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FuzztoneThe following article was one that I wrote for a (now defunct) British electronics magazine called Electronics Today International, early in 1993.There was a free PCB attached to the magazine cover, which I designed (the hard way!) using tape and acetate. Sadly, I have no more of these PCB’s and I’m not likely to make any more in future (to this design at least). I offer this article mainly for interest and for those who want to try their hand at some DIY effect building. It might make a nice project for an older school kid or student with a soldering iron, or a curious musician that hasn’t yet tried electronics. Some basic electronics skills really would be beneficial here, so I’d suggest finding someone who’s at least a bit competent at it if you’re not, if only for guidance. There are books on this sort of thing, too. It’s pretty straightforward as electronic music projects go, though. I remembered that the original pedal sounded very good (it got dismantled years ago) so, having just rebuilt it recently to satisfy my curiosity, I can confirm that it sounds even better than I remembered! There's lots of sustain available, and it's very smooth and controlled sounding; yet it has plenty of character. It’s over 10 years ago since the original was built, and almost as long since it was last heard. Having enjoyed the fruits of other peoples’ designs in magazines and on the ‘net, I felt I wanted to give something back. I doubt that many people saw the article first time around anyway, and those that did were probably engineers rather than musicians! This design has not appeared elsewhere in any other product, and this is the one that I played to Dick Denney (Vox Chief Designer) that he showed his enthusiasm for, bless him. This was the best thing I did before Lovetone happened, and I’d be well pleased if a few of these "Fuzztones" got built and used around the world as a result of it’s inclusion here. I don’t plan to make kits of this design. As the designer, is my intellectual property and copyright, and therefore should not be directly "cloned" and made for profit commercially by other organisations. If others re-design or improve it by making drastic changes that's another matter; I would be far happier for someone to bring their own thing to the party and do it that way, if they must. Ultimately, I would prefer people to make this as a one-off for their own use or for a guitar-toting friend as a gift, that sort of thing; I think I’ve made my point! Dan Coggins, December 2003 PS: Please note that some internet browsers may need refreshing by pressing "CTRL F5" to reveal all the images. Also, the drilling details in Fig 5 show (incorrectly) that hole B is "18mm" diameter, when in fact it should be 13mm! Tip - the PCB dimensions are 75 by 38 mm. Images are not to scale - Good Luck! |
