Messages

Did you have any success with the Acapulco Gold? Im still not 100% pleased with it and the reason is that although the original cleans when the volume on the guitar rolls off, mine doesn't. I've searched everywhere about that issue and can't find nothing related.
Any advise will be welcomed!

Thanks!
I expect a muddy sound with a 1M in the output, indeed. But my software said no. If I will build it I will make some experiment.

Kinda late response but, what software do you use?

This is a pic of the output stage of the schematic I used.
I replaced the C5 and R3 to 20 nF and 1M respectively.

Thanks for sharing your mod.
I thought the 1M in the output is a very high, so, did you noticed less treble? Do you remember the value of the ew output cap?
And I don't understand how you added an additional volume pot? A Pre-Gain how some mods I see?

At first it was pretty muddy. But then I finally used one of the equations I learned in highschool I thought I would never use:
F(cutout)=1/(2πRC)
I put the original values and then I replaced the resistor value and solved for the new capacitance.
(I don't remember what exactly I changed but I'll search and post them bellow)
So now the output is lower but it has the same frequency response as the stock.

About the additional pot you asked.
It's kind of stupid but I was in a hurry for a rehearsal that day and I just installed an new A1M pot after the original. Kinda worked for the rehearsal and didn't give it more thought after that.

After I replied to your post I went back and checked again the schematic - because even thought modded it I'm still not 100% pleased with how I interact with it - and found out that in the PCB I bought for some reason the pot was not connected to ground although it is in the schematic. So even if I was settings the pot to 0 the volume was still pretty loud. So I guess if I connect that to ground it will work better and I'll get rid of the additional pot.

Hope I helped anyway!

Hello there,

I was listening to Echoes some days ago and I was wandering how Gilmour got that seagull effect. With a quick search on the web I found that he was using an wah connected in reverse and his tone knob to create a feedback (or something like that, exact instructions here http://www.gilmourish.com/?p=754).

Any way, I was wondering what other crazy sounds you can achieve with using or misusing guitar pedals and guitar controls. The above text is a pretty good example to what I'm looking to see in that post.

I also have my own (kinda) sound I like to mess around with while writting songs that I think I have read it somewhere and I'm copying but I can't remember where.
So, I use a silicon Fuzz Face I've built, to max fuzz, and at the bridge possition on my strat I roll the tone all the way to zero. This gives me an even more  dark and distorted fuzz sound than before with more low and mid frequencies. I don't remember if I had the same effect on the middle pickup.

I would like to hear your own tips to achieve wierd (or not) tones that you like to mess around.

I removed the pins and soldered the transistor directly to the board. Still the multimeter shows 0V at the lower emitter or, I should say, the needle doesn't moves.

A correction to the above:
I desolder the jumper wire that connects the infamous emittter with the "gain pot and the needle is moving!

The bad news is that it reads 0.05-0.1V.
So at least I know the transistor is not dead.
But what can I do about that?

(and the second test)

It's at least possible that either the transistors go zapped or they aren't making contact with the sockets, also. If you have another way to test them I would do that, and I would consider soldering them in and verifying all the connectivity to them if they are still okay.

I removed the pins and soldered the transistor directly to the board. Still the multimeter shows 0V at the lower emittter or, I should say, the needle doesn't moves.

The photos below are from the multimeter I use and the manual with the transistor tests. Which one will sow me if they are zapped?
I'm thinking of buying a new electronic one which also has transistor tests.
(This one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/DT830B-Digital-Voltmeter-Ammeter-Multimeter/dp/B008RJQ33E)

[- Acapulco Gold]

- Acapulco Gold
I didn't want LM386 based distortion pedal, indeed this has two! But it sounds good. Maybe a bit peculiar distortion, I hope that the layout I can found it's not too much large.

I've built one. I bought the PCB from Coda Effects and it was pretty easy to built. I only had one problem with that. This pedal is stupidly loud. I have a 10Watt mini amp and even with the volume at 2, I could not play with it in my apartment. I finally got the time to mod it to lower the output. I changed an output resistor from 22-something-K to 1M and lowered the output cap to compensate to the tonal differences. Apart from all that, I added an additional pot for volume because the already existing one was not making that much of a difference.

If you ever built it I'd like to hear your mods (if you do any).

Happy pedal making!

Does "none" in your drawing mean 0, or just no reading? Does it change when you change the gain pot?

Yes there is 0V even if I change the gain pot.

It's at least possible that either the transistors go zapped or they aren't making contact with the sockets, also. If you have another way to test them I would do that, and I would consider soldering them in and verifying all the connectivity to them if they are still okay.

I'll replace them with some spares I have and if this doesn't work I'll solder them directly to the board as you said.

(Thanks for the help )

From the looks of it you need to make a connection from the anode of the diode to, what I am assuming is the pad for the middle of the toggle switch.

I have. It's the little yellow wire that connects the pad of where the middle pin of the switch would be to the diode.

take voltages on all pins of the transistors

The measurements of the transistors.
On the resistor there was 8.6V the same as what goes in the collectors of the transistors.

take voltages on all pins of the transistors and both sides of the 10K resistor

Can you explain me how I will do that?
Where will I put the ends of the multimeter?

You haven't wired it to a switch yet, right?

Not yet.

Thanks for the response!

[Hello there,]

Hello there,

I'm new to the DIY Guitar Pedal World (I've previously built a LPB-1 and  a Fuzz Face) and I tried to build the Bazz Fuzz with a modification I saw at DIY Guitar Pedals YouTube channel that adds a "Fuzz" control.

The basic schematic is from this website: http://home-wrecker.com/bazz.html.

I've used the v3 and I added a a switch to change between the 1N914 diode and an orange LED. I've drawn the final schematic as well as the perfboard orientation I made.
But when I tested it didn't seem to work. There was the exact same sound of the guitar as without the effect (the volume knob just adjusted the volume) but there was no "fuzz" sound.

(I know the transistors in the perfboard layout are the other way, they are the correct way at the circuit. Also I checked for solder bridges and there were none. Plus I replaced the switch with a wire to solve the problem first.)

Can any of you guys help me PLEASE??