@fortheloveofnoise9298 ....... no dude. Plenty of profs have decades of experience working. The difference is this guy is real skilled in explaining science and history to an audience. He's also an entertainer in that way. He could probably also be a prof if he wanted to be, but that's not to say that professors can't also be this entertaining and smart because I've had a couple that were even better teachers & entertainers than this man.
Seafaring Simon you've hit the nail on the head. The upside is you can be particular about the transistors being used too. I'm not sure Dunlop are that particular, though you'd think they have to test them for leakage.
@@bilbobobbytoucansam back in the day you could send in a DS-1 and they'd do a synth mod. It created all sorts of sweet sounds. I know there's at least one demo out there because I just watched it again.
I build a lot of my stuff, well, more than some. I wish there was more video content like this from Josh. But the music jam stuff has been veeery cool, can't lose out on that. They should make a record. Casually.
Got this pedal last year. Didn't care for it, the sound of sizzling bacon. Did the mod yesterday. The 1M pot is a little past noon and the original fuzz pot is maxed. The two knobs topside are maxed out as well. The rich harmonics really ring through. Thanks Josh
Serendipity. I bought a Jimi Fuzz Face a few weeks ago and was just furloughed from work due to the zombie apocalypse. Now i have something to keep my mind off the the groaning and scratching outside my bunker. Thanks, Josh!
I’ve never done any soldering or guitar/pedal moding. (Wish I took shop when I was in high school). This is phenomenal content both in the moding, but also the educational side. PLEASE do more content like this. Watching you, your tips like the one wire at a time to get it right etc give me confidence to maybe buy some pots and try a guitar upgrade on my own. This is one of my favorite episodes! Also, with us on quarantine, any chance you might do more than 1 episode a week? I know you run a business, but this is really good stuff.
azbababooey it really is fun and not hard to learn the basic skills like soldering. I’d also suggest buying some flux to help with de-soldering parts, it makes it enormously easier
They banned shop and woodwork classes in my county, so sad....we are very bad kids where I live...so I never got to do it....now I solder but I wished I was taught in school.
Videos like this and the ones with Brian Wampler demonstrating how to do pedal mods is like being a car fanatic sitting in a room with Carol Shelby. You are doing the Lord’s work, Josh. I mean that sincerely. In these difficult times, you are sharing knowledge and motivating a lot of people who are struggling to find a spark of creativity. You have made my day with this video!
Not only recommending pedals from any other manufacturer to help us musicians out there, but also teaching how to mod one! I just love this guy, he is the best!
I don't have the faintest intention of modding any pedals (yet) but this was one of the most interesting and calming things I've watched in recent weeks! I would love to see more on basic pedal circuit design and modding.
The intro to this reminds me of that Tonebender video you did recently with Dan and Mick in a very compressed version. That episode was one of my favorite things I’ve watched on RUclips, you guys should collab more!
Watching the description of the schematic makes me feel like Phil Hartman’s Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer from SNL. “I am just a simple caveman, your world frightens and confuses me.”
Jon Lohrenz I love this stuff, it’s not that hard, zigzag lines are the resistors, zigzag lines with an arrow point perpendicular to them are the pots (or trim pots), -| |- are capacitors (they actually look like that inside, two plates with space between them), and the circle with 3 legs and arrows inside are transistors. Those can look different between types (Josh mentioned NPN, there’s also PNP, DO NOT replace one with the other or many bad things happen.)
What a fantastic video. I really enjoyed your in depth analysis of the schematic and the effect that each component has on the sound of the pedal. As someone who's worked in electrical engineering for nearly my entire career, I've never tried to delve into the effects of electronics on sound. This made great sense to me. Thanks for sharing!
For those who want to try different transistors: bear in mind that not all NPN silicon transistors will have the same pinout, so simply photographing the existing transistor and snapping in another might not work. You can usually count on the base to be the center pin, but not always. Keep the datasheet handy.
That's called TC Electronics. They use behringer circuits and put them in a metal case for an extra $10, cos they now own Behringer. Talking about their cheap range of course, this doesn't apply to the pedals they make themselves, the premium ones with Toneprint and all that in them
@@duffman18 the "Smorgasbord" line of FX. I have a few of them and am extremely pleased with the quality/value. I hope Josh never does a video about them. Prices will blow up.
More like this please! Always wondered if you were gonna get more technical in your videos. I love how you walk us through the circuit in an easy to understand way and kept your explanations simple and clear, unlike alot of other pedal mod videos.
Macari's shop was next door to the Jennings /Vox Store. JMI/Vox production was done out in Dartford, Kent. Dartford is about an hour train ride east of London. Vox had 3 chassis manufacture's & 3 cabinet makers. Everything was trucked to Dartford and assembled there.
