Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: gwEm on July 01, 2010, 08:49:57 AM

Title: silicon fuzz
Post by: gwEm on July 01, 2010, 08:49:57 AM
I've been looking at some fuzz clips on youtube. its funny, but i definitely prefer the silicon fuzz tone. any recommendations for a good silicon fuzz? the mi audio ge looks good, for example. it'd be nice to use one as a fuzzy overdrive, with some bite, rather than a full on fuzz.

Thanks!
Title: Re: silicon fuzz
Post by: Denim n Leather on July 01, 2010, 02:34:50 PM
Check out the Durham Electronics Crazy Horse, the Fulltone Ultimate Octave, the SkinPimp Mk III, and the Death By Audio Fuzz War.
Title: Re: silicon fuzz
Post by: gwEm on July 01, 2010, 04:07:26 PM
the crazy horse seems pretty good. i should try some out - youtube has appalling quality
Title: Re: silicon fuzz
Post by: Denim n Leather on July 01, 2010, 04:14:45 PM
DO NOT GO BY YOUTUBE!!

I can get you good quality clips of the Fulltone and Fuzz War if you want, because I own those.
Title: Re: silicon fuzz
Post by: tomjackson on July 01, 2010, 07:22:33 PM

MI Audio?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrPgp77lGFs
Title: Re: silicon fuzz
Post by: d1dsj on July 01, 2010, 07:58:38 PM
I like the Keeley Fuzz Head, very tweakable too.
Title: Re: silicon fuzz
Post by: gwEm on July 01, 2010, 08:41:34 PM

MI Audio?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrPgp77lGFs

yeah it does looks good doesn't it.. do you have experience of it?
Title: Re: silicon fuzz
Post by: Denim n Leather on July 04, 2010, 04:58:15 AM
I was reamping a song demo with the Fuzz War today and thought you might wanna check it out.

http://soundcloud.com/phantomisle/exhortation-of-the-heights-demo

All of the guitar parts are the Fuzz War aside from the 2nd solo, which is the Fulltone Ultimate Octave. It'll be REALLY obvious when the UO kicks in!
Title: Re: silicon fuzz
Post by: HTH AMPS on July 04, 2010, 12:00:07 PM
gwEm, since you're a bit handy with a soldering iron, just make one - there is a guy doing repro PCBs for all the classic guitar effects for under a tenner.  parts will then cost you under £20.00 inc the enclosure and stomp switch.
Title: Re: silicon fuzz
Post by: MrBump on July 04, 2010, 12:12:18 PM
Have you checked out Devi Ever pedals?  Fuzz for all occasions...

Mark.
Title: Re: silicon fuzz
Post by: gwEm on July 04, 2010, 06:00:13 PM
gwEm, since you're a bit handy with a soldering iron, just make one - there is a guy doing repro PCBs for all the classic guitar effects for under a tenner.  parts will then cost you under £20.00 inc the enclosure and stomp switch.

well HTH, I was thinking of it since its a relatively simple effect. the thing is, theres a certain fuzz tone which i like, and alot which i don't like.. its a sort of light silicon fuzz, which is almost a bit overdrive like, or treblebooster-ish maybe...

when i hear a silicon fuzz face, and the player rolls back their guitar volume down a few notches - thats the tone i really like.

so anyway, knowing me if i start this project it will turn into a largeish R&D exercise I'm sure.
Title: Re: silicon fuzz
Post by: gwEm on July 04, 2010, 06:09:07 PM
I was reamping a song demo with the Fuzz War today and thought you might wanna check it out.

http://soundcloud.com/phantomisle/exhortation-of-the-heights-demo

All of the guitar parts are the Fuzz War aside from the 2nd solo, which is the Fulltone Ultimate Octave. It'll be REALLY obvious when the UO kicks in!

you're really getting the 70s thing going on there Ben! even your solos sounds more old skool.

i like the track alot, but it might be a but too much fuzz for the tone i'm thinking of.

the problem i see with a fuzz, is you can turn down the effect, but then the apparently can get quite dark
Title: Re: silicon fuzz
Post by: HTH AMPS on July 04, 2010, 07:35:18 PM
gwEm, since you're a bit handy with a soldering iron, just make one - there is a guy doing repro PCBs for all the classic guitar effects for under a tenner.  parts will then cost you under £20.00 inc the enclosure and stomp switch.

