@chuck
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The original versions of Barry’s Stage 3 and SHO-Nuf were 3DPT based. The current version of the Stage 3 is is pot mounted – which is not exactly what you are looking for but it is quite small and it is a truly excellent boost. I haven’t seen any other 3DPT mounted boosts.
Chuck
One of the Beavis mods was putting the 470Ω resistor on one side of a DPDT and a 1K resistor on the other for a switchable boost. Making the bias an external pot can be real handy for resistors that are a little fiddly and need frequent tweaking for warmer or cooler temperatures, different pickup outputs, etc. The 220p caps on the PUFF are optional for noisy transistors. The Build Doc refers to them as hiss filters and says they can be left off.
Chuck
Got a deal on a pile of PT2399s a couple years ago on ebay – would have been a decent deal if half of them worked but I ended up tossing the whole pile after testing them in a working circuit I originally populated with a chip I bought from Barry. Barry, SmallBear or Mouser.
Chuck
Not Barry, but based on my older version of the board (Stage 357) you want to wire Vol 2 as shown on the board (so that the wires for 1 and 3 cross) not straight as shown on the BD.
Chuck
In case anybody is looking, I repopulated the Roto Tone with a 15nf cap in position 3 and a 22nf cap in position 4. The 33nf cap I had in 4 would be great for a bass but not so much for a guitar. I like the current cap set (6.8nf, 10nf, 15nf, and 22nf) a lot. Playing around with the guide for a Crybaby 535Q I found a setting between the Frampton Talk Box and Jerry Cantrell that I really like a lot – now I need to figure out how to mark the good spots.
Chuck
Another nice build. Interesting change to the 5817 nice and clean for what is essentially a hack – going to have to try that. I’m curious about the way the 3PDT board is wired – for years I’ve been running +9v and Ground to the 3PDT board, the input/output signal and grounds from jacks to the 3PDT board then signal and power from the 3PDT board to the main board. Lately I’ve noticed a change in the build documents and a lot of folks running the signal grounds from the main board to the jacks, and in this build it looks like you’ve run the +9V and Ground from the power jack to the main board then out to the 3PDT board and it looks like all the signal grounds are empty? Am I missing some magic mojo here?
Chuck
Great build. More stuff to add to the list of stuff I didn’t think of (adding to the large, flat, red spot on my forehead).
Chuck
That’s nice. Afterblaster is a wah is interesting. Small Bear sells an Alpha 3PDT Long Bushing stomp (SF17020F-0302-24R-L)that I’ve used in a couple of wahs. It’s a little better than adding extra bumpers on a standard 3PDT.
Chuck
Thanks Wilkie. We’ll see how this one goes. Of course, with a Roto-tone I could have stock, fat, super fat, and skinny or ultra fat – hmmm.
Chuck
Can’t really address your question yet, but I have some OC140s and OC141s with hFEs in the 250 – 280 range. If all your transistors are already socked it would be worth a shot to try it out. I know I will when I get around to building mine – just because you planted that seed.
Chuck
I don’t normally revisit my own posts so often but I realized my long post comparing the different fuzz faces really isn’t very helpful. Thinking about it a little I decided to swap the transistors between my built by the BOM PUFF v.4 with the matched set of Russian germanium transistors and the modified version with the ball parked mystery and 2N1309 germanium transistors. The results were somewhat mixed. The BOM build sounded fine with the mixed set and the modified build did okay with the matched Russians but wasn’t all that impressive. Wheels started turning again – if lower hFE transistors didn’t sound as good in this build why not try some higher hFE transistors? Rooted through my stash of random stuff and found a pair of 2N404s with hFEs at 89 and 134. Popped those in (after returning the Russians to their proper place), tweeked the bias a little and all of a sudden I sound like Andy from Pro Guitar Shops (with arthritic, broken fingers)! Great wall of fuzz sound with lots of good solid, warm bass and good cleanup with the guitar volume with single coils. It’s a little dodgy with fake FilterTrons but I maybe just haven’t found the right combination yet.
Chuck
TJ – the jacks are Switchcraft #111X from Small Bear. They’re cost more than Lumbergs but are more solid. I’ve had some problems with the Lumbergs but none with the Switchcrafts.
Wilkie – I’m not set up to record well right now. I put most of my Fuzz Face style builds and a Roger Mayer Rocket FX Classic Fuzz on my board and tried to do an apples to apples comparison. These included a Shutone Fracas with BC108s, a Madbean Hipster with NPN Germanium AC130s (Q2 hFE is 120, had to cover Q1 with heat shrink to keep it from shorting), a Roger Mayer Classic (Early Version) built on the old PUFF v2 with 2N527s (hFEs are 81 and 115), a PUFF v4 with matched Russian Germaniums (a JB set) from Barry, and my London Fuzz-ish build on a PUFF v4. Set the fuzz pots close to the same (not quite all the way up) – except the RM Rocket FX Classic which has a bad drive pot that only works all the way up – then set the volumes to get roughly the same. Plugged in my home brew strat (Duncan SSL4s in the neck and middle and an SSL5 in the bridge; Super Switch gives me Neck, Neck/Middle, Neck/Bridge, Middle/Bridge, Bridge; middle pot is a Torres Mid Control and bottom pot is a master tone; also has a “Gilmore” switch with 22 and 47 caps for the tone) and started flailing away with the guitar volume at about 60%. Aside from the Fracas they didn’t sound that much different. The Fracas with it’s tone control and the 108s can sound similar to the Germaniums but wants to be loud with a real nasty edge to it (not always a bad thing), the Hipster with the AC130s sounds like a Germanium Fuzz Face (because it is) with a little extra noise (the board is designed for silicone trannies), the PUFF v2 Roger Mayer is a touch fuzzier than the Hipster and cleaner, the PUFF v4 with the JB Russians is more refined but just as fuzzy as the PUFF v2 Roger Mayer, with the fuzz/drive all the way up the two Roger Mayers are loud and nasty with the PUFF v2 Roger Mayer being a little more civilized and the LF sounds similar to the JB version with crispier edges but can hang with the RMs when the fuzz cranked with more mids coming through – but if I hit the strings too hard with the guitar volume way up it will tend to get honky/farty.
The PUFF v2 boards for 1590A boxes were neat and pretty much noise free but are kind of tough to use with tall skinny trannies in the smaller boxes, the PUFF v4 are are very quiet and easy to build – I’m going to need more since I’m not out of Germaniums just yet.
Chuck
Thanks Billy. That is indeed a dragon fly in the corner. Came with the craft stamp set I use for the labels/markings and it fits well in the corners. The ‘tb ii’ is gone at this point because the Color Box Pigment Ink needs to be clear coated before it is handled and I was in a hurry to get this one shot and posted so it wasn’t coated for the photo and my fingers were a little fat when I was handling it. I may try to put them back, maybe a little straighter before I coat it.
Chuck