“Photos with your smartphone” is an amazing tip, I’ve been working with electronics for some time and I start every project with taking photos. Thank you for your content.
This was so good to watch and for those like myself who are terrified of breaking pedals but gagging to give it a go would make such a great series. A RAT mod vid would be excellent! Please Josh!!
Very cool. I've always turned the fuzz control all the way up as the default setting for a fuzz face. I did this at a friend's house, and he looked at me like I was crazy. He'd been using it most of the way down. I then switched to the neck pickup on his Strat, and turned the tone for that pickup all the way down, and you could hear the whole thing just come to life. I then riffed off a few minutes, and he was sitting there with his mouth open. It might be worth mentioning, he's usually a clean player. I looked at him and said, "If you're doing it right, it should be liked you at the wheel of a train that you can just barely keep on the tracks."
You realise how much people love Josh, when you have an instructional video with some soldering in it, and the comment section is not littered with comments of "experts" who can "do it better"... Keep up the good job man, you're the -most good-
I got one last week, you will have loads of fun and save loads of money by doing DIY. It's a fail proof circuit just take your time and go in with a bit of research. Good luck with your build
It is for sure is a very usable circuit. When I started up I had a VOX AC-30 Top Boost, a VOX Tone Bender and a VOX Wah pedal, no reverb, no delay ..., and a Höffner Galaxy guitar with 3 PUs. That was a happy time playing Hendrix, Cream and John Mayall, mostly in Northern Germany 🙂
Hey Josh, great video! The Fuzz Face is my favorite effect and I've spent way too much time tinkering with the circuit. You can get even more volume boost if you swap the 332r and 3.1k resistors that go to biasing the collector of Q2. The AC signal leaving Q2 sees that as a voltage divider towards the DC source. So my personal preference is to use a 2.2k resistor first and then just use a 25k linear pot on the collector. Tons of output volume now!
Did it! Amazingly fun to play through and sooo much more character. That gated, "broken" sound in the demo here is cool, but it's much more useful to drift between that extreme and a warmer sound closer to the original by twiddling with the new, external bias pot where the Fuzz knob used to be. I also figured I'd keep the internal pots glued to the inside for a little while before drilling any holes in my FF to accommodate them. I'm so I glad I didn't just go ahead and drill. Those internal pots are best left as set-it-and-forget-it. The 1 Meg Bias Pot is SUPER TOUCHY and you really don't want it on the outside. There's a sweet spot and you'll know it when you hear it. Step 7: I used some cream Vox knobs and it looks retro-awesome.
This is absolutely fantastic. I've done electronics work as a hobby before, but I've been wanting (because of this channel) to get into pedal modding. Josh is a great teacher here (speaking as a teacher), providing the history, stepping us through the schematic as-is and explaining what each part does to the tone, and then showing what changes can be made. It's just fantastic and I hope you guys do more of these.
Just the volume mod is great! I'm wondering why, even if they want to be "authentic", builders make fuzzes with not a lot of output, especially on Fuzz Faces...
Amazing walkthrough. Thanks Josh! I’ve been on the market for a bass fuzz, but now thinking I’ll “create” my own. After all, I’m a pedal-modding expert now...
Josh, you are a tremendous human being and worth more money. Thanks for this vid. I built my first fuzz face 20 years ago without having a clue what the componants did. Thanks.
Just bought a Moscow Mod. Would love to see an equivalent episode for that; not so much to do, just to appreciate your work, EHX, and my new toy even more. Thanks for the great content, sense of history and community that you convey, and generally all of the positivity.
Josh, first off thanks so much for your channel! These videos are really fun to watch, with excellent levels of t-shirt silliness. I've been an engineer professionally for 16+ years and soldering for more like 30 (I wasted my early childhood). I have done lots of SMT rework, THT soldering, flying leads, batteries, and more. About 10 years ago I tried using Metcal Irons and it changed my life. I'm not a buddhist, but I know what Nirvana is like inside a little ball of hot metal. Nevermind. The gold old Weller and Hakko systems are fine and you can get professional results, but it's not in the same league. The Metcal (now OKI) smart-heat irons heat up much faster, and basically never over-temp, regardless of the tip shape. They use metallurgy and magic (curie point + RF power supplies) to regulate temeperature accurately even when in contact with a big copper plate. You should ask for one for your birthday or Christmas, or if you have too much money in your shop budget, you won't be disappointed. www.okinternational.com/hand-soldering-systems/id-MFR-1110/Single_Output_Soldering__Rework_System_-_Cartridge_Hand-piece Keep up the good work! -James
finalllyyyyy. this is the type of stuff I've been waiting for like 2 years to see. brian wampler does a little of this stuff but -- and don't tell brian -- your videos are a little better.