well HTH, I was thinking of it since its a relatively simple effect. the thing is, theres a certain fuzz tone which i like, and alot which i don't like.. its a sort of light silicon fuzz, which is almost a bit overdrive like, or treblebooster-ish maybe...

when i hear a silicon fuzz face, and the player rolls back their guitar volume down a few notches - thats the tone i really like.

so anyway, knowing me if i start this project it will turn into a largeish R&D exercise I'm sure.

ok, thats easy peasy - if you like the sound of a silicon fuzz with the guitar's volume turned down, you just need to add some series resistance at the input of the effect - that is all you're doing when turning the guitar's volume down.  start with a 100k pot and play with it from there.  there are LOADS of websites showing how to tune in a fuzz face, its really one of the simplest effects out there, but one with LOTS of mileage in it once you get started.

Title: Re: silicon fuzz
Post by: gwEm on July 04, 2010, 08:00:14 PM
gwEm, since you're a bit handy with a soldering iron, just make one - there is a guy doing repro PCBs for all the classic guitar effects for under a tenner.  parts will then cost you under £20.00 inc the enclosure and stomp switch.

well HTH, I was thinking of it since its a relatively simple effect. the thing is, theres a certain fuzz tone which i like, and alot which i don't like.. its a sort of light silicon fuzz, which is almost a bit overdrive like, or treblebooster-ish maybe...

when i hear a silicon fuzz face, and the player rolls back their guitar volume down a few notches - thats the tone i really like.

so anyway, knowing me if i start this project it will turn into a largeish R&D exercise I'm sure.

ok, thats easy peasy - if you like the sound of a silicon fuzz with the guitar's volume turned down, you just need to add some series resistance at the input of the effect - that is all you're doing when turning the guitar's volume down.  start with a 100k pot and play with it from there.  there are LOADS of websites showing how to tune in a fuzz face, its really one of the simplest effects out there, but one with LOTS of mileage in it once you get started.

in fact i might give it a go after all.. i just saw this on ebay and it looks entirely reasonable:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vintage-Fuzz-Face-Circuit-Board-Clone-Kit-/140422300165?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item20b1d24205#ht_2053wt_930
Title: Re: silicon fuzz
Post by: Denim n Leather on July 04, 2010, 11:21:19 PM
I was reamping a song demo with the Fuzz War today and thought you might wanna check it out.

http://soundcloud.com/phantomisle/exhortation-of-the-heights-demo

All of the guitar parts are the Fuzz War aside from the 2nd solo, which is the Fulltone Ultimate Octave. It'll be REALLY obvious when the UO kicks in!

you're really getting the 70s thing going on there Ben! even your solos sounds more old skool.
Thanks; It's a lot harder to do than it might seem. I've had to change my playing style quite a bit in terms of how I approach a song.

Quote
i like the track alot, but it might be a but too much fuzz for the tone i'm thinking of.
I'm totally NOT surprised to hear this. The Fuzz War is  LOT of fuzz!

FYI, that's with the fuzz only half way up; so you can still get a very subtle fuzz (why would you want that?? lol) to an even more saturated tone than what's on that song.
Title: Re: silicon fuzz
Post by: HTH AMPS on July 05, 2010, 10:29:43 PM
gwEm, since you're a bit handy with a soldering iron, just make one - there is a guy doing repro PCBs for all the classic guitar effects for under a tenner.  parts will then cost you under £20.00 inc the enclosure and stomp switch.

well HTH, I was thinking of it since its a relatively simple effect. the thing is, theres a certain fuzz tone which i like, and alot which i don't like.. its a sort of light silicon fuzz, which is almost a bit overdrive like, or treblebooster-ish maybe...

when i hear a silicon fuzz face, and the player rolls back their guitar volume down a few notches - thats the tone i really like.

so anyway, knowing me if i start this project it will turn into a largeish R&D exercise I'm sure.

