Help! BYOC Tubescreamer Build

Modern Saint said:
Two germanium transistors? Never saw the schematic. Irony is on an early LPB-1 (circa 77) it had just two silicon transistor's with the gain curve was linear. Fuzz face must be running assymetrical or blasting the hell out of the Germanium into saturation.
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yep, two transistors. the Tonebender is three, the Big Muff is four.
 
Goldtop11 said:
True. I mean, I've watched them open the Bonamassa fuzz and Eric Johnson fuzz, and neither of them had anything vastly different then that picture I posted. Obviously they're different, I just never realized how simple the build was. Those sexy finishes must cost Dunlop a fortune. :lol: Or at least that's what they want you to think, lol. :thu:
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Sounds like you should try going into the business if your BYOCs work out.
 
I also have a later generation Big Muff with less transistors and an additional IC. Gotta dig it out to tell ya what is on the board.
 
Goldtop11 said:
True. I mean, I've watched them open the Bonamassa fuzz and Eric Johnson fuzz, and neither of them had anything vastly different then that picture I posted. Obviously they're different, I just never realized how simple the build was. Those sexy finishes must cost Dunlop a fortune. :lol: Or at least that's what they want you to think, lol. :thu:
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Tone is the finish and the graphics!
 
Help!I'maRock! said:
aha.

my Foxrox Hot Silicon Fuzz was the same circuit. he made the bias a fuzz sized pot instead of a trimpot. all it does is starve the battery anyway. cool feature.
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That's clever. I might have to look into those. Or are their clones of that one, too?
 
jaxn slim said:
That's clever. I might have to look into those. Or are their clones of that one, too?
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it's the same as the BYOC. instead of a trimpot for the bias, use a full pot. also, he used BC109s instead of the 108. you'd have to find a matched pair though. good luck.
 
Help!I'maRock! said:
aha.

my Foxrox Hot Silicon Fuzz was the same circuit. he made the bias a fuzz sized pot instead of a trimpot. all it does is starve the battery anyway. cool feature.
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Just as I thought. Assymetrical causing the transistor curve to go non-linear and into either saturation or cutoff.
 
Help!I'maRock! said:
layman's terms please, or a longer technical explanation.
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oscillo-transistor-curve.jpg


Typical gain curves of either an NPN or PNP transistor.

The operating point is when your signal is linear the wave form is even on both sides.

thumbnail.aspx


As the signal is pushed towards saturation or cutoff (blocked in the transistor curve), one side of the signal begins to go into distortion.

Pt2DiodeSymmetry.jpg
 
ok, so we get back to a base definition of "overdrive" here. isn't the entire purpose of a fuzz/overdrive/distortion pedal to make either itself or the amplifier following it distort? and don't we refer to "saturation" as that singing point where the amp sounds like it's going to explode but won't?

i'm not really certain why "saturation" is such a problem. that's all i'm getting at.
 
Modern Saint said:
oscillo-transistor-curve.jpg


Typical gain curves of either an NPN or PNP transistor.

The operating point is when your signal is linear the wave form is even on both sides.

thumbnail.aspx


As the signal is pushed towards saturation or cutoff (blocked in the transistor curve), one side of the signal begins to go into distortion.

Pt2DiodeSymmetry.jpg
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Rofl, screw layman's terms! :spit:
 
Usually itself before the amp when dealing with a pedal.

*Distortions will clip the signal before hitting the amp. Signal looks more like a square wave.

Usually done with Diodes on the output of an op-amp.

*Overdrive will boost the signal and just take off some of the sine wave peak.

Diodes clip on the feedback part of the op-amp

*Fuzz's tend to be buzzy to me. I have never seen the output curve so I am not sure what is involved. But because the are usually npn/pnp transistors in the circuit, the transistors are being driven into saturation and or cutoff. Very different from just clipping the peaks.
 
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