Just finished the mod as I type. OH MY I LOVE IT SOOOO MUCH. Thank you so much Josh, I really have learned a lot from your channel. Best of luck to you and the future mods to come.
Then 18 days later on 4-20-2020 (aka as pakalolo day) Josh Scott invents a new fuzz circuit that revolutionizes the guitar world. It’s better than any Fuzz Face or Tone Bender. He calls it the Face Bender. And history was made.
Thank you! Great video. If you ever want to mod back, leave the trimpots. You can leave the top trimpot at any setting and bridge it, and you can set the bottom trimpot, that was taken off first at it's highest setting, and use a big pot that goes in the case hole that has a bigger value.
It’s not hard to build a fuzz face. I built one in the mid 90’s using a schematic from the Leper’s abode, some old pcbs from discarded stereos, and RadioShack (I miss that place!).
@@richardchambless12 radio shack was okay, but they tried to be best buy lite and ignored the parts... Or charged way too much for them. Last time I was there they tried to sell me 5 resistors for 4 times the price on digikey, AND it was the wrong ohm value, I said 4.7k ohm, he tried to give me 4.7 ohm!
They're stupid simple. 11 parts total. Even a trained monkey could put one together. I have 3 sitting here that I built. As well as a buffer pedal and a clean boost, too.
I beg of you make more of these! I've always wanted to get into building my own pedals because nothing i've found could get the tones I want at a price I can manage and this is definitely helping!
I think silicon Fuss Faces sound best with the “fuzz” backed off slightly. If you listen to the noise floor while adjusting the pot, it’s as though there is another gain stage at the very end of the pot travel. Germanium units sound best dimed though. And my Fuzz Faces are on 90% of the time throughout shows, riding the guitar volume for rhythm and lead tones.
This is by far one of the best videos you have done in a while. Most folks tackle mods from m an overly complex and technical standpoint, with no background on how or why. Your brief history lesson and circuit explanation makes all the difference in understanding the nature of the mod and pedal overall. I think I can speak for many folks when I suggest that you do more of these mod-vids with with common pedals, like the LPB1 or Crybaby. Well done sir. Well done.
the best fuzz you'll ever own is the one you make by picking a random selection of crusty dusty parts from your component storage, slapping them together on a breadboard and clipping alligator leads onto an exposed guitar cable in order to plug it in. few effect types are as forgiving in the selection of values and alteration of topology. you can mistakenly use a J-FET for q2 because you couldn't find the datasheet and it'll still be a fuzz. forget to connect 9 volts to the collectors? you've just made the world's biggest black ice style passive fuzz.
Next JHS video: "So here are the codes to the JHS bank account, it will be followed by several videos on how to replicate every JHS pedals so you can takeover the guitar pedal empire world. Really; it's freaking easy, you're great !" More seriously; thank you so much for your generosity and your passion ! F#@k OUI JHS RULES !
Now this is a lot of fun. A great way of demystifying a pedal. Crack it open and mess with it, learn what the components do, how they interact and how to make them your own. Now I assume pretty much all Fuzz Face pedals Dunlop sell are the same with the transistors used being the only difference. The variations in fuzz boxes is always fun though. Many where made with whatever the manufacturers could get on that day and no two vintage pedals are exactly the same because of it. Another fun mod is to add a potentiometer behind the battery clip or power supply connector. Many fuzzes react in very different ways when their batteries get low. So having a way to starve them of voltage on command can be super neat.
"But now we can modify fuzz pedals." Well I'm not gonna mess with mine; I broke my headphones today just trying to take them off. I can't imagine the disaster that would result if I started waving a soldering gun around. Nevertheless, I learned something as usual from watching the show. Peace and Love to the JHS nation. Stay safe and make music, everybody.
Please please make more videos like this! Most other pedal building videos are poorly produced. I love seeing your whole process with this. I picked up a lot of small tidbits just watching you work.
How does a Vox distortion booster jackmount circuit compare to the fuzz circuit in the UL series tube/transistor hybrid amps used by the Beatles on Sgt Pepper and Revolver?
They are very similar, the biggest difference I think is that the input cap is a 100nF instead of 2uF. Schematic here: elektrotanya.com/PREVIEWS/63463243/23432455/power_amps_vegyes/vox_super_beatle_v1141.pdf_1.png
7:19 hahaha way ahead if you, had already paused and stared at it for a few minutes! Cheers from Portugal, Josh, and thank you for your amazing videos and knowledge-sharing!
