>>> Sparkle Face Research Project <<<

[cajone5]

I definitely plan to make one but life is happening and other projects take priority.


I agree with Don though -- DIY will not really threaten commercial production. Not a lot of money is saved and a lot of effort is required. Still I look forward to giving it a go at some point and will report back.

[BJF]

Hi there,

Yes the initial idea was to make all these fuzzes also DIY and that way also explinations on technical choices of things would be very natural.

I think it is very cool that I could get help in making to begin with the Sparkle Face a DIY with instructions and layout and the experiment with making instructions as clear as possible has worked beyond expectation
- I mean it is not always easy to explain selection ideas and trimming but I can say from the feedback - something this project is all about anyway- that all works beyond expectations.


Through the years I have mostly on line told about basic inspirations and that what ever part would do the job gets the job, but with this I try to get the whole flow of thoughts on line- and that is inspirational while it
reqiures documenting mind jumps from this to that, so please bear with me while this flows.

Anyway I hope more will build these and share their thoughts on sound and uses aswell as I hope those getting one I built might share their thoughts.

Anyway it's all great fun

Have fun
BJ

[BJF]

Hi there,

I am still on a fuzz spree and have done much more research and here are some points

I made a Sparkle Face with silicon transistors and upon doing that I decied to use BC109C and the circuit had to drastically change due to the higher gain of the transistors and the higher bandwidth and bandwidth restrictions could not be done in the same way as in Sparkle Face becuase then the circuit would oscillate I am almost finished with that and recently sent a batch of the Fuzz 109 to Don and much more will be posted on this when the second batch that is now in the air has landed.

Further I did some more experiments with the Bone Bender 1 and in that decided to change the input buffer from a germanium transistor to a J-Fet and could in that lower noise of the circuit and also adjust the input impedance to about the same as with the germanium transistor. J-Fet's were not around in 1965 or fuzzes of the 60's might have looked different ajnd I have also added a bias control.

I also made a replica of a fuzz I used extensively in the mid 80's. My unit is branded Melos , while Donner has one just like it but named Uni-Vox.
I found on this circuit that a rather expensive but very fine Japanese transistor, the 2SC2389 was just excellent. 2SC2389 was a extremely low noise transitor made by Rhom and is today very hard to find.
This is a transistor I have many times used in Wha Wha pedals to get the noise down so the pedal could be used ahead of fuzz or a distorting amplifier. In an upgrade to the circuit I have added a fuzz control that makes it much easier to use this circuit at high volumes.

Further I have also dug into the Bone Bender Mark 2 which is a circuit similar to a Fuzz Face albeit with a preamp and it has tremendous gain and so I made a version of this with an added gain control and an added Bias control and so this cicuit can give both super long sustain as well as gated sounds.

A good friend of mine and a forumite lent me part of his fuzz collection for inspiration and there are some really fine fuzzes in there and so I'll be diving into the Buzz Around too

I have also shaken the Artic White Fuzz a bit and added a complexity control that allows reducing complexity which makes it tunable.

Meanwhile I am working on getting the schematics completed with all I want to have in order to have them posted for those who want to DIY, and when that is done I would greatly appreciate any help in constructing instructions for how to build and where to get parts et.c. so that the DIY can go smoothly.

Now I am initially making BJF prototypes of the above fuzzes and likely some more and then we'll do DIY and then the more popular will see larger production at much better availability in order for anyone who wants one to be able to get one.

Thanks and have fun
BJ

[zhivago]

This is sounding fuzz-tastic!

I have often wondered Bjorn, how about a silicon Japanese-style fuzz with a switchable octave up?

I guess maybe something like a Candy Apple Fuzz, but with a second foot switch to switch the octave on and off?

Earlier today I was watching a demo of an original Way Huge Piercing Moose, which had the foot switch for the octave up, and I thought it was a nice twist to have as an option.

[cajone5]

Looking forward to more DIY. If I can ever get through the dozen or so builds I am working on I'm looking forward to making a sparkle face. Seems I'm always 6-12 months behind where I'd like to be. I have no idea how anyone does this full time and maintains their sanity

[Baggy]

This is sounding fuzz-tastic!

I have often wondered Bjorn, how about a silicon Japanese-style fuzz with a switchable octave up?

I guess maybe something like a Candy Apple Fuzz, but with a second foot switch to switch the octave on and off?

Earlier today I was watching a demo of an original Way Huge Piercing Moose, which had the foot switch for the octave up, and I thought it was a nice twist to have as an option.

something like a foxx tone machine would be interesting

[Baggy]

Bjorn, are we talking a Donnerbox DIY like with the buffer/boost pedal with a pcb. Even if it isn't I'm still looking forward to further projects.

[BJF]

Hi,

On DIY I think the Bone Bender would be easy to build on perfboard- maybe easier than using the pcb's I built them on- I used a pcbs that I had developed with Bill Sicaras to allow a multitude of circuits each needing a key on what parts should go in which holes and so I developed a key for models it would be used for in the Bearfoot line and the reason I did that is because somne of these models may see production in the Barefoot line. I'd say it'd be much easier to build on a perfboard- unless of course someone would like to make a pcb specifically for this. For the Cherry buster there was a specific pcb made very benevolently for the DIY part of the forum.

On fuzzes with switchable octave I can certainly think of some things to do and I have also made at least three custom BJF pedals that have that feature.

Indeed the Foxx is great fuzz with a great octave function. I have repaired a couple of those and am very familiar with the circuit therefore.

It could be interesting to make some sort of variant on that.

I'll have a look to see if something of that could also be done DIY and in fact I'd then like to make say the octave part as a seperate circuit or building block so that a DIY custom fuzz could use any of the DIY fuzzes and add octave building block and thus some unusual builds could be made.

Right so on Bone Bender 1 the circuit is now about locked to what I like and now remains to get the schematic up and hopefully in a few days.

Meanwhile I'll make some more research fuzzes of those models allready presented in the thread.

Have fun
BJ

[zhivago]

Great to hear your thoughts on all this Bjorn...fuzz is such a wonderful and seductive beast!

A pure octave-up function pedal would be very interesting indeed...Are you thinking about something in the lines of the ZVex Johhny Octave? (I know if has two clean octaves up, but only the normal one apparently is useful).

Very cool to hear that more fuzz experiments are in the pipeline!

[mrpicard]

As promised, here is the Bone Bender 1 Schema: