Clusterphuzz

[LaceSensor]

Not sure if this is really that cool to post here, but I have a couple of discussion points on this awesome pedal
So yea I made a clone of the Clusterfuzz from Function(fx)



Firstly, its really cool. Everyone that likes fuzz should probably buy one, or at least build one to appreciate it.
Lots of sounds from overdrive to Lovetone Big Cheese - its the closest I have heard to copping that classic sound.
I adapted the vero layout from a popular vero website, but expanded it to fit across a standard vero board and make it less of a squash.
Next up I decided to use vero mounted pots, but rather complicated in a sandwich fashion. Quite a few jumpers and a bit of head scratching, with a liberal use of DIYLC to design the board. Uses an onboard rotary switch too.



Worth noting early that I decided to ditch the no clip option having prototyped the vero to make sure it worked right and not really loving that option, plus something had to give because the mini rotary only has 4 options per pole.



As you can see in the pictures the sandwich is acheived with headers, and the pins are actually the inserts from a row of headers but removed from the plastic.
I had to drill the vero to accomodate them more snugly, and individually solder each one. Honestly the amount of time I have spent on this.







Because this was to be my coolest vero build ever I decided before boxing that rather than labels I would use the other pole of the rotary to add traffic light LEDs for the clipping modes.



Something I noticed from my initial testing of the verification vero was that the pedal is really bright. Maybe its my amp or maybe the vero/schematic that was traced is wrong. I think it doesnt sound this bright on the youtube videos I watched...but anyway...it is what it is for now.

So I did some experimenting with the cap to ground after the tone control. This lead me to paralleling a 6.8nf and a 10nf for a few combinations to darken the tone a bit, ended up with this as an internal dipswitch. Those extra few rows of vero came in handy!  At the extreme of clockwise, the same sounds can be acheived, but the roll off counter clockwise is more extreme. It would be cool to hear some thoughts on this, particularly if the 2.2nF indicated from the trace is correct, and how the value was arrived at. Other ways to add bass back would be interesting to discuss, too.




Im quite proud that my vero chops have stood the test of time; its not a medium I have indulged in much since the first year or so of building pedals maybe 7 years ago now. We are very spoilt by the PCBs available today.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the read, and to Bean, Pickdropper and CJ et al the Clusterfuzz is really great.

Ciao,

Ian

post script.

I think if I were to do this again I would have planned to do the LED indication from the get go, and then wire it instead of an indicator LED for the footswitch; would have been cooler in hindsight. Also, I reckon I could have somehow managed to "vero-board mount" the switch for the filter if I had been smart.

Thinking about the bass response, Im wondering now about playing further with the filter switch capacitors. Do the designers have any thoughts on the potential effectiveness of that?

[jubal81]

That is some seriously impressive vero work. Contest entry for sure.

[LaceSensor]

That is some seriously impressive vero work. Contest entry for sure.

Cheers. Im not sure anything I make is really worthy of celebration, especially the press-n-peel graphics were a bit shoddy on this one.
The sandwich is pretty cool I guess - probably a once and never again. I must have at least 12-15 in hours in this with the test build, de-bugs, modifications, additions, sound testing etc.

[jimilee]

That's so cool. I'd love to build one to honor those guys.


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[LaceSensor]

That's so cool. I'd love to build one to honor those guys.


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Yeah its kinda like full circle for me. Actually building an original design of bean and co, when I have been following their stuff for so long and been in awe of what they can do both design and execution. That and going back to vero, where I started out.

Its a great hobby.

[jubal81]

I love the way it looks. Color, graphics, knobs and the inside is 

Not to mention the indicator LEDs. WOw.

[jimilee]

I'm amazed at their originality, they are all a force to be reckoned with when you put them all in one room so to speak.


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[soldersqueeze]

I love this so freaking much! Excellent idea and execution. I'm going to study those pics and see what i can steal...
You the man!

[reddesert]

Nice. Board mounted pots are cool, board mounted pots on vero are impressive.

For connecting boards, apologies if you already know about pin headers like these: http://www.taydaelectronics.com/connectors-sockets/pin-headers.html (link to Tayda, but you can get them anywhere). They might relieve you of having to break apart and solder the individual pins. The normal kind would space the board further apart than your solution, I think, but with the right angle headers you could get them pretty close.

[LaceSensor]

Nice. Board mounted pots are cool, board mounted pots on vero are impressive.

For connecting boards, apologies if you already know about pin headers like these: http://www.taydaelectronics.com/connectors-sockets/pin-headers.html (link to Tayda, but you can get them anywhere). They might relieve you of having to break apart and solder the individual pins. The normal kind would space the board further apart than your solution, I think, but with the right angle headers you could get them pretty close.

yeah I did indeed, used them before for sandwich PCB builds, but its been a while since I built much I either couldnt find them or dont have any left
all my stuff from suppliers arrived and I didnt order them because I didnt know I would end up sandwiching vero together. then when you get the bug I find I have to plow on rather than order more stuff.

thinking on it a bit more though those would have left very little exposed metal to be able to solder in a way that would allow vero construction to work in the way i did with both solder sides facing each other...so perhaps necessity being the mother of invention in this case was the right way forward...ho hum

[m-Kresol]

great build and really impressive vero skills

[stringsthings]

Great build!  Super vero-skills.  I also started out with vero and have been spoiled by PCB's.
I just love board-mounted pots and doing that with vero is very impressive.

[juansolo]

Serious awesomeness dude! 

[LaceSensor]

cheers

[BrianS]

I believe this was maybe my second or third vero build and I was so impressed with myself when it actually worked right.

Really a great circuit and your vero skills are incredible.  That double board must have taken a lot of thought but one word describes it. IMPRESSIVE.