NPD: Fuzzboy v2
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- NippleWrestler
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NPD: Fuzzboy v2
The Fuzzboy first came to our planet around 2009 as a single knob experiment, it was at 'full everything' then just had a single volume control. In 2011 I gave it a rudimentary tone control (same as found in a Rat, aka same as in a guitar). Over the years it progressed into something that was rather cool.
In 2018 I released the Fuzzboy v1 - in the black box with the spaceman on the front and 4 knobs. It sold pretty quickly and there's Fuzzboys in about 20 countries around the world which blows my mind when I think about it seeing as how I'm just a naked fat guy on the internet.
After listening to player feedback and some painstaking R&D here's the Fuzzboy v2. The spacemen and saucer are still there of course, but the upgrades include:
- better power filtering, so it runs quiet
- internal trimpot for set and forget LED brightness
- hand-matched transistors
- a starve control that's optimised for all pickups
- a mids control to add/reduce mid frequencies
- a dedicated fuzz control rather than relying on the guitar's volume control
- hardcore bare metal enclosure
- gloss finish
It's a cool thing, folks. I even added a Southern Cross constellation to the artwork as a little easter egg, it's just by the spaceman.
It looks a little like this:
PCBs:
The LED brightness trimpot. Goes from eyeball melting to quite pleasant:
Testing. Random LED colours:
I'll get a video demo together when Nik does one
In 2018 I released the Fuzzboy v1 - in the black box with the spaceman on the front and 4 knobs. It sold pretty quickly and there's Fuzzboys in about 20 countries around the world which blows my mind when I think about it seeing as how I'm just a naked fat guy on the internet.
After listening to player feedback and some painstaking R&D here's the Fuzzboy v2. The spacemen and saucer are still there of course, but the upgrades include:
- better power filtering, so it runs quiet
- internal trimpot for set and forget LED brightness
- hand-matched transistors
- a starve control that's optimised for all pickups
- a mids control to add/reduce mid frequencies
- a dedicated fuzz control rather than relying on the guitar's volume control
- hardcore bare metal enclosure
- gloss finish
It's a cool thing, folks. I even added a Southern Cross constellation to the artwork as a little easter egg, it's just by the spaceman.
It looks a little like this:
PCBs:
The LED brightness trimpot. Goes from eyeball melting to quite pleasant:
Testing. Random LED colours:
I'll get a video demo together when Nik does one
- jeremyb
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Re: NPD: Fuzzboy v2
Sick! Love my v1!! Can't wait to hear this!
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.
- NippleWrestler
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Re: NPD: Fuzzboy v2
It's more vintagey than modern/high gain. Still has plenty of heft but it'll cover a lot of ground, and the Starve control opens up a whole world of gated splatty goodness. I guess it's more akin to a fuzz factory... Which is a 80% a fuzz face anyway.
However, the typical FF suffers from a lot of design issues that I don't think would be kosher today such as lack of power filtering, terrible impedance issues, a massive enclosure, not true bypass, only 2 pots, unstable transistors etc etc. The fallout cloud is a big muff clone with a Baxendall (same tone stack you find in the Xotic BB for example) tone stack, so it's definitely not like that and fuzzes seem to fall into the fuzzface or big muff camps.
Sorry, bit of a side rant. Suffice to say its a silicon transistor fuzz (hfe around 150) with a plethora of usable options and a host of modern day quality of life improvements.
- FuzzMonkey
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Re: NPD: Fuzzboy v2
By typical do you mean vintage Fuzz Faces? If so, they don't have any power filtering because they were powered solely off a 9-volt battery. A battery is the purest form of DC power you can get. As soon as you add a DC power jack, I agree, that you need some solid power filtering. Any pedal that uses has a battery option, especially these days, or is powered by mains power directly belongs in the Dark Ages in my opinion.NippleWrestler wrote: ↑Wed May 18, 2022 3:17 pm However, the typical FF suffers from a lot of design issues that I don't think would be kosher today such as lack of power filtering, terrible impedance issues, a massive enclosure, not true bypass, only 2 pots, unstable transistors etc etc. The fallout cloud is a big muff clone with a Baxendall (same tone stack you find in the Xotic BB for example) tone stack, so it's definitely not like that and fuzzes seem to fall into the fuzzface or big muff camps.
Sorry, bit of a side rant. Suffice to say its a silicon transistor fuzz (hfe around 150) with a plethora of usable options and a host of modern day quality of life improvements.
The impedance issue isn't ideal and is a quirk of its design but it is part of the character of the Fuzz Face. Two pots aren't a bad thing either. Again, my opinion. And I believe that even the original 60s version was true bypass (correct me if I am wrong); one of the first pedals, if not the first pedals to have this feature.
- NippleWrestler
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- FuzzMonkey
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Re: NPD: Fuzzboy v2
Exactly. It's all just a matter of perspective.NippleWrestler wrote: ↑Wed May 18, 2022 4:18 pm One person's quirk is another person's flaw I suppose.
- hercules
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Re: NPD: Fuzzboy v2
Thanks for your answer. Yes, the Fallout Cloud is to satisfy my Muff preferences, but every now and again I feel like I should enjoy a Fuzzface. Having to go totally first in the chain is a big killer for me. I was curious about the Benson solution, which sounds like a different approach to solving the issues you described. The one I have is definitely lower gain. This sounds very cool...NippleWrestler wrote: ↑Wed May 18, 2022 3:17 pmIt's more vintagey than modern/high gain. Still has plenty of heft but it'll cover a lot of ground, and the Starve control opens up a whole world of gated splatty goodness. I guess it's more akin to a fuzz factory... Which is a 80% a fuzz face anyway.
