fuzz... BASS fuzz!!!!

 This is a drawing of AionFX's "Penumbra" project - which is an amalgam of the best parts of the Zvex Wooly Mammoth bass fuzz and the Vexter series Mastotron.

BUILDER'S NOTE!!! The "pinch" control is shown here as it is laid out on the AionFX schematic. However, that will make the gate close as you turn the knob counterclockwise. I don't like this, so in order to wire it so that the knob works in the 'proper' (clockwise) direction, swap Pinch 2+3 to the pad where 1+2 currently is. Then swap Pinch 1 to the pad where 3 currently is. The gate will still have the same threshold - the knob will just increase the gate as you turn it up instead of down.

It's basically a silicon fuzz face with no low end loss. Bass guitars, synthesizers, whatever - it all sounds awesome coming out the other end of this beast. 

The transformer and jfet form a switchable "pickup simulator" (designed by Jack Orman) that tricks the fuzz circuit into thinking it is the first pedal in your signal chain by mimicking the impedance it would get directly from the output of your guitar pickup. So that you don't necessarily have to keep it first in your signal chain.

The "pinch" control is a really simple, REALLY effective noise gate that clamps down and releases fast.

As always - if you want something neater than stripboard, you should head over to AionFX and buy a PCB or kit from them. Aion's kits were how I got started making circuits - and I managed to make their HM-2 project work back when I barely knew which end of the soldering iron to hold... Their build documentation is super thorough and laid out in a clear and sensible way.

BUT if you still wanna take a swing at this one, just know that I have yet to build this up. So until I decide to pick up my iron again, this one is UNVERIFIED as of the posting date of 1/27/25.

EDIT: this layout is posted over at Dirtbox as well, and was just VERIFIED AS OF 3/14/25 by Magus Fremar!!!