Thursday 4 May 2017

Diaz Texas Square Fuzz

Another day another fuzz. While we have a lot of fuzzface layouts on the site, you can never have too many fuzzface. There seems to be a bunch of different versions, at least a lot of different colors of them. I don't remember where I found this schematic, but it's a pretty good sounding fuzzface, IMHO, that's supposed to sound like SRV's tone.

A description of one of the sellers of the pedal:

The Texas Square face was originally designed as a replacement for Stevie Ray Vaughn's fuzz faces, which were always dying. Cesar built his circuit into one of SRVs dead fuzz face boxes and Stevie used it until his unfortunate death.

The square face is NPN not PNP..it comes with two germaniums but it has transistor sockets and two silicons are included for more gain. They can also be combined, for different tones. Changing positions will also help!! You can really hear it on the SRV album "IN STEP"





61 comments:

  1. Is it me or is volume 3 not touching anything?

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    1. oop. i was moving a whole bunch of stuff around and forgot to move the wire. layout's been fixed and updated.

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  3. Well it works! Used some MP38s at first, both hfe 68. Sounded quite good, but perhaps a little dark. The some 2N1308s (I think!) with hfes around the 130 mark. Better, brighter but not too bright. One of the better FFs I have managed to build. :-)

    BTW it's 8x10, not 9x10. And I made mine 8x9 anyway. Fits easily into a 1590A. Thanks so much for the layout! Sounds great with my Strat.

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  4. The availabe option I got around here for NTE103 is AC187, I will give it a try since I have the NPN fuzz face version with germanium, and it's the most amazing F@kin' fuzz I ever built, (and there's not enough fuzzes for man!)

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  5. In the description it mentions silicon transistors as an option. Any idea which ones they used?

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    1. i'm not sure of the ones used in the Si version, but you can sub in any NPN Si transistor.

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    2. It took some searching, but I found out they use the NTE123A as the silicon option... be sure to bias your transistors properly by adjusting the 33k and 8.2k resistors.

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  6. haha, doesn't get any more "fuzz face" than this one, it's all the exact parts except the one resistor between both collector resistors

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    1. that makes a huge difference actually. it affects the output level and bias of Q2.

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    2. yes, i know. it's just funny that it's "based on a fuzz face" but it's just a one-part difference.

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    3. well, if you really sit down and think about it, 99% of the pedals out there really are just a few tweaked designs, ie 1 or more values changed or different transistor/ic. prime example is the venerable electra distortion. lovetone has made a mint on selling what is essentially the electra distortion with a few changes. or how many OD's that are basically tubescreamers, which is why so many reverse engineered pedals are simply YATS (yet another tubescreamer).

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  8. One of the best Fuzz Face I hear, sounds a lot like Eric Johnson.

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  9. Where is everyone buying NTE103s? I found them in a couple of places for US$10 each. That's pricy not knowing what hFE you're getting; certainly too costly to buy a batch and test. It would be cheaper to just buy the original pedal...

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    1. You don't have to use NTE103 transistors. You can use any NPN Germanium transistors. Building pedals isn't always about it being cheaper then buying the real thing.

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  10. Hi, this sounds great with MP38s at 57 and 65 hfe

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  11. BC109,s for me. Bit of doomy fun!

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  12. And with a 550c and 2n3904 it turns into a mellow overdrive

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  13. I hate to be a smart alec but that top cut doesn't need to be there.

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  14. Correct i noticed that as well.

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  15. I tried your suggestion Moda and it sounded pretty good. Right now i have a pair of BC550Cs in one and it sounds really good too. I don't know why, but this FF circuit has worked out better for me than most others I have built.

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  16. Hi Hamish. Whacked some 550,s in. Not bad. They tighten it up a bit to my ears.

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  17. I've just built this and it sounds great with a BC107 and BC108 but when I roll the guitar volume completely off I get an awful ticking/humming noise. Does anyone know what this is and how to cure it?
    I play a lot on the guitar volume so don't want to have to keep turning the pedal on and off when playing live.

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    1. Sounds like DC ripple/hum. You should add 100µ or 220µ + 100p caps from supply rail to ground to act as power filtering. Or you could power it with a battery or a well regulated power supply.
      +m

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    2. Thanks Miro. I had a feeling it was something like that. I will give it a try when I get home.
      Also got an OCD clone that I've just built and all of a sudden it has lost volume. Unity used to be around 9oclock and now it is around 2oclock. Could this be a dodgy pot or cap?

