With C-19 still affecting many countries including Australia I am making some special edition pedals while the shop is closed due to the health and economic fallout. The first pedal in this series was the Fuzz Sanitizer which was released a month ago today and has so far raised nearly $1500 for charity, with another batch coming soon.
This next pedal in the series is a limited edition fuzz loosely based on the classic 2 transistor mid 60's guitar fuzz like a Fuzzrite. This circuit in various slightly modified forms has been used a million times because, well, it's a GREAT little circuit. With so few components you can change a couple and make a huge difference to the way the fuzz sounds, and interacts with your guitar.
The Murder Hornet is based on this classic design with a few key components changed to make it louder and a little more .... aggressive to suit it's name.
This is a typical mid 60's 2 transistor buzzsaw sausage sizzle fuzz which can hold chords together when required but shines in single note lead work. It's a little more ... messy than a Buzzrite in standard form but can be guided into being pretty close with the depth and volume wound back a little.
The real difference here is of course the extra knob and switches present here.
This version has a gate pot added which changes the bias on the second gain stage and moves voltage around and eventually starves the transistor giving a spluttery, spitty, nasty buzz depending on where you turn that gate knob.
This version also has a mini toggle switch marked "SHAPE" which cleans the gate up and makes it more usable for chords while keeping its gate intact.
The other switch is marked "BASS" and turns the sausage sizzle into a more bassy, slightly cleaner but still very fuzzy fuzz.
The addition of the gate and 2 mini toggles, and the extra volume and nastiness takes the classic Buzzriteish fuzz and makes it almost infinitely more adjustable. The gate can be used to make single notes more synth like and crackle your sustain into nothing. The shape switch essentially gives you 2 different gates and the bass switch takes it from that nasty buzzy hornet (especially with a Strat or Tele) to a thicker, bassier more chord friendly fuzz depending of course where you have your depth and volume knobs set.
These are hand made by me in my custom middle size stainless steel enclosures based on the 70's EH boxes as used for Small Clones, Small Stones etc with standard BOSS style 9V input.
The first batch of these "might" be ready this week, or maybe early next week depending on time, which I'm pretty low on right now. Keep an eye on my social medias for updates.