# First Completed Home Build - Bosstone Fuzz



## keto (May 23, 2006)

Well finally, about a month and a half after I started on this hobby, I have finished my first scratch build. By that I mean end to end, boxed and working - I've made about 8 different working circuits, (all on pad-per-hole perf board) just haven't boxed them up yet. Here are a few of them...









So, one of the first ones I built was a Jordan Bosstone clone. And it didn't work, so I built another. Installed it in this box then realized a) a battery doesn't fit in this slightly smaller than regulation box and b) it was built with NPN transistors, so it won't run off a Boss style 9v adapter. But the thing sounds HUUUUUUGE, so I knew I wanted to do another to put in the box, found a schematic for a PNP transistor version. Modified the layout slightly from what I found, wanted to build a very compact and clean build as a test of skill. Ended up with this:

















Boxed it up but then spent about 2 hours debugging my off-board wiring (switches, jacks). Turned out to be very simple, I didn't account for the lack of a 9v battery snap....I ended up putting one in on a guess and VOILA.


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

If you are into fuzz, I highly recommend the Bosstone. It's extremely thick, goes from sorta-overdrive (but heavy) at the lower end of the gain pot, to full on thick fuzz with the fuzz all the way up. Has tons of output.

I'm having a ton of fun building these, and have made vast improvements in my soldering skills and electronics knowledge, both of which started from essentially zero. Gonna see if I can get good results building out some more, and maybe offer a few up in the emporium if the boxes look good.

Here's the finished external. LED is blue.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Yeah, I've made a couple of them, and it's a keeper. It's also a "wild ride". Not anything I would describe as a "sick" fuzz, but reining that sucker in is like trying to rope a brahma bull with dental floss.

Two mods worth considering:

1) I stuck a switch to kick in a treble-cutting cap in parallel with the clipping diodes, since it can be a little top-heavy. .047 or .1uf is just fine.

2) The Bosstone has an interesting way of introducing undertones on some notes in a fairly nonsystematic way. You can increase the extent to which that undertone is heard by making the input cap larger in value. Again, something around .047 to .1uf is pretty good.


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

Thanks Mark. I don't find it excessively top heavy (I do favour a fairly bright tone), but then it does roll off highs as the gain is turned down also....and it sounds REALLY good both ways, up or down.

I found what I think you are describing on an earlier build of same - on the NPN version I made, I don't know where I messed up exactly, but on neck pup with tone rolled down (Tele) I was getting an octave down around the 12th fret (cool!) and artifacts of same when I hit cowboy chords further down. It wasn't out of control glitchy at all, tho I would suspect it wouldn't be to everyone's taste.

I'll get a clip up by the weekend.


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## Shiny_Beast (Apr 16, 2009)

where'd you get that perf board? All the boards I've seen have solder rings.

edit, ok, that one does to, still it's a cleaner looking board than the ones I have got my hands on.


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

Shiny_Beast said:


> where'd you get that perf board? All the boards I've seen have solder rings.
> 
> edit, ok, that one does to, still it's a cleaner looking board than the ones I have got my hands on.


Circuit City, $8 for a big board that I've been dremelling chunks off for my various projects. Found similar size cheaper at a local electronics shop, haven't worked with it yet so can't comment on quality. This CC stuff is nice.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

If you're ever in Toronto, Creatron on College, near Spadina, has some lovely double-sided pad-per-hole boards with sturdy tinned pads, and a "common" (multiple tinned pads all connected) on each side for 50 cents a pop. Very nicely made, and just the right size for small projects like guitar effects. http://creatroninc.com/product.php?ProductID=186

Alternatively Small Bear Electronics carries some excellent pad-per-hole boards that Steve Daniels has made specially for them. A much higher grade of fibre-glass, and the boards are leneged for keeping track of what went where. If you're like me and don't have the latitude to finish a build in one night, a simple letters-by-numbers matrix can be invaluable for picking up where you left off. Steve's boards come in a variety of sizes. They're a little pricier than Creatron's but more professional. http://www.smallbearelec.com/Categories.bok?category=PC+Boards+and+Prototyping


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

Finished up 'Prototype #2' tonight. It's for my bro who plays bass (steamco Kevin), so I socketed the caps and used higher values (stock on the big 3 are .022, used 0.1 on output and .068 on the other 2). Tested it with both active and passive bass pickups, and it sounds much thicker and bassier than the stock values. In truth, better with the passives, was a bit bright(er) and bitey with the actives.

















My soldering is still improving LOL Next, better wire management.


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## cptheman (Oct 15, 2009)

Hey Keto, Cngrats on the build
It looks great and I'm sure it sounds awesome
This is something I'd totally like to do but I have no clue where to get started. Where did you get all your parts and schematics from?


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

cptheman said:


> Hey Keto, Cngrats on the build
> It looks great and I'm sure it sounds awesome
> This is something I'd totally like to do but I have no clue where to get started. Where did you get all your parts and schematics from?


I can find most of what I need locally at electronics shops, tho the prices are higher and there are*a few* things I cannot get - 1 primary example is 3DPT True Bypass stomp switches, nobody that I have found locally has them.

Once I started getting serious about it, I stocked up on stuff I would use a lot of (certainly lots of resistors & capacitors) via ebay and imho the best online parts retailer, which is pedalpartsplus.com. They have great selection, great prices (on most stuff anyways), great communication, and fast non-ripoff shipping.

Schematics and layouts (I build from layouts - I can read a schematic but other than putting it on board exactly as it's written, which often is not efficient, I cannot transfer it to a layout) are all over the 'net. I must have 30 sites saved that have em. I hope it's OK to list a few forums that have a lot of plans as well...
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/
http://www.freestompboxes.org/
http://www.buildyourownclone.com/board/

With a little digging around, you can find schematics or links to them for just about anything based on those 3 sites alone.

Bonus, we have one of the _WORLD'S_ greatest experts on pedal circuits right here on GC, and Mr. Mark Hammer is very helpful and free with his knowledge.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Great looking build Keto...Congrats.

Glad that you gave Mr. Hammer some very well deserved/earned praise. We don't recognize him nearly as often as we should. I will add my thanks and appreciation for all of his writing, patience, tutorials, advice and just plain time and caring. 

Keto ...you might also want to check out the http://www.roadrageprogear.com/ site...they have *some *nice parts for pedals and are Canadian. 

cheers

Dave


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

For building, two practices to recommend:

1) Get yourself a small bottle of methyl hydrate and a toothbrush. The flux residue in the solder often leaves a buildup around solder joints that can make it difficult to detect unintended solder bridges by visual inspection. The methyl hydrate will quickly dissolve the flux residue and get it out of the way. I find this particularly handy when working on boards with cramped connections...and pad-per-hole boards are a prime candidate.

2) Get yourself some heatshrink tubing that will fit around pot, switch, and jack lugs. "I don't understand. It worked before I boxed it up." is a very common complaint/frustration. There are many reasons why a working board goes AWOL upon installation, but some common reasons are that the wire fractures around solder joints in the twisting and turning of installation, or that a pot lug is shorting out against something (usually because the pot turned during the tightening of the outside nut). A small length of heatshrink around the solder joint on the lug provides strain relief for the wire to reduce strain-related fracture, and also insulates the lug should it butt up against something else during installation. The only downside is that (as I once again found out the other day), if you apply too much stress to a wire/lug joint it can still fracture but the heatshrinkcovers it up and holds the broken wire seemingly in place. So, it is a recommended practice, but there are limits to its miraculousness.

Nice build, though.


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