The If 6 Was 9 is a modern interpretation of the classic late 60's, early 70's, Fuzz Face circuit with a few updates and modifications. At the heart of the If 6 Was 9 is a pair of hand selected, new old stock BC183 transistors. These transistors offer a great balance of soul and attitude producing a unique fuzz character that is rich and smooth with excellent sustain and exceptional volume clean up. Vintage spec carbon comp resistors further enhance the warmth of the core circuit while the addition of an external bias control and the 2-way tone switch provide maximum versatility and allow for quick adjustment of the overall fuzz texture. Although the If 6 Was 9 has a distinctly vintage flavour it is capable of generating an extremely wide range of useful fuzz sounds, from full bodied and round to more gated and splatty. If soulful fuzz is your thing, the If 6 Was 9 BC183CC will be a fantastic sounding and gorgeous addition to your arsenal.
100k from +9v to power rail?
ReplyDeleteOops. Supposed to be 100r. thanks for catching that. I'll fix it when I get home.
DeleteWhat kind of switch?
ReplyDeleteThanks
SPST. It got cut off from the note. I'll fix the note when I get home and change the 100k resistor to 100r.
DeleteI don't have the schem but the base of q1 doesn't seem polarized
ReplyDeleteI’m not sure exactly what you mean by this but it caused me to notice that the layout needs a link from Q1 collector to Q2 base and the output cap is connected to the wrong part. The output should come from the row which has Bias 2 on it
Deletespot on. i forgot to save the layout again after i finished the layout. thanks for the catch man. the layout has been corrected and updated.
Delete2n5089? or bc547c?
ReplyDeleteFew notes to fix (I'm new here so pardon me if I have mistaken anything)
ReplyDelete1. the 220 pF and 100 k in parallel need to be connected to the Base of Q1 (i.e., bump them up a row)
2. if you're going the schematic in the forum the 220 pf to the right of Q2 should be 270 pf.
3. More of a layout suggestion, but why don't you flip Fuzz 1 and ground. Not sure if it easier to build your way. But my suggestion would make the pot wires a tad prettier for box installation.
cheers bro on the catches. it was hard to read some of the values, plus i was moving stuff around and didn't realize i flipped the placement of those components. i flipped ground and fuzz 1 too, it's a nice suggestion.
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ReplyDeleteIf you read the notes you'll see it says BC183C, which are high gain BC183 transistors.
DeleteNo, you don't have to know the values, lol. In fact Zach why is it that some of the comments sound like it's your obligation? Anyway, Zach thnx for the post!
Deletethis one gonna be my next build, sounds great!
ReplyDeletejust a verified stands in my way ;)
thx Zach.
One last fix. The 220 and 270 pf caps need their values flipped. That should have no bearing on whether or not the layout works, merely a suggestion to increase accuracy with the as found schematic.
ReplyDeleteThank you for compressing the layout!
cheers man. you're spot on. updated the layout.
DeleteHey Zach, it doesn't seem the updated layout saved. Just an FYI.
Deleteis yours good to go Braz?
Deleteshould be updated now. not sure why it didn't update before.
DeleteEgon, I haven’t built this exact layout but tracing it by eye it looks good! I’m pretty sure that if you build this it will then be verified. Give it a go!
ReplyDeleteEgon, also take note of your bc183 markings. If there is an “L” at the end “BC183L” then the transistor pinouts may differ from those shown in the above schematic.
ReplyDeleteok thx, but i always run them through my Peak Atlas so it's never a problem.
ReplyDeleteMark it verified, Zach. Sounds great, the Bias adjust is pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for this! Would it be easy to change the bass-cut toggle to a tone knob for more fine-tuned adjustment? My one issue with the pedal is that it seems that sometimes there's either too much bass or not enough.
ReplyDeleteReally easy, like you don’t even need to change the layout easy.
DeleteLook at the DAM Red Rooster and copy the “Range” pot wiring
Just finished this yesterday, used BC547C's. Sounds killer!
ReplyDeleteThanks man!
Really nice fuzz Bias works really well you can dial in a lot of different sounds. Stayed with 2x BC183C worked first time great stuff Thanks Zach.
ReplyDeleteI have to say how much I've enjoyed building pedals thanks to your resource material on this site, but with regard to the "If 6 was 9" pedal, I have a silly question... what does the "CLR" designation on the resistor mean?
ReplyDeleteScratch that, I think I just figured it out, that resistor is for use with the indicator led, therefore the value will depend on the type (and brightness) of led intended by the user.
ReplyDeleteI hope I didn't seem too ignorant.
Hello there, it's a long time since I gaven't build a pedal, and a long time since my last question... Anyway, I haven't got BC183c in stock but I have BC107b, BC337, BC338, BC 547, BC 548 and BC549. I looked at dataxheets, but can't determine which one would be the best substitute, if any...
ReplyDeleteBuilt this and tossed in some BC108's. Sounds fine. Off to A/B it with the actual SolidGoldFX pedal...
ReplyDeleteA/B'd with the actual SolidGoldFX pedal, using a friend's collections of vintage Les Paul's and several cabs. This DIY version is close enough but lacks a bit of the low end warmth of the actual pedal. It could be that I used BC108's. Regardless, he and I both agreed the DIY version was a solid build and a top-notch Fuzz Face derivative.
ReplyDeleteI am an amateur from Japan. Where do I wire Sw1?
ReplyDeleteIf you read the first comment. It says spst. Which means it’s a simple single pole on off switch. It shouldn’t matter which wire goes to which pole.
ReplyDeleteOhh! Thank you so much! SPST!
DeleteSorry second comment!
ReplyDeleteWhat would be a good hfe for the transistors? Max for the 183C is 800 on the data sheet. 500-600 ballpark?
ReplyDeleteYou've probably figured it by now, but I'm posting for future readers, pretty much any NPN transistor will work in this, choose the gain range that you like. I decided to make it with BC183B at 300Hfe, I might even drop lower to BC183A - sub 200 Hfe. It sounds very full on, it might even benefit from a small resistor before the fuzz bypass capacitor to limit the overall gain (like Dunlop use in their Jimi Hendrix fuzz). IMHO fuzz face always sound 'gainy', you can get the same gainy sounds pretty much with low Hfe tranistors as you can with high, the benefit from going for lower is less noise, less oscillation. Higher Hfe can sound a bit constricted and 'sticky' to me but you might be actually prefer that.
DeleteIs there a schematic for this please? Cheers!
ReplyDeletehttp://guitar-fx-layouts.42897.x6.nabble.com/Solid-Gold-FX-If-6-Was-9-BC183-td40994.html#a40997
DeleteThe schematic link doesn't work anymore...
DeleteCan you put a valid link, please?
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For those that want a schematic: Its basically a silicon fuzz face schematic, no major changes apart from: small caps across C-B of the transistors, an external bias control and a switch between two input caps (a pot to blend between the two caps would be a bit improvement I recon).
DeleteThey released a MKII of this with a saturation and a variable voltage pot. I was wondering if I could hack around and incorporate the "Switchable Onboard Power" that you(Zach) made into this? What about sagging it to 5v? And ideas on the saturation control?
ReplyDelete