Big Ear LOAF Fuzz

[JabboWookie]

Does anybody know what the Big Ear LOAF fuzz is based on? I haven't been able to find too much info on it. I've attached a few PCB pics below that I found on another website. I'm wondering if it's just an LPB-type boost in front of a 2N3904 fuzz face-y circuit?

https://www.bigearnyc.com/product-page/loaf

[Tesla]

Eeeeek. They charge $200 USD for that.   What are the pot values

[JabboWookie]

No clue. This is all I've been able to find.

[PMowdes]

Why are the components soldered to the back of the board???  very odd.

[Frank_NH]

If I were to guess, it looks like an NPN fuzz face variant (with 2N3904 and 2N5088 transistors), with a tone control tacked on the end.  The trimmer pot sets the bias of Q2.

[JabboWookie]

I count two 2N3904's and one 2N5088. Would the third transistor be part of an output stage?

I know this is pure speculation at this point. I like the way it sounds (but not $200 work of "like"). I've seen it on a few boards of bands I like (Interpol, Midlake, etc.)

[Travis]

I see a 2N5089 and what looks like a CDIL 2N2222 but the PN for the 2N3904 is not visible (only the PCB silkscreen)

The PCB layout makes me cringe a little, and the build quality looks terrible, but it could be a great sounding pedal

[Tesla]

Component selection leaves much to be desired as well, probably just me though. I despise those Chong capacitors, and companies that use the cheapest possible eBay components and then feel they can charge the same amount as companies sellin well built effects using great quality components.

I think it bothers me even more that this approach works in our industry, you don’t have to go any further then pro tone pedals to see that.  Denis should not be able to get anywhere near $300 for a ts clone that actually uses far worse components and less of them. Ignorance is bliss I suppose., like the Jeff loomis signature OD, the guy actually had the balls to use a fake JRC 4558 and the same components as this effect, then charges $300 USD for it.  The PCB he uses for all of his ODs including Keith marrows signature model is just the gauss Markov board🤬.  After selling those shitty pedals for this many years he still hasn’t even made his own PCB.    

Just goes to show all that matters is marketing, so long as you can take someone else’s hard work and stomach calling it your own

[rocket88]

Not sure what you have against those Chong electrolytics, which are sold by Tayda not some random cheap eBay seller. I use them in my builds and they’ve been nothing but reliable, well within spec, and are on the smaller size for their values and voltage rating. That’s the same reason I use Panasonic film caps, they’re small, high voltage rating, and reliable for value. You can say whatever you want, but the producer of passive components doesn’t matter one bit as long as their value is right and within spec. A cap is a cap, a resistor is a resistor, is science the value is what matters end of story. If you want to believe otherwise by all means keep drinking the Kool-Aid. Active components on the other make a difference, and there’s variation between manufacturers even for the same part number, which leads to differences in tone. There’s a huge difference between using those caps or cheaper passive components vs using fake active components.

Side note what makes this pedal look overpriced to me is the quality of the build, board, and wiring.

[Tesla]

It’s fine to use them so long as the price reflects it, if your using Chong caps but using decent quality everything else it’s not such a big deal to me. When your using those caps, the cheapest transistors possible ( not this particular pedal ) mlcc...everything as cheap as possible except the artwork and makerting. then charging as much or more then companies that have their pedals loaded with much better quality components then I think it starts to become wrong    I also hate crooked components lol  I think it’s mostly OCD and expecting to get what I pay for that makes me feel this way.  

But ya if the price reflects what your paying to build them then that’s perfect, knowing what it costs to build that art work and all I wouldn’t pay/charge anything over $150.  You can get a Friedman BE100 OD for less money then that and it’s 6 knobs and soldered properly lol

[Travis]

I don’t think the fact that Chong caps are sold at Tayda makes them any more reputable. Tayda generally sells the cheapest version of everything and frankly a lot of it is junk. I do not think of Tayda as a highly regarded dealer although their shipping and customer service is reliable.

With that said I do buy and use products from Tayda but I do it selectively

I have not had an issue with Chong caps personally, but yes this pedal is clearly built with the cheapest possible parts from Tayda and the build quality looks terrible. I have seen at least one instance of another builder needing to replace a Chong cap to fix their project so there seem to be problems out there but I haven’t had any happen to me yet

[Tesla]

I wouldn’t trust them for semiconductors, I know a lot of people will disagree with that one but there’s a reason everything is so cheap with them and it’s not just because they sell in volume   Maybe extremely common things if I was in a jam but never anything like a OPA2134

[rocket88]

This is way off topic from the request, but you’re not paying for the parts when you buy something like a handmade pedal, you’re paying for the time and expertise for it being built. If it takes you 10hrs to build a pedal start to finish, counting finishinf the enclosure, $50 for parts, and you sell it for $200 thats $15 an hour for your time. To put it in perspective its what minimum wage may soon become. That’s not unreasonable.

While I agree that there’s a lot of marketing out there without substance they name on the part doesn’t relate to quality. Like I said before, the value is what matters, and if can cost you 10 cents for a cap or $1 for a cap, same value and quality, meaning reliable and in spec, there’s no reason to spend 10x the money for the same thing because of the name.

Quality doesn’t mean more expensive. The problem isn’t with the cost of the parts that are used if they’re quality. The issue is over promising with underdelivering, rediculous obsession with name and mojo, and basically athing discusses about gear over on The Gear Page. The specific company you mentioned chargin $300 for a pedal was using FAKE parts not cheaper parts.

[Tesla]

Using cheap parts is fine if your price reflects it, that’s my stance lol  “expertise” is a funny thing because every builder claims to have it

In reality most are cloning effects and rebadging them with sub par components, I do not see the expertise it takes to simply clone pedals, even if it takes biasing and fine tuning that is far from expertise.  A lot of us actually have a fairly poor grasp of analog design to be honest. If your truly inavative like VFE and use high quality components and relay bypass you should not be making less then people cloning effects with Chong and MLCC capacitors IMO

[Travis]

I think you’re right about that Tesla but it brings up a somewhat interesting point for me.

Since we’re talking about a fuzz or distortion pedal here, how much does it matter and is it really preferable to use hifi parts in an extremely lofi application? If you’re cloning a vintage Big Muff for example, those tended to use the cheapest parts they could get at the time and we tend to believe that many vintage Big Muffs sounded incredibly good.

From my experience I tend to like cheap ceramic capacitors in a Big Muff build

[JabboWookie]

Holy thread derail. Sorry I brought it up.

[Travis]

This forum is really just a bunch of friends chatting at the end of the day so sometimes threads might veer off topic as we indulge ourselves a bit.

Personally I like it and I think everyone have been respectful so far unless maybe Big Ear is reading. This pedal just looks poorly executed in a number of ways and we can’t help but jump on that since we are passionate about building great pedals. I don’t think there are really malicious intentions here

[rocket88]

Can’t agree more with Travis. Nothing bad going on and fairly common to go somewhere else in a thread. At the end of the day, we’re all brothers of the soldering iron.

[JabboWookie]

I'm not disagreeing with anything said, but pointing out that it's a poorly built, overpriced piece of junk is a little too obvious don't you think? I can go to FSB for that.

Anyhoo, carry on!