If you are 15 you are in High School. Most High Schools have electronics classes. To design build and modify pedals all you need is a high school level electronics course. They are very simple circuits, unless you start getting into the modern digital stuff, but then half of that is programming.
So when I was watching the video, and seeing the schematic it was very intimidating. Once you started doing the work on the actual pedal you unlocked my brain, and I completely understood what you were doing. This video was awesome, informative, and fun. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much for doing this demo! Also thank you for introducing me to Deep Sea Diver, they have been my go to listen for months now. Love her fuzz tone!
Josh, I love the channel! I think my favorite thing is the frequent Mr. Rogers-esque appeal to the player to make music and enjoy doing it. It's always informative, entertaining, accessible (at least from my perspective), and most importantly, inspiring. Thank you and keep up the great work!
Yes! Everything I wanted. It would be so so good to get a series looking at guitar electronics and nerding out on schematics etc. Going through the early pedals up to modern day and what is going on inside
![We Build A Fuzz Face With Markus Reeves [Germanium & Silicon]](/img/1.gif)
god i hope this turns into a series.
I agree
Yeeessss!
100%
Totally!!!
definitely!!!!!
Did it, drilled out the two extra holes for additional pots so they're accessible. I call it FourEyes 👍
Genius name :)
Great idea
Send it to Dunlop!
Stupid childish name
Awesome!! do you have the schematic for all 4 controles
I'm an electronics engineering student, and I have to say, the way you break down circuits is far better than how a lot of professors do.
Because he has real world experience....and lots of it....that is the difference.
The mod is from analogman, I readed this in 1996. Scott is a liar.
@@saculsheetand you are a real genius 💡. Thank you very much for this comment.
@fortheloveofnoise9298 ....... no dude. Plenty of profs have decades of experience working. The difference is this guy is real skilled in explaining science and history to an audience. He's also an entertainer in that way. He could probably also be a prof if he wanted to be, but that's not to say that professors can't also be this entertaining and smart because I've had a couple that were even better teachers & entertainers than this man.
I modify my fuzz face with a razor.
jts3339 underrated comment
Yeah thts pretty good .
Yes.
@@tomfoolery2082 Peachy
That joke was bad and you should feel bad!!!....... (Kidding! Freaking hilarious!!!)
Don’t have a FF and not buying one. And watched the whole thing and learned a ton lol
Paul Caputo agreed Josh does good videos.
With this video you might as well buy all the components for a quarter of the price and make your own case honestly
Seafaring Simon you've hit the nail on the head. The upside is you can be particular about the transistors being used too. I'm not sure Dunlop are that particular, though you'd think they have to test them for leakage.
Absolutely loved this. Can you do another episode like this but going over some DS-1 Mods?
Yes! Especially the synth mod!
UnitedStatesel Wait... SYNTH MOD???
@@bilbobobbytoucansam back in the day you could send in a DS-1 and they'd do a synth mod. It created all sorts of sweet sounds. I know there's at least one demo out there because I just watched it again.
That would be amazing.
Better still, Josh could show us how he modified all those EHX Big Muffs...
Please do more content like this!
I build a lot of my stuff, well, more than some. I wish there was more video content like this from Josh. But the music jam stuff has been veeery cool, can't lose out on that. They should make a record. Casually.
Got this pedal last year. Didn't care for it, the sound of sizzling bacon. Did the mod yesterday. The 1M pot is a little past noon and the original fuzz pot is maxed. The two knobs topside are maxed out as well. The rich harmonics really ring through. Thanks Josh
Serendipity. I bought a Jimi Fuzz Face a few weeks ago and was just furloughed from work due to the zombie apocalypse. Now i have something to keep my mind off the the groaning and scratching outside my bunker. Thanks, Josh!
It's likely I will never mod this fuzz, but all these tips are great for many other projects, and just watching is interesting and fun.
or buy pcb clone and build it with mods in mind.
Thats funny.....👍
“4 inches is a great length”
That's not what she said.
That's what she said, wistfully.
There are going to be so many comments saying that
Jai Arieh: Use the solder sucker to address that issue.
You beat me to it
Man, you just dropped more usable history in the first 3 minutes than nearly any semester in music college!😉🎸🎶🎶
That's quite a collection of contact cleaner in the back cabinet.
krelnarb huffin
Contact maker...
That’s the JHS Vintage Contact Cleaner Collection: Catholic Edition
That socket tool just changed my life.
No more scratched paint on ANYTHING
I’ve never done any soldering or guitar/pedal moding. (Wish I took shop when I was in high school). This is phenomenal content both in the moding, but also the educational side. PLEASE do more content like this. Watching you, your tips like the one wire at a time to get it right etc give me confidence to maybe buy some pots and try a guitar upgrade on my own. This is one of my favorite episodes!
