RESISTORS CAPACITORS DIODES
R1 1m C1 100n D1 1N5817
R2 1m C2 10n D2 1N5817
R3 10k C3 1u D3 1n5817
1n* (See mod
R4 10k C4 notes)
R5 10k C5 100n TRANSISTORS
R6 100k C6 1u Q1 2n2907
R7 1k C7 100uF Q2 MPSA18
CLR 1K Q3 MPSA18
HARDWARE ICs
PAIN SPDT on/on IC1 LM386
THUD C500k
LOUD A100k
When I was designing NO. I had several design specifications. I wanted it to be similar
conceptually to the Devi Ever bit, an extreme octave fuzz, but without copying it's
exact architecture. It also needed to be useful with just two knobs, and all the parts
needed to be 10X. So I went back to the same source that Devi stole their schematics
from, the Tim Escobedo circuit snippets archive. There I ran across the Rambler, a
quick and dirty rectifier circuit using a LM386 power amp chip as its amplification
source. Playing around with that circuit on a breadboard, it gave a very pure octave
but it wasn't quite as piercing as what I was hoping. That's when I added in the
multiplier and the input boost. That got me exactly into the range I wanted to be. The
three basic blocks remained the same for the rest of its development cycle and it
ended up coming down to the little details of what made it to the final build.
I did not want to have the toggle switch, It really messed with my initial vision of
having a two knob rock and roll device. It ended up happening because towards the
end of the development process I wound up having two different build-outs. One that
was much more fuzzy that de-emphasized the octave a little, and the other with the
most intense octave I could get out of it but with a good bit of bass cut. A friend pretty
much smacked me over the head for about 2 weeks just telling me to put it on a
toggle and let the player decide what they wanted. But I'm stubborn and that would
have required a 3pdt toggle and no way in hell was I having that uncommon
inexpensive part. My solution ended up being to ditch the original pregain control and
switch that knob to being a cap blend, and using the cheapest switch you could buy I
set up switching in between the two different values for the rectifier. With the switch
down and the knob all the way up you could have that Big Fuzz and with the knob all
the way down in the switch up you could have your cutting octave. However if you ran
the knob all the way up with the switch up it gave a very full bore octave fuzz that just
wasn't in vogue at the time but me and my friends really enjoyed. There are other
little pockets I explored but I will save those for the mod notes.
I do hear some of you heckling from the cheap seats, if you were trying to avoid Devi
Ever why did you use mpsa18 transistors? Those original fuzzes really shaped what I
enjoy about fuzz and even though you can plug a Darlington transistor into those
spots and get some even Wilder tones, the mpsa18 just has a ripping and fairly
compressed quality that just feels like fuzz to me.
MOD NOTES
****I originally designed NO. with a post boost blend going between a 1n and 1uF
cap. I really liked how the circuit sounded so starved of bass. However this did lead to
early versions having bunching at the extreme ends of the controls and not a lot of
range in the middle. I did eventually revise this cap to be a 10n, which gave the thud
control better sweep.
Different LM386 sound different in this circuit. I prefer the sound of the (now
discontinued) JRC NJM386. Really bright and gave the octave some extra bite. The
LM386N-4 sounds similar, not as nice of an octave but a bit more gain. LM386N-1 will
also work well in NO. DO NOT USE THE N-2 or N-3 VARIANTS. Your fuzz will sound
bad, and I will not be blamed for it.
I spent a lot of time futzing around with the Miller capacitor, C2. Most Devi designs
have a very large high-end cut right at the front of the circuit. This allows for much
higher gain staging without overwhelming the transistors. Play around with values
between 470p-100n to taste. Put it on a switch for “chaos”
I found that 10k was the most ideal value for R5 but you could go nuts and
experiment with values between 0 and 500k ohms. You could also just skip the switch
and wire this resistor as a pot, like in the original Rambler.
Try all sorts of diodes for D1 and D2. to my ears schottky diodes sound the best.
BAT41 sounded particularly good to me. Most diodes will impart their own magic so
it's worth socketing these and following your ears. LEDs will not work for this
application though.
Transistors will vastly change the sound of the circuit. Most of your usual suspects
will work, 2n5089, BC550, 2n3904, ect. Just keep your pinouts in mind.
Play around with C5 between 100n and 10uF
Replace R2 with a 2.2M resistor for more crunch
General:
The round pads on the right and left of the board are for your input/output jacks (Tip),
while the Square pads are for ground (ring)
The two pads at the top of the board are for the DC input. Round is for positive and
square is for negative.
NO. will fit into a 125b or larger. I highly suggest using top mount jacks for simplified
off-board wiring.
The six bottom pads are as follows: Guitar in (I), Board in (BI), Cathode out (L+),
Ground (BG), Board Out (BI), Amp Out (O)
There are many different ways to wire a footswitch, this is just the way I use the most
often.
