"Dead slow" is slowest speed where ship can still be manouvered. "Dead Slow Fuzz" is the pinnacle of over 20 years of building fuzz pedals. Clear and articulate fuzz that geos from fat and saturated to tight crunch with a turn of the guitar volume pot. It is based on the classic circuit made famous by the Tonebender mk1.5 and the Fuzz Face, added with tweaks and mods learned over the years.
The circuit is built around NOS Sprague TD-101 dual complementary silicon NPN transistor with hfe of approxiamtely 180. Dead Slow is a single knob fuzz with "drive" control that adjusts the signal strength going in to the circuit and a switch that controls the bass response. Switch up and drive at max gives a fat saturated and almost saggin thick fuzz. Switch down gives tight and controlled crunch. Dead Slow responds very well to guitar volume control. Internal controls for volume, bias and fuzz.
Sounds (P90 neck to Green Preamp to interface and cab IR):
Two units have been built so far. Custom builds available for 120euro + shipping.
This is a page dedicated to fuzz pedals and other effects I have built over the years. All fuzz designs adapted from old designs found online. I hope someone finds this useful or at least entertaining.
Circuits are built on strip boards and most enclosures are custom made. Teflon-lined silver-copper cabling, Switchcraft jacks and high quality foot switches. True-bypass with LED.
I build these for my own entertainment but can also do custom builds. If you want me to build one for you contact me at: pekka [at] vrfy.fi
Fuzz101 is built around an old TD-101 dual-complimentary NPN silicon transistor. This transistor seems to work very well in a Fuzz Face -style circuit with some adaptations. Input Drive control and switch for more or less bass. Goes from tight crunch sound to fully saturated killer fuzz. And also cleans up really well from guitar volume pot. The box is an experiment in making the smallest possible pedal with still having the connectors on one end. Year 2022.
The DoomBender - redux is an adaptation of the Doombender with Volume and Bass knobs and trimpots for Bias and Attack. Pictured on the right. Year 2020.
The DoomBender is so far my greatest Tonebender mk2 adaptation. More fuzz than you will ever need with "Doom" control for low frequencies and "Cut" for taming the high end. OC140 Germanium NPN transistors. In the same box together with the OC140 Booster (see below). Year 2021.
Rangemaster-style booster with Fit/Avg -switch and input volume control. Temperature compensation diode at the transistor base. Clean boost or overdriven boost depending on how high you set the input. In the same box together with the DoomBender (see above). Year 2020.
Classic Fuzz Face with slightly less gain and thicker sound. No Fuzz control, just a Vol pot. FAT/FIT switch to get woofy or tight low end. This is a really good fuzz! Left side in the pic below. Built in 2020. Sold.
VERO Layout for Torso Fuzz. Sound sample: here (recorded with Samsung S10e... Epiphone DOT (SD Jazz neck), KT88 clean amp ja Eminence Delta Pro12A cab)
This is Torso Fuzz Mark I with BC547 and OC140 transistors and a volume pot at the input. Bright and tight. Year 2019.
Adaptation of Jordan Bosstone. More edge and raw sound than germanium fuzz. "Big" sound thanks to LED clipping. Less gain but very punchy sound. Does not clean up from guitar volume as well as classic FF circuit but then again this sounds best at full tilt. Also good FM radio receiver if R11 is set to zero ohms. Year 2019.
VERO Layout for Boss Tone.
Adaptation of classic Tonbender mk2. Thick fuzz that cleans well from guitar volume pot. Perfect for stoner rock. Year 2010.
A germanium FF clone with more than enough trimpots. Used as a test mule. Sounds good. Tricky to adjust. Year 2010.
VERO Layout for Torso mk1.
Single germanium transistor treble booster. Schematic lost along the way but basicly the classic RangeMaster but with OC140 NPN transistor. Kinda like on this Fuzz Central page. Sold.
Crazy screaming high gain fuzz that also biases with almost any transistor. Bass control to give thick or thin sound at input. Treble control at output. Gain control from guitar. This was built and sold in 2005. Might need to build a new one some day.
My first fuzz pedal. Classic germanium PNP Fuzz Face with AC128 PNP transistor. Built in late 90's and modified to work properly in 2002 when I added the trimpots to bias the circuit.
This is a guitar amp with ~100W class-D amplifier module (from ebay) paired with a Tube Screamer -style amplifier stage and a Big Muff -style tone control. Power supply is an old laptop PSU with new connector. Incredibly loud and neutral sounding amp that weights nothing when compared to any traditional tube or transistor amp. Built in 2021.
Matamp style JFET preamp built from Musikding.de kit. Modified for less gain and more headroom on the first amplifier stage. Custom enclosure. Built in 2022.
An "analog voiced" PT2399 delay in the style of EQD built from Musikding.de kit to a custom enclosure. Built in 2022.
Behringer SF300 in a roadworthy enclosure. Modded for true bypass with original bypass components remove. Mode switch for modes 1 and 1+2. Sold. Year 2023.
A mistake I noticed in the Tonepad Pulsar layout many years ago.
Updated: 28.03.2023
2023 - pekka [at] vrfy.fi