However, the typical FF suffers from a lot of design issues that I don't think would be kosher today such as lack of power filtering, terrible impedance issues, a massive enclosure, not true bypass, only 2 pots, unstable transistors etc etc. The fallout cloud is a big muff clone with a Baxendall (same tone stack you find in the Xotic BB for example) tone stack, so it's definitely not like that and fuzzes seem to fall into the fuzzface or big muff camps.
Sorry, bit of a side rant. Suffice to say its a silicon transistor fuzz (hfe around 150) with a plethora of usable options and a host of modern day quality of life improvements.
- FuzzMonkey
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- NippleWrestler
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Re: NPD: Fuzzboy v2
No pedal is for everyone man. I personally can't stand tubescreamers so I know where you're coming from with your feelings regarding supposed essential pedals.hercules wrote: ↑Wed May 18, 2022 4:34 pmThanks for your answer. Yes, the Fallout Cloud is to satisfy my Muff preferences, but every now and again I feel like I should enjoy a Fuzzface. Having to go totally first in the chain is a big killer for me. I was curious about the Benson solution, which sounds like a different approach to solving the issues you described. The one I have is definitely lower gain. This sounds very cool...NippleWrestler wrote: ↑Wed May 18, 2022 3:17 pmIt's more vintagey than modern/high gain. Still has plenty of heft but it'll cover a lot of ground, and the Starve control opens up a whole world of gated splatty goodness. I guess it's more akin to a fuzz factory... Which is a 80% a fuzz face anyway.
However, the typical FF suffers from a lot of design issues that I don't think would be kosher today such as lack of power filtering, terrible impedance issues, a massive enclosure, not true bypass, only 2 pots, unstable transistors etc etc. The fallout cloud is a big muff clone with a Baxendall (same tone stack you find in the Xotic BB for example) tone stack, so it's definitely not like that and fuzzes seem to fall into the fuzzface or big muff camps.
Sorry, bit of a side rant. Suffice to say its a silicon transistor fuzz (hfe around 150) with a plethora of usable options and a host of modern day quality of life improvements.
I will say that all classic pedals serve as great building blocks for better things though so there might be a derivative out there that tickles your pickle. The Fuzzboy here definitely has more DNA shared with a fuzzface than anything else, but does a whole lot more in a pedalboard friendly way.
Keep an eye out for the inevitable video.
- jeremyb
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Re: NPD: Fuzzboy v2
The starve control is awesome, can get those Velcro gated Jack White / Matt Bellamy tones, yummo!
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.
- Reg18
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Re: NPD: Fuzzboy v2
Without getting into a debate about Vintage vs modern progress, I find the majority of the people contacting me
Want to try a vintage Fuzz Face or Tone Bender that is as authentic to how it was in the 60s as possible but happy to accept modern power jack (but others only want battery still) if I offer EQ options or bias controls etc often they prefer to keep it simple, some prefer the later but they are more likely to buy something that has already had the upgrades like yours. I think your one is a perfect example of making a pedal meet all the modern players needs, I doubt the Vintage style fuzz’s are even used for many gigs.
I’d like to experiment with a pickup simulator in the fuzz face circuit, I don’t like how a buffer effects it but the pickup simulator might be the next logical step to upgrade it for a modern player.
I really like the flexibility of fuzz boy 2, it would be perfect for gigging and could be adjusted to suit most backline I’d say.
Nice job! And I really respect all your R&D on this, I’m
Always surprised how many quality builders there are around.
Want to try a vintage Fuzz Face or Tone Bender that is as authentic to how it was in the 60s as possible but happy to accept modern power jack (but others only want battery still) if I offer EQ options or bias controls etc often they prefer to keep it simple, some prefer the later but they are more likely to buy something that has already had the upgrades like yours. I think your one is a perfect example of making a pedal meet all the modern players needs, I doubt the Vintage style fuzz’s are even used for many gigs.
I’d like to experiment with a pickup simulator in the fuzz face circuit, I don’t like how a buffer effects it but the pickup simulator might be the next logical step to upgrade it for a modern player.
I really like the flexibility of fuzz boy 2, it would be perfect for gigging and could be adjusted to suit most backline I’d say.
Nice job! And I really respect all your R&D on this, I’m
Always surprised how many quality builders there are around.
- FuzzMonkey
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Re: NPD: Fuzzboy v2
I'm glad I am not the only one who feels that way about Tube Screamers.NippleWrestler wrote: ↑Wed May 18, 2022 4:51 pm No pedal is for everyone man. I personally can't stand tubescreamers so I know where you're coming from with your feelings regarding supposed essential pedals.
- FuzzMonkey
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Re: NPD: Fuzzboy v2
Well said Reg.Reg18 wrote: ↑Wed May 18, 2022 4:55 pm Without getting into a debate about Vintage vs modern progress, I find the majority of the people contacting me
Want to try a vintage Fuzz Face or Tone Bender that is as authentic to how it was in the 60s as possible but happy to accept modern power jack (but others only want battery still) if I offer EQ options or bias controls etc often they prefer to keep it simple, some prefer the later but they are more likely to buy something that has already had the upgrades like yours. I think your one is a perfect example of making a pedal meet all the modern players needs, I doubt the Vintage style fuzz’s are even used for many gigs.
I’d like to experiment with a pickup simulator in the fuzz face circuit, I don’t like how a buffer effects it but the pickup simulator might be the next logical step to upgrade it for a modern player.
I really like the flexibility of fuzz boy 2, it would be perfect for gigging and could be adjusted to suit most backline I’d say.
Nice job! And I really respect all your R&D on this, I’m
Always surprised how many quality builders there are around.
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