Also, with us on quarantine, any chance you might do more than 1 episode a week? I know you run a business, but this is really good stuff.
azbababooey it really is fun and not hard to learn the basic skills like soldering. I’d also suggest buying some flux to help with de-soldering parts, it makes it enormously easier
They banned shop and woodwork classes in my county, so sad....we are very bad kids where I live...so I never got to do it....now I solder but I wished I was taught in school.
You should make a series out of this. Modifying different pedals.
I totally agree. Would love to see more of this content.
I don’t own any guitar equipment anymore, but I can’t help but come back every week to hear guitar sounds and pedal breakdown.
Videos like this and the ones with Brian Wampler demonstrating how to do pedal mods is like being a car fanatic sitting in a room with Carol Shelby.
You are doing the Lord’s work, Josh. I mean that sincerely. In these difficult times, you are sharing knowledge and motivating a lot of people who are struggling to find a spark of creativity. You have made my day with this video!
Not only recommending pedals from any other manufacturer to help us musicians out there, but also teaching how to mod one! I just love this guy, he is the best!
Josh, designing workshop: "...and this is where the hard liquor cabinet will go. "
Everyone: (respectfully nodding, making notes)
This should be a series, it would be very popular, “how to mod the-insert here-“
Very nice how fast - less than hour - You turn my fears of modding away. Grand Thanks.
I don't have the faintest intention of modding any pedals (yet) but this was one of the most interesting and calming things I've watched in recent weeks! I would love to see more on basic pedal circuit design and modding.
This channel is the #1 reason to be on RUclips. Josh is the most wonderful, generous soul to share this knowledge!
The intro to this reminds me of that Tonebender video you did recently with Dan and Mick in a very compressed version. That episode was one of my favorite things I’ve watched on RUclips, you guys should collab more!
Best episode yet! Bringing me back to the earlier nerdier vlogs. More like this
jordandelr Yes!
Watching the description of the schematic makes me feel like Phil Hartman’s Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer from SNL. “I am just a simple caveman, your world frightens and confuses me.”
Jon Lohrenz I love this stuff, it’s not that hard, zigzag lines are the resistors, zigzag lines with an arrow point perpendicular to them are the pots (or trim pots), -| |- are capacitors (they actually look like that inside, two plates with space between them), and the circle with 3 legs and arrows inside are transistors. Those can look different between types (Josh mentioned NPN, there’s also PNP, DO NOT replace one with the other or many bad things happen.)
What a fantastic video. I really enjoyed your in depth analysis of the schematic and the effect that each component has on the sound of the pedal. As someone who's worked in electrical engineering for nearly my entire career, I've never tried to delve into the effects of electronics on sound. This made great sense to me. Thanks for sharing!
For those who want to try different transistors: bear in mind that not all NPN silicon transistors will have the same pinout, so simply photographing the existing transistor and snapping in another might not work. You can usually count on the base to be the center pin, but not always. Keep the datasheet handy.
Does anyone else want to see him show us how to re-case a Behringer pedal into an aluminum case or is that just me?
That's called TC Electronics. They use behringer circuits and put them in a metal case for an extra $10, cos they now own Behringer. Talking about their cheap range of course, this doesn't apply to the pedals they make themselves, the premium ones with Toneprint and all that in them
As long as you don't sell them, I think it's would be great.
I re-cased a Behringer into a wood case.
@@duffman18 On the contrary, Behringer owns TC Electronic...
@@duffman18 the "Smorgasbord" line of FX. I have a few of them and am extremely pleased with the quality/value. I hope Josh never does a video about them. Prices will blow up.
More like this please! Always wondered if you were gonna get more technical in your videos.
I love how you walk us through the circuit in an easy to understand way and kept your explanations simple and clear, unlike alot of other pedal mod videos.
Macari's shop was next door to the Jennings /Vox Store. JMI/Vox production was done out in Dartford, Kent. Dartford is about an hour train ride east of London. Vox had 3 chassis manufacture's & 3 cabinet makers. Everything was trucked to Dartford and assembled there.
Josh passing the torch here and starting others on the road to being the next JHS warms my cockles, good man.
Absolutely @Simon Singh! One can only imagine how many new effects designers this has launched!
“Photos with your smartphone” is an amazing tip, I’ve been working with electronics for some time and I start every project with taking photos. Thank you for your content.
This was so good to watch and for those like myself who are terrified of breaking pedals but gagging to give it a go would make such a great series. A RAT mod vid would be excellent! Please Josh!!
