Death By Audio Fuzz War

[johnk]

here's my vero for it. the original uses 2N5089's. I ust couldn't get them to work at all with them, but it does work well with MPSA18's or 2N3904's (& both have the same pinout as a 2N5089). IMO, DBA's use of 2N5089's is probably due to the specific ones that they have in stock.

[rocket88]

Holy crap, you got it to work? Does it sound like the original with the MPSA18's and 2n3904's? That's amazing, and you are totally the man. I know one of the problem with DBA pedals is their design. They aren't really the best when it comes to design. I know they don't really have any plans, it's mostly I their heads so each pedal of the same model isn't really the same.

[johnk]

yep, it's working and it sounds pretty good. i'll have to checkout the PGS video again to compare it  and I think that i'll probably have to tweak a few resistor values to get it to match the original, but it is a real beast of a fuzz.

[JonasL]

Wow, nice work mate! I'm so glad you got it working... Hopefully you can tweak it some more so it's exactly like the original. This one is definately next on my build list! Do you know the "Ffuzz Warr Overload"? It's basically a Fuzz War but with a added treble boost. Sounds very good!

[johnk]

I've come to find out that the four transistor version is actually the newer version ( I thought it was the other way around).
I just listened to my 7 transistor 2 knob version compared to the proguitarsop demo and it's pretty much dead on with 2N3904's, but i'm still going to play around with the five 430K base resistors tomorrow to see if I can tune it more to my liking.

evidently the earliest ones had all 680n coupling caps so I first built mine with those, but it was a bit too tubby, so I replaced them all with the later version 100n's and, IMO, it's quite a bit better that way (as in not so flabby).

the very newest ones for sale have an external Fuzz control so i'll probably do that with my 7 trans version (I already did that on the 4 trans one).

[johnk]

if you're have too much of a gated decay, replace #2-5 430K resistors with 510K ones to bias them correctly.
this is how I have mine set up now and to me, it sounds best this way:

[johnk]

and for those that don't mind standup resistors and want to fit it in a 1590B here's a compressed layout of my modded and verified version. I also changed the value and taper of two of the pots to make it work better:

[Ktzenjammer]

Very curious about how this one one sound...

[Andhony00]

Sorry if I've exhumed this thread but in final what is the correct schematic of the 7 transistors? I would like to build this pedal on pcb but I haven't understand what is the correct schematic...

Can somebody help me?

Thank you so much

[rocket88]

As far as I know there isn't a working schematic for this, as johnk built the vero layout from snapshots of the actual board, which I posted earlier in this thread. It might be easier to make the vero layout since it is verified and all.

[Skajaquada]

Hey guys, I built Johnk's 7 transistor/2 knob version of this, and I'm having a weird problem.  It was plaguing me for a long time, but basically, if I give this circuit the full 9 volts, it doesn't work.  If I sag that down to 1.5 volts (thereabouts) the circuit works perfectly.  Any idea what I'm doing wrong here?

[anders]

Ever since I started with this hobby (...uhm obssesion ) I wanted to build the 7 transistor version of Fuzz War. I built johnk's version of it and it sounds great but I have heard people who actually got it working after building it according to the schematic posted at the first page of this thread. So I did a vero and tweaked the base resistors from current rail and it sounded best around 820k. I replaced the two 910k resistors with 1 mega ohms simply because I don't have any...and it works!

Tried several sets of transistors like 2N3904 and MPSA18, with the former the output was to low and with the latter it was over the top with a loud stuttering decay, so I threw in some 2N5088's and they sounded best to my ears. I went with the drive knob as a trimmer but you can easily take it outboard.

Vero layout

[Tune Tone]

Hey guys
I followed John K's Layout titled DBA Fuzz War (7 Transistor Version with johnk mods)
at first the tone knob did quiet hectic changes from one side of shafting to the other. luckily - I socket on the 2 caps valued - 120n and 20n. my 120 nf is a greenie one as the 20 is actually 22nf cause I could not find any 20nf.
So I wanted to play around and maybe replacing these values, but when removing the 120 nf greenie things turned pretty damn good so far. right now there are no capis at these position and the tone knob seems to do the work just fine.

the FUZZ poti is what Im really concerned about. I can certainly hear it does something cause when not playing one side of the pot gives a cleaner hum of the amp while the other side of it gives a nastier humm. Strangely enough - when playing the guitar this pot does almost nothing. any ideas why ? or how can I change that ? could it be that on a bigger amp I will hear the difference ? (Im playing a fairly loud Vox AC4  - a tube amp it got a 10inch speaker cone).
So in other words I can play the effect either with the fuzz knob turned all teh way uo, or down - the fuzz still is a hammer beast dosn't matter where this knob is pointed at.

A question about the drive bias:
so in the other versions of the FW I noticed there is a drive knob or in some previous layout (like in the original as well) a drive trimmer. THe question is. what resistors in Jon K's layout I was using effect the drive character - I might just want to dispense on the FUZZ poti, fixing the 10k Resistor going to the first Trani from the left straight to the ground line - and instead place a posi for the DRIVE option as it sets more of the fuzziness character of the effect

thank's for reading and appreciate the support

[btthrt]

Nice layout, Anders

I wonder how you got rid from power supply hum/noise?
I've added to 9v input a 100 ohm resistor and 220u cap to the ground, that reduced a noise a bit, but i want it gone completely. My other pedals don't have such problem...

[joeychickenskin]

This is an old thread but thank you for this layout.

I use this pedal all the time and built it with a pot swap switch for the tone because it sounds like such a different monster depending on where it's set and to my ears I can live with a perceived volume change between a bass setting and a more icepick setting.

I was tempted to make a second one with a built in Naga Viper (I think the THEE FUZZ WAR OVERLOAD that they made for John Dwyer has a treble boost) and even when the tone on the Fuzz war is set to bass, the Naga Viper bludgeons through and gives you enough juice to play notes with just your fret hand.

But instead I have a box with a naga viper and a green ringer in in front of the Fuzz war.

[Acronso]

I did exacly what you were asking back in 2013

http://guitar-fx-layouts.42897.x6.nabble.com/DEATH-BY-AUDIO-FUZZ-WAR-v-1-VERIFIED-tp7376.html

Here is an updated version ;)

[RedRocket]

Did you get anywhere with the voltage issue mate, mine also doesn't work at 9v but is ok at 1.5v. I have checked everything 50 times and cannot see any issues. I am using 5088's for all 7 Transistors.