This is another one of my trying to distract myself from the world and wondering what I can stuff a fuzz circuit into things ...
I was doing my usual "day off" going to the bank and the post office and ...
Anyway, there's lots of second hand shops near where I live and I saw his old 50's/60's Bell and Howell 624 8mm movie camera sitting there and my puny brain went "now that'd make a cool pedal"
The view finder was broken but the rest of the camera looked great. It wasn't tested or sold as working so I didn't have to feel bad about gutting it and making it into something new.
The back came off so you could put film in it and the mechanism looked beautifully made but as I took some screws out it was pretty obvious pretty much the whole camera came out of this beautifully made aluminium shell. The "enclosure" reminds me of the early Roland ones in cast aluminium with wrinkle finish paint.
I looked to see what circuit I could use and what I needed to fit without too much modifying.
The missing lens had left a hole EXACTLY the right size for a jack. As I pulled it apart it seemed just right for a nice Big Mud.
The hole for the winding arm was EXACTLY the right size for a stomp switch. C'mon, this was meant to be.
After measuring and moving stuff around it was pretty obvious a Big Mud would fit nicely with some room to spare. The input and output jacks fitted into the little cavity that was the view finder at the top of the camera and you can still look through the output jack and through the original glass view finder.
As I had room for a battery, and easy access through the back plate, I figured I'd put a battery in this one and not an external 9V adaptor. The LED shines through the original glass film length indicator and there's a mini toggle to turn the battery off as I didn't have room to fit a stereo jack in the top compartment.
With room to spare in the main body I put an effects loop in the Big Mud circuit. I've never done this before but I've been fascinated with the concept. This loop is in the circuit so you can run other effects IN the Big Mud and switch everything on or off together with the switch for the Camera fuzz. It's post distortion so running modulation, or delay as I had fun with was great. It may become a feature on other Big Muds in the future ?
This circuit is my BC108 Rams Head which is one of, or maybe just, my favourite BM version. It's always a toss up between the RH and the Civil War.
Anyway, this is a custom one-off (unless I find another camera that I don't mind destroying) and will be available in the shop this weekend.
These ideas are fun to do. Like my Lego Muds, my tin effects, my Skate Fuzzes (and guitar) and pretty much every other stupid idea I have, it's always nice to see these go to good homes and people who LOVE showing them off.
If anyone has one of these cameras (or something similar) and would like all the parts (they look to be in good condition) just message me and I'll pack 'em up for you.