Very cool. I've always turned the fuzz control all the way up as the default setting for a fuzz face. I did this at a friend's house, and he looked at me like I was crazy. He'd been using it most of the way down. I then switched to the neck pickup on his Strat, and turned the tone for that pickup all the way down, and you could hear the whole thing just come to life. I then riffed off a few minutes, and he was sitting there with his mouth open. It might be worth mentioning, he's usually a clean player. I looked at him and said, "If you're doing it right, it should be liked you at the wheel of a train that you can just barely keep on the tracks."
I found the secret potion of the sound: it must be in the secret fluids that are kept under the left workbench.
You realise how much people love Josh, when you have an instructional video with some soldering in it, and the comment section is not littered with comments of "experts" who can "do it better"... Keep up the good job man, you're the -most good-
I just ordered the parts this week to build a fuzz face as my first build! Can’t wait to watch this.
I got one last week, you will have loads of fun and save loads of money by doing DIY. It's a fail proof circuit just take your time and go in with a bit of research. Good luck with your build
It is for sure is a very usable circuit. When I started up I had a VOX AC-30 Top Boost, a VOX Tone Bender and a VOX Wah pedal, no reverb, no delay ..., and a Höffner Galaxy guitar
with 3 PUs. That was a happy time playing Hendrix, Cream and John Mayall, mostly in Northern Germany 🙂
Hey Josh, great video! The Fuzz Face is my favorite effect and I've spent way too much time tinkering with the circuit. You can get even more volume boost if you swap the 332r and 3.1k resistors that go to biasing the collector of Q2. The AC signal leaving Q2 sees that as a voltage divider towards the DC source. So my personal preference is to use a 2.2k resistor first and then just use a 25k linear pot on the collector. Tons of output volume now!
Did it! Amazingly fun to play through and sooo much more character. That gated, "broken" sound in the demo here is cool, but it's much more useful to drift between that extreme and a warmer sound closer to the original by twiddling with the new, external bias pot where the Fuzz knob used to be. I also figured I'd keep the internal pots glued to the inside for a little while before drilling any holes in my FF to accommodate them. I'm so I glad I didn't just go ahead and drill. Those internal pots are best left as set-it-and-forget-it. The 1 Meg Bias Pot is SUPER TOUCHY and you really don't want it on the outside. There's a sweet spot and you'll know it when you hear it. Step 7: I used some cream Vox knobs and it looks retro-awesome.
Love this! Got a fuzz face on the breadboard right now, let’s get to modding!
This is absolutely fantastic. I've done electronics work as a hobby before, but I've been wanting (because of this channel) to get into pedal modding. Josh is a great teacher here (speaking as a teacher), providing the history, stepping us through the schematic as-is and explaining what each part does to the tone, and then showing what changes can be made. It's just fantastic and I hope you guys do more of these.
Just the volume mod is great! I'm wondering why, even if they want to be "authentic", builders make fuzzes with not a lot of output, especially on Fuzz Faces...
Amazing walkthrough. Thanks Josh! I’ve been on the market for a bass fuzz, but now thinking I’ll “create” my own. After all, I’m a pedal-modding expert now...
I feel like I owe you money for this.
Josh, you are a tremendous human being and worth more money. Thanks for this vid. I built my first fuzz face 20 years ago without having a clue what the componants did. Thanks.
There’s a ton of easy DS1 mods out there, make it sound wayyyyy better
Just bought a Moscow Mod. Would love to see an equivalent episode for that; not so much to do, just to appreciate your work, EHX, and my new toy even more. Thanks for the great content, sense of history and community that you convey, and generally all of the positivity.
I know why Josh takes this version of the Fuzz Face. Abbreviation of "Jimi Hendrix Signature" is JHS =)
Josh, first off thanks so much for your channel! These videos are really fun to watch, with excellent levels of t-shirt silliness. I've been an engineer professionally for 16+ years and soldering for more like 30 (I wasted my early childhood). I have done lots of SMT rework, THT soldering, flying leads, batteries, and more. About 10 years ago I tried using Metcal Irons and it changed my life. I'm not a buddhist, but I know what Nirvana is like inside a little ball of hot metal. Nevermind. The gold old Weller and Hakko systems are fine and you can get professional results, but it's not in the same league. The Metcal (now OKI) smart-heat irons heat up much faster, and basically never over-temp, regardless of the tip shape. They use metallurgy and magic (curie point + RF power supplies) to regulate temeperature accurately even when in contact with a big copper plate. You should ask for one for your birthday or Christmas, or if you have too much money in your shop budget, you won't be disappointed. www.okinternational.com/hand-soldering-systems/id-MFR-1110/Single_Output_Soldering__Rework_System_-_Cartridge_Hand-piece
Keep up the good work!
