Scuzz Box

This is a a second build of Distort-O-Matic XI from Stompboxology. Read more about the first version of the project here and here, and a demo.

The first version of the PCB had a couple mistakes which I fixed with this board.

I designed the board to fit a 1590B enclosure. In the first build I used an old 125B because I wasn’t sure of everything would fit and I knew there were errors. This build I decided to try and fit it into a 1590B.

I had these boards manufactured at PCBWay.com. The price is very good. It’s $5 for 5 or 10 boards under 100mm. I always order 10! This leaves me with plenty of boards to test with. You can also trade them with your friends!

The schematic

I used the a ribbon cable to connect the switch to the main board and mounted the pots and LED to the main PCB.

That big thing in the lower right is wah inductor. It’s used in the tone control section of this circuit. Take a look at the tone section. it’s an active tone control that provides boost and cut, of both treble and bass. The tone section is interesting and could be ported to other projects.

I milled a gloss black powder coated enclosure. Put everything in the box and soldered the off boards wiring.

I like to have the power jack at the top. I try to leave some space in the PCB where this jack will overlap so they don’t interfere with the jack.

Last step is to sign the box, close it up and add some knobs!

One of the changes in this version to rearrange the positions of the tone controls.

How does it sound? Check out the demo. It’s an octave fuzz but without a super strong octave. The edge control mixes the octave with the input signal and passes the results past some clipping diodes and then to the tone control.

The tone control has a wide range for both bass and treble. You can get AM radio thin sounds to sub bass, scooped, and mid hump tones.

Should you build this? That’s a great question! This is a different sound from Big Muffs and Fuzz Face faces. It’s not a fuzz that cleans up with your volume control. The fuzz tones are good and the tone controls go wide. Check out the demo I made and decide for yourself!