FUZZ ONE USER GUIDE
The Story
I've been a fan of the fuzz face for a long time. In fact, the fuzz face circuit was the first circuit I explored when I first decided to take a stab at breadboarding back in 2009. I came up with several recipes but I've never released any of my takes on the fuzz face publicly. Until now.
With FUZZ ONE my goal was to get the bite of silicon with the creamy vowel-like lead tone of germanium while using all silicon transistors.
The fuzz face can be a finicky circuit to make work well in guitar rigs. It's got the dual problem of too low input impedance and too high output impedance. The low input impedance is what makes it "not work with wah-wahs". But the low input impedance is also what gives it its amazing clean up and touch-sensitivity qualities. And on the output side it can sound dull in a lot of situations. You have to set the Volume control high to get the brightness back but then it might be too loud.
With the Fuzz One I've solved both of those problems without losing the classic fuzz face characteristics—a thick, wide sounding fuzz with amazing clean-up from the guitar's volume control. On the output side, I've incorporated an extra transistor output stage, placed after the Volume control. This stage ensures a consistently low output impedance no matter where the Volume knob is set which means you can run any pedal afterwards and be guaranteed consistent tonal response. It also provides the final polish to the fuzz tone for a unique take on the classic sound.
On the input side, I wanted to be able to go from the classic response, warts and all (wah oscillation, over-saturated attack, too woofy with humbuckers), all the way to perfect wah response and tight picking attack response. This is accomplished with the Input knob which controls the input sensitivity as well as the input impedance. Lowering the Input and cranking the Volume allows you to dirty boost your already overdriven amp perfectly.
The transistors, capacitors, and bias points were carefully selected and tuned until I found the magic balance and response.
I'm excited to hear what you do with Fuzz One!
Rock on!
Howard
Controls
FUZZ
The sweet spot into a clean amp is from 2:00 to max. Turning it higher generates more bright harmonics. You can turn the FUZZ down and the VOLUME to boost a driven amp, especially when running on 18-volts.
VOLUME
Unity output is around 2:00. From there on up you can boost your amp. You can run the VOLUME low though and still get a great tone thanks to Fuzz One's low impedance output stage.
INPUT
For classic fuzz face tone, run this control at max. This could result in oscillating wah pedals or radio and hum when you turn your guitar volume all the way down. Fun! To make the pedal more behaved turn INPUT down. This will also help keep humbuckers clear and tight.
INPUT at full allows your guitar to fully saturate the first transistor, resulting in a thick tone with a blunted picking attack. Turning it down gives you clearer drive sounds and allows you to pick much harder without the pedal over saturating.
Another way to think of it—INPUT is pre-gain and FUZZ is post-gain. Work these two controls to find your sweet spot!
BIAS
BIAS adjusts the Q2 operating point of the fuzz circuit.
- For the classic fuzz face sound set BIAS to just barely right of noon.
- Set BIAS to 2:30 to get the optimum halfway bias point (4.5v) for the most symmetrical distortion.
- Below noon you can achieve all kinds of cool sputtery, gated tones.
Note that BIAS's behavior and range will change depending on how you power your pedal. Explore using different batteries to fully unlock all the tonal possibilities.
Always adjust VOLUME after changing BIAS settings—the output goes down with lower bias.
LED disable switch
This DIP switch (found on the circuit board) allows the LED to be disabled so it does not light up when the pedal is “on”. LEDs slightly clamp the response, particularly in fuzz circuits. You’ll get a more elastic picking feel, sweeter harmonics, a more 3D soundstage, and better note bloom with it off. I encourage you to remove the bottom of the pedal and experiment with turning the LED switch off. I'm willing to bet you'll prefer to go with no LED!
Directions
Power
Fuzz One runs on either an internal 9-volt battery or a standard external DC supply from 9-18 volts (you can go lower too if you want!).
Fuzz One is very responsive to the type of power you use and you will notice changes in tone, harmonics, feel, and volume. I recommend experimenting, not only with different voltages, but different battery types as well. It makes a big difference so definitely spend time experimenting with powering options.
To change the battery, simply unscrew the four rubber feet with your fingers to remove the bottom and gain access to the battery compartment.
Signal chain
Fuzz One has a low output impedance which means it is not picky about what comes after it. And you can set the Volume to any level and get a consistent tonal response.
Generally speaking you should not place buffered pedals before Fuzz One. However, turning the Input control down from max will allow Fuzz One to work with wahs as well as buffered pedals.
You could put boosts such as treble-boosters before it but amp-in-the-box style overdrives should definitely be placed after.
Amp settings
Generally speaking, the best response will be plugged into a clean, cleanish, or moderately overdriven amp. A good rule of thumb is—the higher the amp gain, the lower you set the Input control.
Guitar pickups
Fuzz One sounds great with single-coil pickups. But it also can sound great and articulate with humbuckers too. Just turn the Input control down until the picking attack is nice and tight.
Mounting to your pedalboard
All Mayasonic pedals come with four rubber feet that screw into the pedal and can be removed simply by turning them with your fingers. If you wish to velcro your pedal to your pedalboard, simply replace the four rubber feet with the included counter-sunk screws to get a perfectly flat bottomed surface for secure velcro-ing.
Specs
Input impedance
Varies with Input control. Turn Input down to increase the pedal's input impedance to work better with wahs, humbuckers, etc.
When Input is set to max the pedal is operating in classic fuzz face mode with a low input impedance of around 10k ohms.
When Input is set to minimum the input impedance is around 100k ohms.
Output impedance
Fuzz One's output impedance is below 10k ohms, no matter where the Volume control is set. This allows it to drive the input of the amp or other pedals with very little high-frequency roll-off loss. This makes Fuzz One unique among fuzz face-inspired pedals which typically have a relatively high output impedance, depending on where the Volume control is set, resulting in a loss of treble definition.
Bypass
True-bypass, grounded input.
Current draw
.4mA (LED on)
.25mA (LED off)
Power supply
Internal 9-volt battery
or
9-18 volts (lower than 9 is fine!) DC, standard BOSS connector, center-ground)
Sample Settings
Use these as starting points to find your favorite settings.
Classic Fuzz Face
These Bias and Input settings replicate a stock fuzz face.
Volume: 2:00
Fuzz: 3:00–5:00
Input: 5:00
Bias: 12:30
Humbucker Rock
Running the Fuzz knob full with low Input settings gives a nice and tight response for humbuckers.
Volume: 2:00
Fuzz: 5:00
Input: 9:00–12:00
Bias: 2:00
Is It On?
This setting is a great starting point if you want an almost transparent boost.
Volume: 5:00
Fuzz: 9:00
Input: 9:00
Bias: 5:00
Well-behaved Fuzz
Lowering the Input knob gets rid of the radio and hum when your guitar volume is turned all the way down. This also makes it work perfectly with wah pedals.
Volume: 2:00
Fuzz: 1:00–5:00
Input:3:00
Bias: 2:00
Spit-y Gate-y Goodness
Low settings on the Bias knob gives you those lo-fi, dying battery sounds - especially when running the pedal on batteries.
Volume: 3:00
Fuzz: 3:00–5:00
Input: 5:00
Bias: 7:00–12:00