-James
Was something in the way in your early childhood?
@@fortheloveofnoise well, my parents thought it was a bad idea to give hot irons to infants
WOW! Loved this tutorial! Tutorial is more good! Roger More, more, MORE!!!!!
This was awesome. Reminds me of working as a lab assistant in the electronics shop at school. The best days I’ve ever had.
Josh: This is easy and fun.
Me: That's some Hogwarts stuff going on...
A Fuzzface on the bench and some Buffalo Trace in the background, so... FX-ology? Loved it!
finalllyyyyy. this is the type of stuff I've been waiting for like 2 years to see. brian wampler does a little of this stuff but -- and don't tell brian -- your videos are a little better.
Maxon Mendel I respect that POV. My videos definitely aren’t meant for everyone 😊
@@wampler_pedals 😶
Actually found Deep Sea Diver through the Universal Audio advert, loved them ever since. Great episode
Forget about silicon vs germanium diodes, now I want to know which whiskey pairs best with my fuzz.
Just finished the mod as I type. OH MY I LOVE IT SOOOO MUCH. Thank you so much Josh, I really have learned a lot from your channel. Best of luck to you and the future mods to come.
40:00 He Has The Box!!! 🎶🎶
Then 18 days later on 4-20-2020 (aka as pakalolo day) Josh Scott invents a new fuzz circuit that revolutionizes the guitar world. It’s better than any Fuzz Face or Tone Bender. He calls it the Face Bender. And history was made.
I would have drilled two more holes in the case for the extra controls.
Volume in, Tone, and Bias would've been cool mods.
David Schwab then you might as well built a Fuzz Factory from scratch.
I'll be doing that. But i get why Josh doesn't recommend it as you can't de-mod the thing which will kill resale value.
I would’ve drilled a bunch of holes too, because I would have no idea what the hell I was doing.
Why don't you make your own tutorial, superstar?
I don’t own any pedals and have never modified any electronics in my life. I watched the entire video
See what he's doing here Brian?
Yep, Josh is a wonderful dude 😊
@@wampler_pedals 😶
@@wampler_pedals I love and watch you both!
@@wampler_pedals your Zendrive mods were at the same level of awesomnes
Thank you! Great video. If you ever want to mod back, leave the trimpots. You can leave the top trimpot at any setting and bridge it, and you can set the bottom trimpot, that was taken off first at it's highest setting, and use a big pot that goes in the case hole that has a bigger value.
I could only imagine Josh drinking a fine bourbon while pedal building
I've never done anything like this, but it's awesome watching a master work at his trade.
Please do a band of gypsy's fuzz face mod!
Josh telling me I can do anything motivated me to fix and mod a crappy Start I got off eBay. Thank you, Josh and JHS team.
Next Video: How to just build a FuzzFace from scratch.
How to build it from scratch... step 1 build your own transistors because the store is closed.
It’s not hard to build a fuzz face. I built one in the mid 90’s using a schematic from the Leper’s abode, some old pcbs from discarded stereos, and RadioShack (I miss that place!).
@@richardchambless12 radio shack was okay, but they tried to be best buy lite and ignored the parts... Or charged way too much for them. Last time I was there they tried to sell me 5 resistors for 4 times the price on digikey, AND it was the wrong ohm value, I said 4.7k ohm, he tried to give me 4.7 ohm!
They're stupid simple. 11 parts total. Even a trained monkey could put one together. I have 3 sitting here that I built. As well as a buffer pedal and a clean boost, too.
I beg of you make more of these! I've always wanted to get into building my own pedals because nothing i've found could get the tones I want at a price I can manage and this is definitely helping!
I think silicon Fuss Faces sound best with the “fuzz” backed off slightly. If you listen to the noise floor while adjusting the pot, it’s as though there is another gain stage at the very end of the pot travel. Germanium units sound best dimed though. And my Fuzz Faces are on 90% of the time throughout shows, riding the guitar volume for rhythm and lead tones.
This is by far one of the best videos you have done in a while. Most folks tackle mods from m an overly complex and technical standpoint, with no background on how or why. Your brief history lesson and circuit explanation makes all the difference in understanding the nature of the mod and pedal overall.
I think I can speak for many folks when I suggest that you do more of these mod-vids with with common pedals, like the LPB1 or Crybaby.
Well done sir. Well done.
Does this work the same on the mini version of this fuzz? That’s what I have, supposedly it’s the same circuit?
I quite enjoy the vote of confidence at the beginning.
You’re right Josh, I can do anything!
