Modding the DbA Fuzz War for different tone?

TTBZ

I've had my Fuzzdogs Raw Fuzz kit (v2 with drive control, it's a Dba Fuzz War clone) for a while now and I'd like to experiment with changing the tone if this is possible. The tone control has a wide sweep but mostly I find it only usable in the middle as it's either too scooped or too nasal and "throaty" for lack of a better term. Almost like a parked wah. It's ok in the middle but still has that vocal wah like quality and I'd like to change it to be more natural and neutral sounding. 

The schematic is on this page. Any ideas where I could start with modding the tone circuit? 

http://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/Raw_Fuzz/p847124_8389179.aspx

olafgarten

One way is to put a Graphic EQ before it. 

TTBZ

Suppose that's the most logical way to do it! I'd rather avoid an extra pedal if possible though, if I could achieve similar with a few component changes I'd rather do that!

bbill335

Can you put the tone control on a switch like the old muffs?

TTBZ

That might be a good idea but I'm not sure how to do that! Anyone give me a hint? I'm fine with building and following instructions but I don't really know how it all works haha 

lasermonkey

For something closer to the original BMP tonestack, but without the mid scoop, you could try the following:
Change R17 to 33K (anywhere between 20K-33K should work)
Change C9 to 6.8nF (you could remove C10 and use that in place of the 2.2nF)
Change C11 to 10nF
Jumper C10 (ie solder a link across the the pins)
and maybe remove C8.

TTBZ

Cool cheers @lasermonkey I'll try it! Few questions:

- in what way does each of those components affect the tone stack (ie does R17 affect bass/mid/treble etc)?
- how would different values affect the tone for those components?
- do you have any links where I can read up about how all this sort of thing works? Would be good to learn so I can figure out what to change for the sound/voicing I have in mind. 

lasermonkey

The Kit Rae Muff site will tell you everything you need to know about the Big Muff and its many variants and clones. 

http://www.kitrae.net/music/big_muff_guts.html

On the Fuzz War (and BM) the tone control pans between two filter networks. The BM one has a high pass filter (a capacitor followed by a resistor to ground) on the treble side, with a low pass filter (a resistor followed by a capacitor to ground) on the bass side. The cutoff frequency of these filters is determined by the values of these components.
On the BM, the values of the capacitors remained pretty much constant over the years, but the resistor values varied. The FW has a slightly different arrangement. There's the extra capacitor (C10) in the treble side, plus C8 on the tone pot wiper. I can't say I've seen this arrangement before in a BM-inspired circuit.
Anyway, to get it back to the BM tonestack, C9 and R17 form the high pass (treble side). Shorting C10 will remove its effect from the circuit. Normally, C9 (on the BM circuit) would be 4nF or 3.9nF and R17 anywhere between 20k-33k ohms. The 3.9nF/4nF capacitor is largely responsible for the mid-scoop characteristic, so raising the value to 6.8nF will flatten the mid response.
The low pass (bass) side is formed by R18 and C11. Again, the resistor is usually somewhere between 20k and 33k, so that can remain unchanged. C11 has, as far as I can remember, always been 10nF on the BM, so that 100nF is going to make it very woolly sounding. Then again, I suppose you don't expect anything normal from DBA! If you google low pass (or high pass) filter calculator, you can play around with the values.
I'd try leaving C8 in place to see what kind of effect that has before removing it.

TTBZ

Brilliant cheers! Hopefully I will get some parts and try those mods later in the week

vale

i've got two. first runs but the same. the pedal of the gods.
if you want to experiment with tone look at the schemo in the rawfuzz pdf at fuzzdog.
http://pedalparts.co.uk/docs/RawFuzz-V2.pdf
after cap c8 see the wire that leads down to the tone pot?
turning that tone pot one way or the other will send your signal left or right (as you look at it).
right will filter the signal through c11 100n to ground (ground is the black line running along the bottom of whole circuit).
and left will filter through c10 6n8 to ground.
try putting a 1nf in c10 and a 200n in c11 for a wider range.
if you don't like that strip out that whole network of 5 caps c8-c12, the two resistors r17 & r18 and the tone pot, and stick a completely different tone stack in its place.
that not a newbie thing so it depends whether you want to invest the time in learning about tone stacks. but not that hard once you get your head around the concept that caps are filters.
a big muff stack is a standard kind of stack. not as scoopy as the fuzzwar. look at this page if you want to learn about what they are and how they work.
http://www.kitrae.net/music/big_muff_guts.html#Circuit
but cap swap i emplained above is an easy thing to try first.

