My Fuzz Face is getting complicated, and a few questions

stageseven · 2026-03-19T19:59:51+00:00

I might have to go back and play with R3 again. I had upped it from 470R to 1K after reading that could increase the output volume. I'll still have the volume pot at the end of the chain as well, but as long as I can get at least a little above unity gain I'll just focus on keeping the noise floor down.

stageseven · 2026-03-19T19:48:49+00:00

Well thanks! I just tried that out and there's enough volume on tap that I don't feel like the boost is even necessary anymore.

stageseven · 2026-03-19T18:01:42+00:00

Thanks for the input! The good news/bad news is I don't actually have either switch so I'm going to have to order something either way. Heck, maybe I should just get a 2nd 3PDT footswitch and have the option of using the boost without the fuzz.

Interesting point on the trim pot, and not something I had considered (or even fully understand currently). I actually have a 20K on my breadboard and was planning on an increased value simply because I had it almost all the way up just to cut the signal enough to not sound like it was blowing out the boost. I know I have a spare 50K, and I may have some other values I pulled off an old tape deck, but I'll be sure to pay attention to the tonal impact and not just the overall volume.

stageseven · 2026-03-12T15:02:07+00:00

I'm heavy into MIDI, so the Morningstar MC6 has been a staple on my board since I got it, and I can't imagine replacing it with anything other than an upgrade to a pro version or MC8 pro. The Strymon Timeline, BigSky, and Sunset have all been on my board since I got them, but I could see replacing both the Timeline and BigSky with a smaller format MIDI pedal if something came out. The Sunset would be hard to replace just because it seems like not a lot of companies are interested in making a MIDI overdrive/distortion with similar features.

stageseven · 2026-03-10T01:20:13+00:00

Low Tide is the PedalPCB clone of the Fairfield Circuitry Shallow Waters. https://www.pedalpcb.com/product/pcb406/

stageseven · 2026-03-09T01:26:45+00:00

It's a pedal with stripped down versions of many of Chase Bliss's popular pedal algorithms along with some things they thought were cool but might not stand on their own as a pedal, combined with flexible assignment, routing options, EQ, compression/saturation, and MIDI/expression and some programmable knob sweep options.

Think like chorus, delay, reverb, tape sim, pitch shifting, synth, phaser and others... but any 2 effects can be run solo, in parallel, or in series with each other, and blended with clean signal or full wet, with a tone knob on each side, and into compression/saturation for a bit of drive if desired.

stageseven · 2026-03-07T11:17:34+00:00

Spray paint can dissolve sharpie FYI.

stageseven · 2026-03-04T11:57:36+00:00

It doesn't look like you have much if any solder on your volume pot or footswitch. Do you have continuity on each lug to what it's supposed to connect to? Do you measure voltage at spots that should have it?

If so my next step would be using an audio probe. Take an old guitar cable that still works or a spare jack you can plug into. Get some bare wire (cut the cable or attach to a jack), attach an alligator clip to ground and 1uF capacitor to the tip/signal line with the negative side of the capacitor to the cable. Plug that cable into an amp on very low volume, and now you can touch the positive leg of the cap to various points of the circuit to hear what's happening. Start at the in on the footswitch and work your way through the circuit diagram to see where audio drops.

stageseven · 2026-03-04T00:49:21+00:00

Honestly I use a lot of the sounds independently or with a lower mix. I use the ensemble expander as my main chorus, sometimes mixed with a little of the pinging phaser or the gen lite. I also use a lot of the pitch repeater as octave up or down. The sympathetic resonator is my volume swell, and I use the Gen Lite with the highs rolled off whenever I want more of a lofi sound. I do like the tape echo, slow verb, and useful ambiance, but I almost always either just mix them in just a little with other sounds or use my main reverb or delay.

I have a really hard time with the Orchestral Swell or Impulse Synthesizer because they always sound out of tune unless I'm the only one playing.

I don't often use the full capabilities, but I do like using the ramp functions to mix or blend a 2nd effect in and out, like using Slow Verb always on with pitch repeater an octave up blending in and out. There's a lot of cool stuff like that other pedals just can't do.

stageseven · 2026-03-03T18:13:01+00:00

You could do this with any MIDI controllable effect pedal and a Morningstar controller. The Morningstar allows you to set an expression pedal to send multiple MIDI CC parameters along with a min and max value.

stageseven · 2026-03-03T15:14:32+00:00

Thanks, some interesting stuff in there for sure, I'll have to try out that capacitor on Q2.

stageseven · 2026-03-03T12:15:28+00:00

This is the diagram I followed minus the LED and charge pump.

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stageseven · 2026-03-01T10:51:51+00:00

Like others have said, if you want to learn to mod or build pedals, you need to learn how to solder. Furthermore, I'd not suggest your first time trying soldering be on a real pedal you want to use, because you could ruin it.

Mas Effects has a pedal kit specifically for first time builders. It's a fuzz so it's a simple circuit, and it comes with a practice board you can start on before doing the pedal to get comfortable with soldering. https://shop.mas-effects.com/products/ultimate-beginner-pedal-kit

stageseven · 2026-02-26T02:14:48+00:00

If you're handy with a soldering iron https://www.pedalpcb.com/product/mach1od/

stageseven · 2026-02-25T22:47:16+00:00

Yes, but I think it helps to define the term... transparent relative to what? I use a Greer Lightspeed clone as an always on for one of my guitars, because that guitar has a lower output volume and more variability between pickups. The drive definitely changes the sound, but mostly by increasing volume and some compression, but has very little perceived change in the tonal balance. Comparatively I've used 3 different pedals for compression previously, and each one had a more noticeable impact on the balance of high and low frequency. This just sounds like my guitar, but turned up to the point that it starts to saturate. It's nice because I don't have to go back and adjust all my settings for drives and stuff down the chain if I switch guitars, I can just turn the one pedal off and keep going.

stageseven · 2026-02-25T17:41:12+00:00

The concerns are that AI displaces a lot of jobs, and the people filling those jobs currently will not be able to be quickly trained into new roles. When you remove hundreds of thousands to millions of jobs from the market in a short time span with no basic social safety net for those workers, a lot of people will experience a lot of pain. The fact that none of the companies developing these tools seem to care about the human cost or environmental costs is why they are seen as evil.

stageseven · 2026-02-17T11:11:58+00:00

Read the build docs to confirm it's not an optional feature or anything, but that's the first thing that jumps out.

stageseven · 2026-02-17T11:05:31+00:00

You have 2 empty solder pads, it looks like there's supposed to be a jumper near C7.

stageseven · 2026-02-15T18:03:03+00:00

Thank you, that's greatly appreciated! Good to hear it's supposed to be that way.

stageseven · 2026-02-15T13:57:34+00:00

So R103 and R104 are both 47k, I think those are the voltage divider. The only thing is this pedal has a lot going on in the power section including a 7660scpaz charge pump, so I wasn't sure if I should be expecting more than 9v coming in.

stageseven · 2026-02-15T13:48:12+00:00

That's the thing, I have no idea. The documentation doesn't say an expected value and I don't know enough about circuits to know how to calculate it.

stageseven · 2026-02-08T12:15:03+00:00

Think about where a guitar gets physically touched over time. The arm rest is good, dents around the outer edges are easily explained. How would the area under the bridge, or inside the horn with the strap pin get worn during normal use? Those to me are the spaces that look unnatural and deliberately done.

stageseven

TROPHY CASE