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    3. No idea about that. Solder blob moved inside the enclosure? Could be number of reasons...
      +m

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  18. Built this with 2-BC550c transistors and it sounds phenomenal.

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  19. Does unplugging the guitar from the input turn the power off on this build? In order to preserve battery?

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  20. This is my first non-kit build. I need help. I build this as is except for a trimpot in place of the 33k resistor and a B10k pot in place of the 8.2k resistor. I also used the offboard wiring scheme. I can bias Q1 with the trimpot no problem, but I cannot get a reading from the emitter of Q2. The collector and base both read just under the voltage of Q1 emitter's reading. I have checked and double checked and I cannot figure out what it wrong. Please help

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    1. I have also swapped out for a different Q2 transistor and same problem

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    2. Never mind. I figured out the problem. The third, un-needed leg of the trimpot was making contact. Now that it is tucked out of the way, the board works fine. Everything is biased and sounding great!

      Also, I should probably wait until morning before posting something. Rereading this, I confused Q1 and Q2 and collector with emitter. Maybe I shouldn't try and think after many frustrated hours of staring at a circuit. Sleep first, post later.

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  21. Any layout whhich comapring to Cesar Diaz Texas Ranger?

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    1. I want to know too, really interested in the texas ranger

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    2. The Texas Ranger is based on a Rangemaster circuit with an extra knob that lets you select from three EQ settings: High, Middle, and Low. The Keeley Java Boost is really similar in that it has a switch to choose between High, Middle, and Low and it also has a tone knob. The Catalinbread Naga Viper replaces the switch with a knob for more eq choices and instead of a tone knob it has a gain knob. I have a Naga Viper clone and I really like it because I can fine tune the EQ to add or remove bass, control the level of boost, and also add a nice dirty distortion. There are layouts for both the Java Boost and the Naga Viper on this site. Maybe listen to clips on YouTube and for both to see which one best fits your needs. I have never built a Jave Boost but the Naga Viper is a pretty easy build.

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    3. Diaz Texas Ranger schematic and layout:

      https://www.tdpri.com/threads/diaz-texas-ranger-schematic.1006122/#post-9618417

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  22. any layout to share which would be compared to texas ranger ?

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  25. Could this circuit be built on to a standard arbiter circuit board or is there a difference in the routing?

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  26. So, I'm a super noob and wanting to build this. What exactly does the "Cut" mean in the breadboard, denoted by the larger red circles? sorry for the silly question.

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    1. The stripboard is made up of numerous parallel rows of copper which go to make up the circuit. Where you see the red mark in the copper, you need to cut the copper at that location to isolate the track. The easiest way to do it is to use something like a 3mm drill bit and turning it on the copper until it cuts it all away

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    2. Bear in mind that when you look at the layout you are looking at what is the front of the board. The copper is on the back and so the board will need turning over to cut the copper. You'll have to be careful to make sure your cuts are in the correct location

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    3. Oh okay! That makes total sense. Thank you so much! :)

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  27. Any suggestions am I possibly doing wrong if every time I power the pedal on it blows the LED? It's sounds good, not much noise until I max out the volume, and then it gets really noisy, like current hum. Any help would be amazing!

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  28. For PNP I just need to reverse the caps and change the 9v with ground?

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  29. What voltages should I be getting on this one ?

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  30. Have to say on lower HFE Germaniums this sounds so good

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  31. How to tame super loud volume output from this fuzz?

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  32. Pretty new guy here...having trouble figuring out which way the caps go as it doesn't seem to indicate on the schematic like some of the other ones I've done.

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    1. it's hard to see but the grey part at the top of each cap is the negative side. So negative facing up for both caps

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    2. it's hard to see but the grey at the top of each cap in the pic is negative. So negative facing up for both caps

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  34. im a very very beginner :( , where is a output pcb? its a ground?
    thanks 🙏

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  35. hi thanks for schematic. can anyone draw point to point schematic with foothswitch and pots wiring? please guys :(

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    1. this is just a NPN Silicon Fuzz Face with one resistor value difference. Find any point-to-point schematic for SI Fuzz Face and use that

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