ok, thats easy peasy - if you like the sound of a silicon fuzz with the guitar's volume turned down, you just need to add some series resistance at the input of the effect - that is all you're doing when turning the guitar's volume down.  start with a 100k pot and play with it from there.  there are LOADS of websites showing how to tune in a fuzz face, its really one of the simplest effects out there, but one with LOTS of mileage in it once you get started.

in fact i might give it a go after all.. i just saw this on ebay and it looks entirely reasonable:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vintage-Fuzz-Face-Circuit-Board-Clone-Kit-/140422300165?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item20b1d24205#ht_2053wt_930

yep, those are the ones I was on about - not bad at all considering the parts are vintage correct.

if you need a couple of BC108 or BC109 transistors, gimme a shout.
Title: Re: silicon fuzz
Post by: coelacanth on July 07, 2010, 04:30:17 AM
You might be interested in the Way Huge Red Llama. Discontinued but heaps of clones out there.

It's not a silicon fuzz if I recall, well, it's not a transistor-based design to even begin with - the 16-pin IC does most of the work.

But it's got a really nice fuzzy overdrive sound to it. Had great results with 6V6s and EL84s in the past.
Title: Re: silicon fuzz
Post by: peps1 on July 07, 2010, 11:31:09 PM
in fact i might give it a go after all.. i just saw this on ebay and it looks entirely reasonable:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vintage-Fuzz-Face-Circuit-Board-Clone-Kit-/140422300165?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item20b1d24205#ht_2053wt_930

Right, time to increase my prices then! ;)
Title: Re: silicon fuzz
Post by: HTH AMPS on July 08, 2010, 12:18:15 AM
You might be interested in the Way Huge Red Llama. Discontinued but heaps of clones out there.

It's not a silicon fuzz if I recall, well, it's not a transistor-based design to even begin with - the 16-pin IC does most of the work.

But it's got a really nice fuzzy overdrive sound to it. Had great results with 6V6s and EL84s in the past.

the IC in that pedal is a silicon transistor array (four transistors in the one package) - the pedal is based around the opamp version of the Big Muff that EH made at one point.

speaking of silicon fuzzes, I quickly threw this together for myself as I need one in my new band for a few songs...

(http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/9986/hthbigbeardsipic1.jpg) (http://img101.imageshack.us/i/hthbigbeardsipic1.jpg/)



Title: Re: silicon fuzz
Post by: gwEm on July 08, 2010, 12:59:32 PM
in fact i might give it a go after all.. i just saw this on ebay and it looks entirely reasonable:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vintage-Fuzz-Face-Circuit-Board-Clone-Kit-/140422300165?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item20b1d24205#ht_2053wt_930

Right, time to increase my prices then! ;)

Hi there Peps!
Title: Re: silicon fuzz
Post by: bucketshred on July 08, 2010, 05:41:18 PM
I was reamping a song demo with the Fuzz War today and thought you might wanna check it out.

http://soundcloud.com/phantomisle/exhortation-of-the-heights-demo

All of the guitar parts are the Fuzz War aside from the 2nd solo, which is the Fulltone Ultimate Octave. It'll be REALLY obvious when the UO kicks in!

Sounds like a chick doing an impression of Danzig. Cool!

Paddy
Title: Re: silicon fuzz
Post by: gwEm on January 02, 2011, 08:01:00 PM
right, so continuing my mission of experimentation for this period between christmas and going back to work:

i have just built a silicon fuzz face. its not finished since it needs housing, but nevertheless it is making sound. i quite like it, though having said that its a circuit you could spend hours dicking about with... which is precisely what i'm not going to do ;)

anyway, it sounds very good with strat leads, which was my intention. time will tell how often i use it.. or if i put it in a box
Title: Re: silicon fuzz
Post by: peps1 on January 02, 2011, 08:59:28 PM
What transistors did you use in the silly face?

Im A real fan of the BC108C transistors.
Title: Re: silicon fuzz
Post by: gwEm on January 02, 2011, 09:04:15 PM
What transistors did you use in the silly face?

Im A real fan of the BC108C transistors.

BC108C all the way :)
Title: Re: silicon fuzz
Post by: asianaxeman on January 02, 2011, 11:13:46 PM
I've just ordered a freekish blues coily fuzz - fuzz face clone from the states...sounds awesome...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ftPGxEFHQg