hello folks..i would like to build a fuzz myself.

Easiest way is to buy a kit from an online shop such as General Guitar Gadgets. Cheaper way is to source all the parts yourself, but it is a bit of a pain. Madbean is a good source for PCBs.
Fuzz pedals are usually pretty simple, so that’s a good first pedal to build.

 

There are a lot of designs out there that use stripboard (Veroboard), here's an example.....

http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2012/04/dunlop-eric-johnson-signature-fuzz-face.html

Try searching "fuzz pedal stripboard"

Stripboard comes pre-drilled and is often used for pedals etc. It can be a bit of a fiddle to solder and needs a little care not to "bridge" across the tracks with solder.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veroboard

 

https://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/PCBs/cat847125_954823.aspx

https://www.musikding.de/

Second site is a bit harder to surf if you are looking for just PCBs and not kits, but they have both, and even then it's by the company that makes them. You can do a search though.

 

"Dots and dashes"/"Manhattan style" is a method that requires only some small chips of PCB material, a bigger base of the same stuff, and some crazy glue. It's inherently a good way to get a quiet layout because of the built-in shielding of the large ground plane, which is beneficial in a high gain (fuzz) circuit.

This pic is a slightly complicated fuzz I've built, but a Fuzz Face is amazingly simple and I've used this method to make a couple of them. I highly recommend a germanium Fuzz Face, it's a classic circuit that sounds amazing, and there are a few sources for germanium transistors still.



Here's a Fuzz Face, Manhattan-style:

 

Musikding has a lot of good kit, quite cheap and fast delivery.

Je peux aider si besoin.

 

Lots of options:

1) buy a pre-drilled pcb (Musikding.de for example)


2)Since the circuit is so simple: no pcb needed, just straight point to point:
Like this:


3) or Manhattan style:


4) turret style:


5)stripboard, veroboard:


6)perfboard/protoboard:

 

Stripboard are the ultimate PITA imo.

I had less difficulty with my classic 30 ushape turdboard than building a simple electra distorsion. And I'm quite an experienced builder now.

 

BYOC kits and forum are a great place to start.

 

That's a NICE p2p layout!

And that circuit's actually about twice as many parts as a Fuzz Face - it would be very cool to do a FF that way!

 

yeah screw that. i just lay it out in kicad and wait a week for it to come back from china. that's how long it's going to take me to get around to building it anyway. laying out on a 100 mil grid in kicad and then printing it out and taping it to perfboard can work quickly if it's simple enough, but still a PITA. it's a good intermediary from laying out perf to starting to make real boards though, since you get gerbers out of it that can be fabricated if you want a real deal pcb.

johnny k, since you're in france just go with musikding. get a germanium fuzz face. 35 euro with pre drilled enclosure, comes with everything you need. they'll match the transistors for you, and you can always socket the transistors and put silicon ones in there if you like. you won't be disappointed (unless you don't like fuzz faces), and it should be easy enough to troubleshoot if you mess up.

https://www.musikding.de/The-Face-Germanium-Fuzz-kit

 

Hi.

Since you said it’s your time time, I’d recommend getting either a kit or a pre-made board & sourcing your own parts. Then, all you have to do is solder in the parts. Pre-made pcb & parts is a cheap way to go, a kit is slightly more expensive.

Some sources have been mentioned already. Jeds Peds is across the ditch from you too, in the UK.

https://www.jedspeds.co.uk/

And, I too think a Fuzz Face circuit would be a good choice. Both simple and classic.

Pax/
Dean

 

https://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/search?q=fuzz

from simple to difficult

 

Buy a bunch of cheap fuzz pedals and solder in/out components. Make a small adjustment and take credit for a whole new sound and innovative idea that took years of R&D - like JHS.

 

As mentioned, start with MadBean or GGG where there is support group, parts list, pre-drilled PCB, etc. Build a few of those and move to perfboard later where you will have all kinds of options. Start with low parts count build like a fuzz, treble booster, etc. for pre-ordered PCBs. On perfboard (tagboard, veroboard) the COT50, Echoplex Preamp, Les Lius are low part count circuits that sound amazing IMO.

 

A pre-drilled fuzz pcb can be had for as little as $5.00 usd, typical cost is $10.00 and even if you order all the other bits separately, it is normally less than a full kit, or rather less than $50-$60.
There are cheaper kits on eBay, but I've read reviews that they are more trouble than they're worth due to shoddy instructions.

 

https://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/
I started out with two of their kits and have since then bought a lot of PCB's from them.

 

silicon fuzzface on vero board is a simple place to start.... (it's where I started)