I didn’t know he was a fallout fan
I watch this video simply because of the Bob Ross qualities it has. And because JHS and TPS are my most beloved RUclips-saga’s.
the best fuzz you'll ever own is the one you make by picking a random selection of crusty dusty parts from your component storage, slapping them together on a breadboard and clipping alligator leads onto an exposed guitar cable in order to plug it in. few effect types are as forgiving in the selection of values and alteration of topology. you can mistakenly use a J-FET for q2 because you couldn't find the datasheet and it'll still be a fuzz. forget to connect 9 volts to the collectors? you've just made the world's biggest black ice style passive fuzz.
Example, the Buzzaround, - designed around leftover parts.
I've been addicted to this channel from the moment I came across it. This video is next level. Thank you
Next JHS video: "So here are the codes to the JHS bank account, it will be followed by several videos on how to replicate every JHS pedals so you can takeover the guitar pedal empire world. Really; it's freaking easy, you're great !"
More seriously; thank you so much for your generosity and your passion ! F#@k OUI JHS RULES !
Now this is a lot of fun. A great way of demystifying a pedal. Crack it open and mess with it, learn what the components do, how they interact and how to make them your own. Now I assume pretty much all Fuzz Face pedals Dunlop sell are the same with the transistors used being the only difference. The variations in fuzz boxes is always fun though. Many where made with whatever the manufacturers could get on that day and no two vintage pedals are exactly the same because of it.
Another fun mod is to add a potentiometer behind the battery clip or power supply connector. Many fuzzes react in very different ways when their batteries get low. So having a way to starve them of voltage on command can be super neat.
"But now we can modify fuzz pedals."
Well I'm not gonna mess with mine; I broke my headphones today just trying to take them off. I can't imagine the disaster that would result if I started waving a soldering gun around. Nevertheless, I learned something as usual from watching the show.
Peace and Love to the JHS nation. Stay safe and make music, everybody.
Please please make more videos like this! Most other pedal building videos are poorly produced. I love seeing your whole process with this. I picked up a lot of small tidbits just watching you work.
You missed a "he has the box" moment...
I've wanted you to go into the Electrical Engineering side of pedals for a long time! Thanks so much Josh!
How does a Vox distortion booster jackmount circuit compare to the fuzz circuit in the UL series tube/transistor hybrid amps used by the Beatles on Sgt Pepper and Revolver?
They are very similar, the biggest difference I think is that the input cap is a 100nF instead of 2uF. Schematic here: elektrotanya.com/PREVIEWS/63463243/23432455/power_amps_vegyes/vox_super_beatle_v1141.pdf_1.png
Do more of this! Maybe a simple overdrive or fuzz that you like? Or just tips on starting to build pedals in general! Awesome stuff man
I have one of these pedals. Identical. it sounds like a fart, like all silicon fuzz pedals.
7:19 hahaha way ahead if you, had already paused and stared at it for a few minutes! Cheers from Portugal, Josh, and thank you for your amazing videos and knowledge-sharing!
>be me
>15
>never modified a pedal
>don't even know how to wire a light switch
That's how I started 12 years ago. Have fun.
Dude that's exactly me
Add two years to it and it’s me
If you are 15 you are in High School. Most High Schools have electronics classes. To design build and modify pedals all you need is a high school level electronics course. They are very simple circuits, unless you start getting into the modern digital stuff, but then half of that is programming.
Clint Davis i dont think my high school has electronics class but i will teach myself eventually
So when I was watching the video, and seeing the schematic it was very intimidating. Once you started doing the work on the actual pedal you unlocked my brain, and I completely understood what you were doing. This video was awesome, informative, and fun. Thank you so much.
Thanks Josh! I looked in my spare parts bin, and I had all the parts. I finished it in 52 mins! It sounds GREAT! Mahalo again!
Well, that was fun! Thanks for taking the time Josh👍🏻
Thank you so much for doing this demo! Also thank you for introducing me to Deep Sea Diver, they have been my go to listen for months now. Love her fuzz tone!
Sir, you have made the world a better place by helping people learn how to modify fuzz pedals! Thank you!
I’m watching with captions and I just want to say they are pretty spot on. I guess the attests to your annunciation and projection.
Josh, I love the channel! I think my favorite thing is the frequent Mr. Rogers-esque appeal to the player to make music and enjoy doing it. It's always informative, entertaining, accessible (at least from my perspective), and most importantly, inspiring. Thank you and keep up the great work!
Gotta say. Much better than I thought this would be.
Yes! Everything I wanted.
It would be so so good to get a series looking at guitar electronics and nerding out on schematics etc. Going through the early pedals up to modern day and what is going on inside