The Bends - NPN Pastyface - Tonebender/Soulbender, Audio Added!

[timbo_93631]

Really diggin this fuzz.  A mashup between the MKIII Tonebender and Soulbender parts.  Mainly taking the adjustable bias from the Soulbender but using cap values from the MKIII.  Not a perfectly matched set of transistors, but it sounded good on the breadboard and sounds good boxed up, they are Sanyo NPN germaniums from a 70's Bell and Howell tape deck.  I finished it a while back but hadn't posted it, it went straight to the pedalboard without time for pics!  Thanks to Haberdasher for yet another perfect etched PCB and a nice trade.

[stecykmi]

look at all that mojo, nice build!

[Haberdasher]

Wow timbo that is awesome.

what did you end up using for D1?

[timbo_93631]

1N4148, it worked well on the breadboard so it went in there with everything else!  I found some 1N270's at my mom and dad's week before last, but I figured that it sounds good as is so I'll leave it alone.

[timbo_93631]

[cloudset]http://soundcloud.com/timbo_93631/the-bends[/cloudset]
Soundcloud with fuzz at 50% on right speaker and 100% on left.  Each track is a single rough take while my boys were asleep recorded direct through Presonus 22VSL into Studio One Artist 2 with Ampire set for British Clean with British 1x12 II cab.  BTW, thanks for all the recording advice guys, still learning the DAW so I can teach my nephew.  This is literally my first recording that I brought all the way to mp3 with the new setup, sloppy rushed one take playing and all!

[timbo_93631]

Did another one with OC141's and some different mojo caps.  Love the fuzz.  Enclosure is PPP chocolate powdercoat.

[gtr2]

Love the mojo you're kickin out!


Josh

[timbo_93631]

I love the tone of this second one, but the volume is way above unity gain, have it back apart and semi breadboarded.  Not quite sure what the deal is because the Hfe of the OC140's isn't too crazy ~80 min ~200 max, and these are right around 120.

[timbo_93631]

Using the Vox MKIII values of 100k for R2 and 680k for R3 and a 100kb pot for the volume, but still retaining the bias trimmer  like the Soulbender everything is working really groovy now. 

[timbo_93631]

And now rewired after component changes:

[alanp]

Dude... that rewiring looks utterly insane. In a good way.

Did you used to work for Hi-Watt? Because the rewire job looks like that 

[timbo_93631]

Thanks!  That is a compliment and a half!  I love the way those Hiwatts are laid out and wired.  In a noisier pedal like a MKIII I try to use all of the lead dress techniques I have learned from amp building in order to mitigate unwanted noise.  Looks cool too!

[timbo_93631]

And another one.  More mojo yet, Love ERO and ROE parts, just got a big stash from a guy in Germany off of ebay.  I know some German that I learned when I was young but buying components in German on ebay was a new adventure...

[timbo_93631]

And another one, this is the last one built with the batch of OC141's I scored on ebay.  Keen to experiment with 139's and 140's now.  

[timbo_93631]

[soundcloud]http://soundcloud.com/timbo_93631/mkiiifuzz[/soundcloud]