
Thanks Dino! I've changed name and link.
DeleteAny news on the Guyatone PS-021?
I also wanted to draw the Frostwave Resonator but can you check my questions in the Frostwave Funk-a-Duck comments?
Thanks Alex! It'll warm Jimi's heart. Kevin is still tracing the Guyatone, and I'm pretty sure it's sort of on the back burner until the DC-2 release. He told me that he would send the schematic my way as soon as he has it completed. I prefer to wait, rather than tear mine open at this point. Heading over to the F-a-D comments.
Deletemuch more info here, and the final circuit as shown in the suzy q thread here on tagboard:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=101178.0
I just built this one with 1N60P´s, 2N7000´s and J201. It sounds really great, but the bias-pot doesn't work for me. When I crank it the sound gets really low and broken. I will swap the B50k pot and see if it works better. The only changes i've done is that i used a 20k trimmer (instead of 25k), and a 620K(470K+150K) instead of the 640K.
ReplyDeleteNo improvement with the change of the b50k.. i'll try to get hold on a 25k trimmer and a 640k resistor. I see no point having a bias pot as it is now.
DeleteI have changed the the earlier mentioned resistor to a 640K now and I also changed the trimmer to a 50k. Now it's easier to set the voltage for the J201. The bias-pot still doesn't work though. It does reduce the voltage for J201 a bit when you turn up the pot, but it's the same problem as earlier. And i think it is more noisy now, i hear the river... :P
DeleteI think I'll wait with boxing this one. I want to figure out what's the purpose with the weird bias-pot, and i want to lower the fuzz-level and reduce the noise. With the gain at 0 it sounds great for a blues tone, with the gain at 1-2 it's awsome for soloing, but above that it's way to fuzzy for my taste.
Enter your comment...bro what mean red square and black line
ReplyDeleteNot sure to whom this is addressed, but the red squares are cuts. Which means you have to strip the veroboard on that spot (so that there's no continuity in the horizontal vero-line ).
DeleteThe black lines are links. What they do is connect vero-lines. Typically a wire or a cut-off resistorleg. Anything that would connect it.
There is a great explanation written about all of this in the Layout guide you can find in the top of your screen.
What do the concentric circles located at Row 8, Column 8 denote?
ReplyDeletethat's a double link. so you'll have a link that goes from row 2 down to row 8, and another that goes from row 8 down to row 11.
Delete[IMG]http://i68.tinypic.com/25kkm0y.jpg[/IMG]
ReplyDeletemade it brighter, louder, less gated, and a hell of a lot gainier.
i use a vn2222 mosfet for q1, a GE ac176 for q2, and a 5088 for q3
also added the tone control from my monkey balls pedal, which implements a feedback loop and "fake variable cap" to attenuate some of the highs without fucking up the gain too badly.
removed the ge diode clipper between stages 2 and 3, it just killed the circuit too much. i've learned a bit since the original one i think. i moved it to the output of the circuit, and so far prefer either schotke's or plain old 914's. you may wanna either add a switch between the clipper and ground, or a resistance.. a 100k trimmer would let you dial in how much clipping occurs.
upped the gain of the chip, so now instead of 2x gain max, its more like 4 or 5x gain. the harmonics control really makes a difference now, and it can get VERY fuzzy. or can be turned all the way down if need be or for more of an amp sim kinda sound.
bumped up the final stage's gain substantially by changing the e resistor from 2.2k to 47r. you could also just ground it directly, but you probably don't need that much gain.
ditched the pair of caps between stages 2 and 3 as well, and made it a single .022 cap. .047 and .039 in series works out to almost exactly .022. go figure. ;)
switched around a couple components in the power supply as well, added another diode (yeah i know but i prefer this way... nothing tends to blow up, where as with a series diode the diode can fail and often does. by adding a reverse biased one to ground too an overvoltage or opposite polarity will just shunt to ground and nothing blows up)
added a bigger rfi cap to the power supply as well, and moved the ripple "choke" resistor.
i ditched ALL the fuckin snubber caps. no need for them. when i was testing stuff thru a little teeny amp, yeah, they sounded great to my ear at the time, but they really robbed the circuit of life pretty bad so i ditched all of them. the tone control works really nicely to do the exact same thing now anyways, so they were all unneccessary. the 100k feedback resistor on the chip you may wanna add a small treble peaker too, but i don't think its likely necessary.
so anyways... here ya go. the suzy q mk III kustom harmonic clipper
if ya set the attack about half, the harmonics about 1/4 and the volume about 10:00 it still really nails that green river sound, and if ya turn your guitar down its total suzy q.
but if ya crank the attack and harmonics knobs, it very much becomes a very "harmonic slurry" kind of fuzztone and can get ugly in a kinda beautiful way. the tone control can tame it down.
should have enough balls to kick any amp into overdrive.
put a fuzzface before this thing and be in guitar volume knob heaven. feels plays and sounds like you're playing thru a great classic amp.
funny, me ditching germanium from a circuit, huh? ;)
anyways... come meet the new hoss... similar to the old hoss, but more hoss power.
if ya build it and ya diggit, let me know. i'll try and lay out a vero at some point
peace
Wow, I built this guy, and it does indeed sound like Creedence!
ReplyDelete