>>> Sparkle Face Research Project <<<

[BONEHEAD]

whaaaaat......you just played The Fuzz Sound i have buzzing inside my head!

[ak47]

whaaaaat......you just played The Fuzz Sound i have buzzing inside my head!

Haha.. crazy isn't it!?!

Just saw this article published.. very timely.. although fuzz is always timely right?

[BJF]

Here we go!

So.. Fender Telecaster - BJFe Sparkle Face - Hiwatt DR103 - Marshall 4x12

Important point (!) the knobs on the pedal did not move AT ALL! Just the controls on the guitar at work here (and the hands too of course )

I found excellent distortions, shimmering cleans and thick fuzz tones all on just one setting.. a jaw dropping pedal!! Think psych, punk & platform shoes

Please discuss!

Hi,

I can tell from the entry chord

OH and the platform shoes I once had may be long gone by now

However for those inclined and do not want to go all 70's:
http://www.alliebee.ca/blog/2011/10/03/ ... orm-shoes/

Have fun
BJ

[zhivago]

Very cool clip!

Out of curiosity, where were the knobs set at?

Is this the maximum amount of fuzz available?

It is definitely very musical sounding...I love the harmonic decay that I hear.

Some really cool sounds when it sounds clearer as well

[ak47]

Thx Zhivago!

The fuzz and saturation controls were all the way up and the volume at around 11 o'clock. The Hiwatt was pushing a fair bit of air but not completely dimed.. (haha.. yikes!!) the guitar starts with the volume at about 85% and the tone all the way up.

I must say that this pedal does the clean up thing that people (myself included) go on and on about but rarely seem to find.. there is a lovely flavour that seems to increase within the mid/upper frequencies when the volume rolls back.. remarkable. My guess is that this enables the volume control taper to start fuzzed to the max, move back into distortion and crunch territory through to that deliciously bouncy clean (that I hope came through in the clip) with such assertive ease. I'm sure BJ can fill us in if this is an affect of a new filtering design as I imagine it might be..

Hmmm.. are we starting a diy platform shoes thread too?

The art on the Sparkle Fuzz is way cool too

[zhivago]

Very, very cool!

It sounds great! I play mostly at home nowadays (my gigging days seem to be behind me nowadays), so I would be interested to hear it at lower volumes in person.

Bjorn's pedals work well at most sound levels, I find, so I think this one's gonna be great!!

[BJF]

Hi there,

And so the first Sparkle Faces are on their way

Right so AK47, I have made some special filtering but at the settings you used in the demo you’d hear that only that eq is more balanced as in no overpowering bass and treble slightly restricted in the Hi Fi range as above 10KHz but more importantly at the settings used what comes into play is the working point set for the circuit and I set it so that output can go from linear amplification or very close to anyway to full on square wave and specifically with these transistors- in the Sparkle Faces used 2N1308’s- I’d like to set this working point since that makes the decay of notes fall in a musical way. This is easily set up with a VOM by measuring the Voltage at Collector T2 at 4,5Volts with a 9V DC supply. It can be seen on a scope with a sine wave how waveform transforms from sine to square and specifically with Saturation at minimum you can see how square is symmetrical and remains symmetrical as Saturation is advanced. What this means in terms of sound is mainly noted in how a note decays and somewhat in the clarity of sound.

I’ll say that a while ago I found a pcb I made in the late 80’s and it was a leftover from a pedalboard on which the guy wanted to have a fuzz face and I built one but he went with the germanium version using AC128’s and that left the silicon version using BC108C's in a drawer from many years now a while ago I resurrected that and built a complete pedal for a friend and with that circuit I rather choose to put working point in the nonlinear region as it gave a much more interesting sound that way- yes I tried that with the sparkle faces but preferred the linear graduating into nonlinear over starting at a nonlinear working point. For me that goes to show that it’s not the part but the way you use the part to get the desired sound.

Some of the filter techniques used in Sparkle Face has more to do with sound at lower settings of Fuzz and Saturation- in an effort to make the control range be useful shades more than allowing just one setting.

As explained earlier this type of circuit can be set as in the video clip to allow a whole lot of control from guitar and hands, while the Saturation and Fuzz controls on the pedal also allow for more stable sounds and allows the Sparkle Face to be driven by wha’s and such or even to be used as a preamp booster if that is desired and as such it can overdrive distorted amplifiers

Note that the sound of the Sparkle Face was set on a very clean transistor Marshall of 140W’s with no clipping from the amp but instead my angle was to set the sounds so that fuzz could be turned on and off without heavy change in eq and also that the Sparkle Face would provide a strong useable fuzz sound into a pristine clean amp and also that Sparkle face would be a great overdrive for a distorted amplifier and that it further also should be possible to used at any position in a pedal system.

Oh and I was actually looking for a platform shoe smiley but had to settle for a fun link that I found when browsing for a picture of a correct platform shoe- those are hard to come by today I am afraid so might be best to go the diy approach on those platforms- joke wholeheartedly intended.


Have fun
BJ

[melodichaotic]

Thanks Bjorn yet again for all the great info!! Right, and excellent demo
Angus on dialing in all those shades of Fuzz grind and clean up with a most excellent
selection of assorted riffery And I wholeheartedly agree with you on keeping the demo focus squarely(any question on that pun?!? ) in the aural realm....we all know these traveling glitter boxes will look uber cool to fit the part.

Yes, I remember many years ago now, which has since become more realized information, a long time EE tech friend of mine illustrating on the scope the symmetry of the square wave when he then discovered through lots of trial and error, that in the MK IV TB circuit for example, that it was the Q3 slight leakage that truly allows that circuit to bias properly(and this is going back about 10 years ago or more)providing that super musical "gushing" fuzz that only 2 or three examples from over 15 or so versions of that circuit I had...and, he used in Q3, another make(not sure which), NOT, the STC"Top hat" transistor as found in all 3 positions on every original example I've had and many more I've seen...which drives home the point Bjorn makes when designing, is that it's not about the mojo part used but just the part/parts that will fulfill the tonal requirements and design parameters.

And it was a good mini visual education to see that verified on the scope which was a great connection for me at the time.

And yes, without question, ALL fuzzes sound and feel better when engaged via a pair of 7" platform "risers"

[ak47]

## NEWS FLASH ##

A notorious band of Sparkle Fuzzes has just left Sweden. Updates to follow later today. Stay tuned and stay in tune!

## FUZZ ALERT - CODE SPARKLE FACE - FUZZ ALERT ##

[BJF]

Hi there,

I am happy with the sparkle faces and they are sent

Have fun
BJ