Purple Fuzz
Moderators: Slowy, Capt. Black
- NippleWrestler
- Vintage Post Junkie
- Posts: 2916
- meble-kuchenne.warszawa.pl
- Joined: Sat Jan 02, 2016 5:05 pm
- Has liked: 79 times
- Been liked: 1071 times
Purple Fuzz
Purple Fuzz because it's purple and I was listening to a lot of Purple Dawn at the time. The art behind is by Alphonse Mucha for whom I have a soft spot and some of his smaller works (like this one) are usable free of charge which is a win/win.
The idea here was something a bit more vintage inspired as when I typically design fuzz I'm looking for doom and sludge. So I started with some lower gain transistors (around 100-120 hfe) matched by hand, and built up from there.
If you've played a big muff you'll know the limitations of the tone stack - it's one way or it's the other. It's nice if you can bypass it and restore some mids and output to the circuit, so that's another thing I did here. The stack by itself isn't anywhere near as scooped as the typical muff stack but it's along similar lines with one way being bass boost/treble cut, and the other being the opposite. But flick the tone bypass switch up and it's full frequency spectrum goodness with a slight output boost due to no attenuation.
The FAT switch is the basis of this pedal, and it provides 3 very distinct voices to the sound. It's almost like a treble booster/rangemaster in the mid position, great for older pop covers. Down is a vintage overdrive sound, and since I couldn't help myself the UP position is great for vintage Sabbath-esque doom and rock. The differences between these positions are immediately audible which is something I had to mull over for some time.
FUZZ is your gain control. Big sweep.
SIZE is interesting, and I'm not sure if this is being done anywhere else but it does what it says. Back it off and it's thinner, lighter, smaller. Bring it up and it thickens everything up and adds weight and sustain to your sound. Between all the options on top you've got a very versatile little unit that's basically 3 in 1 with the fat switch.
Then if you really wanted to go nuts there's a trimpot inside to select the bias voltage. I set it to around ~4.6v from stock because I feel that's the best for a smooth sound with a good strong clear sustain, but should splatty or gated sounds be more your thing it's in there to play with, just use a micro Phillips screwdriver and have at it using your ears. You might just like it.
The Purple Fuzz has been quite a hit already and I've sold all but one of them. I'm letting them go for $150 because I'd like to move the LED in the next batch so it's not where it is now, hence the cheaper price. Lemme know if you'd like it (shipped free, lifetime warranty) and I'll hook you and BG up.
The idea here was something a bit more vintage inspired as when I typically design fuzz I'm looking for doom and sludge. So I started with some lower gain transistors (around 100-120 hfe) matched by hand, and built up from there.
If you've played a big muff you'll know the limitations of the tone stack - it's one way or it's the other. It's nice if you can bypass it and restore some mids and output to the circuit, so that's another thing I did here. The stack by itself isn't anywhere near as scooped as the typical muff stack but it's along similar lines with one way being bass boost/treble cut, and the other being the opposite. But flick the tone bypass switch up and it's full frequency spectrum goodness with a slight output boost due to no attenuation.
The FAT switch is the basis of this pedal, and it provides 3 very distinct voices to the sound. It's almost like a treble booster/rangemaster in the mid position, great for older pop covers. Down is a vintage overdrive sound, and since I couldn't help myself the UP position is great for vintage Sabbath-esque doom and rock. The differences between these positions are immediately audible which is something I had to mull over for some time.
FUZZ is your gain control. Big sweep.
SIZE is interesting, and I'm not sure if this is being done anywhere else but it does what it says. Back it off and it's thinner, lighter, smaller. Bring it up and it thickens everything up and adds weight and sustain to your sound. Between all the options on top you've got a very versatile little unit that's basically 3 in 1 with the fat switch.
Then if you really wanted to go nuts there's a trimpot inside to select the bias voltage. I set it to around ~4.6v from stock because I feel that's the best for a smooth sound with a good strong clear sustain, but should splatty or gated sounds be more your thing it's in there to play with, just use a micro Phillips screwdriver and have at it using your ears. You might just like it.
The Purple Fuzz has been quite a hit already and I've sold all but one of them. I'm letting them go for $150 because I'd like to move the LED in the next batch so it's not where it is now, hence the cheaper price. Lemme know if you'd like it (shipped free, lifetime warranty) and I'll hook you and BG up.
- FuzzMonkey
- Gibson
- Posts: 615
- Joined: Fri Nov 06, 2020 7:25 pm
- Has liked: 510 times
- Been liked: 407 times
- Slowy
- Vintage Post Junkie
- Posts: 22788
- Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2009 4:13 pm
- Location: Orcland
- Has liked: 1018 times
- Been liked: 2483 times
Re: Purple Fuzz
And we have our new Rog.
3.......2........1......
Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. This is as true of humans as it is of gas molecules in a sealed flask. The human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who so survive.
- Bg
- Site Admin
- Posts: 43290
- Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2003 12:13 am
- Location: Auckland
- Has liked: 2263 times
- Been liked: 3907 times
Re: Purple Fuzz
It looks more pink than purple to me.... ?
So, is that low alcohol or no alcohol at all? mmmm, no alcohol, do you want to try it? Noooooooooo.
- NippleWrestler
- Vintage Post Junkie
- Posts: 2916
- Joined: Sat Jan 02, 2016 5:05 pm
- Has liked: 79 times
- Been liked: 1071 times
- Slowy
- Vintage Post Junkie
- Posts: 22788
- Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2009 4:13 pm
- Location: Orcland
- Has liked: 1018 times
- Been liked: 2483 times
Re: Purple Fuzz
It's not a regal purple. More a teenage purple; with gender identity issues.
Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. This is as true of humans as it is of gas molecules in a sealed flask. The human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who so survive.
- Bg
- Site Admin
- Posts: 43290
- Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2003 12:13 am
- Location: Auckland
- Has liked: 2263 times
- Been liked: 3907 times
Re: Purple Fuzz
yeah but whats the rain like?
So, is that low alcohol or no alcohol at all? mmmm, no alcohol, do you want to try it? Noooooooooo.
- Starfire
- Vintage Post Junkie
- Posts: 4419
- Joined: Sat Jan 02, 2010 9:20 am
- Location: Te Whanganui-a-Tara
- Has liked: 243 times
- Been liked: 597 times
Re: Purple Fuzz
I’d say it’s a shade of magenta. But I’ve become accustomed to seeing the world in terms of CMYK though — I work in book publishing.
Cool looking pedal. Don’t think I’ve seen a bad design on any Monarch pedal. Makes me want to get back into faffing about with pedal designs. I had fun doing that a while back.
Cool looking pedal. Don’t think I’ve seen a bad design on any Monarch pedal. Makes me want to get back into faffing about with pedal designs. I had fun doing that a while back.
- NippleWrestler
- Vintage Post Junkie
- Posts: 2916
- Joined: Sat Jan 02, 2016 5:05 pm
- Has liked: 79 times
- Been liked: 1071 times