vale

i've got two. first runs but the same. the pedal of the gods.
if you want to experiment with tone look at the schemo in the rawfuzz pdf at fuzzdog.
http://pedalparts.co.uk/docs/RawFuzz-V2.pdf
after cap c8 see the wire that leads down to the tone pot?
turning that tone pot one way or the other will send your signal left or right (as you look at it).
right will filter the signal through c11 100n to ground (ground is the black line running along the bottom of whole circuit).
and left will filter through c10 6n8 to ground.
try putting a 1nf in c10 and a 200n in c11 for a wider range.
if you don't like that strip out that whole network of 5 caps c8-c12, the two resistors r17 & r18 and the tone pot, and stick a completely different tone stack in its place.
that not a newbie thing so it depends whether you want to invest the time in learning about tone stacks. but not that hard once you get your head around the concept that caps are filters.
a big muff stack is a standard kind of stack. not as scoopy as the fuzzwar. look at this page if you want to learn about what they are and how they work.
http://www.kitrae.net/music/big_muff_guts.html#Circuit
but cap swap i emplained above is an easy thing to try first.

vale

i've got two. first runs but the same. the pedal of the gods.
if you want to experiment with tone look at the schemo in the rawfuzz pdf at fuzzdog.
http://pedalparts.co.uk/docs/RawFuzz-V2.pdf
after cap c8 see the wire that leads down to the tone pot?
turning that tone pot one way or the other will send your signal left or right (as you look at it).
right will filter the signal through c11 100n to ground (ground is the black line running along the bottom of whole circuit).
and left will filter through c10 6n8 to ground.
try putting a 1nf in c10 and a 200n in c11 for a wider range.
if you don't like that strip out that whole network of 5 caps c8-c12, the two resistors r17 & r18 and the tone pot, and stick a completely different tone stack in its place.
that not a newbie thing so it depends whether you want to invest the time in learning about tone stacks. but not that hard once you get your head around the concept that caps are filters.
a big muff stack is a standard kind of stack. not as scoopy as the fuzzwar. look at this page if you want to learn about what they are and how they work.
http://www.kitrae.net/music/big_muff_guts.html#Circuit
but cap swap i emplained above is an easy thing to try first.

vale

i've got two. first runs but the same. the pedal of the gods.
if you want to experiment with tone look at the schemo in the rawfuzz pdf at fuzzdog.
http://pedalparts.co.uk/docs/RawFuzz-V2.pdf
after cap c8 see the wire that leads down to the tone pot?
turning that tone pot one way or the other will send your signal left or right (as you look at it).
right will filter the signal through c11 100n to ground (ground is the black line running along the bottom of whole circuit).
and left will filter through c10 6n8 to ground.
try putting a 1nf in c10 and a 200n in c11 for a wider range.
if you don't like that strip out that whole network of 5 caps c8-c12, the two resistors r17 & r18 and the tone pot, and stick a completely different tone stack in its place.
that not a newbie thing so it depends whether you want to invest the time in learning about tone stacks. but not that hard once you get your head around the concept that caps are filters.
a big muff stack is a standard kind of stack. not as scoopy as the fuzzwar. look at this page if you want to learn about what they are and how they work.
http://www.kitrae.net/music/big_muff_guts.html#Circuit
but cap swap i emplained above is an easy thing to try first.

vale

i've got two. first runs but the same. the pedal of the gods.
if you want to experiment with tone look at the schemo in the rawfuzz pdf at fuzzdog.
http://pedalparts.co.uk/docs/RawFuzz-V2.pdf
after cap c8 see the wire that leads down to the tone pot?
turning that tone pot one way or the other will send your signal left or right (as you look at it).
right will filter the signal through c11 100n to ground (ground is the black line running along the bottom of whole circuit).
and left will filter through c10 6n8 to ground.
try putting a 1nf in c10 and a 200n in c11 for a wider range.
if you don't like that strip out that whole network of 5 caps c8-c12, the two resistors r17 & r18 and the tone pot, and stick a completely different tone stack in its place.
that not a newbie thing so it depends whether you want to invest the time in learning about tone stacks. but not that hard once you get your head around the concept that caps are filters.
a big muff stack is a standard kind of stack. not as scoopy as the fuzzwar. look at this page if you want to learn about what they are and how they work.
http://www.kitrae.net/music/big_muff_guts.html#Circuit
but cap swap i emplained above is an easy thing to try first.

vale

i've got two. first runs but the same. the pedal of the gods.
if you want to experiment with tone look at the schemo in the rawfuzz pdf at fuzzdog.
http://pedalparts.co.uk/docs/RawFuzz-V2.pdf
after cap c8 see the wire that leads down to the tone pot?
turning that tone pot one way or the other will send your signal left or right (as you look at it).
right will filter the signal through c11 100n to ground (ground is the black line running along the bottom of whole circuit).
and left will filter through c10 6n8 to ground.
try putting a 1nf in c10 and a 200n in c11 for a wider range.
if you don't like that strip out that whole network of 5 caps c8-c12, the two resistors r17 & r18 and the tone pot, and stick a completely different tone stack in its place.
that not a newbie thing so it depends whether you want to invest the time in learning about tone stacks. but not that hard once you get your head around the concept that caps are filters.
a big muff stack is a standard kind of stack. not as scoopy as the fuzzwar. look at this page if you want to learn about what they are and how they work.
http://www.kitrae.net/music/big_muff_guts.html#Circuit
but cap swap i emplained above is an easy thing to try first.