Enclosure not stated · 4 knobs
Mictester Silicon Tonebender
Based on the MicTester Silicon Tonebender· 3 other boards clone it
- Category
- Fuzz
- Controls
- Abuse · Sparkle · Volume · Fat/Thin
- Price
- see vendor
- Also as
- Vero layout · from Revolution Deux
- Tags
- freestompboxes.org trace
From the vendor
Mictester's consistent silicon fuzz: four BC109C transistors, a Tone Bender-style core with a 47K feedback/bias resistor, followed by an emitter follower and a tone control. The Abuse pot sets the gain, Sparkle has a very wide treble range, and a Fat/Thin switch picks the input cap. Mictester likens the sound to early Jeff Beck.
Setup: set the Abuse pot halfway, play through it, and adjust the 5K trimmer until the gating just stops. Add small caps from base to collector of the middle two transistors (start with 47p) to smooth the sound, at the cost of treble. For radio interference, add 100p from the base of the first transistor to ground. The 8.2n tone cap (C7) can go as low as 3.3n for a much wider treble range. Raise the 47K feedback/bias resistor (R8) as high as 470K for more gain: touch sensitivity disappears and it becomes a high-gain screaming fuzz. The vero layout notes the input cap can be anything from 10n to 10u, to taste.
Schematic
The schematic is in the post. Open it at Revolution Deux. No KiCad fragment has been drawn for this circuit yet.
Parts list 30 rows
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| Ref | Value | Normalized | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resistors 13 | ||||
| R1 | 1M | 1M | read from the schematic by eye | |
| R2 | 150K | 150k | read from the schematic by eye | |
| R3 | 22K | 22k | read from the schematic by eye | |
| R4 | 10K | 10k | read from the schematic by eye | |
| R5 | 1K | 1k | read from the schematic by eye | |
| R6 | 10K | 10k | read from the schematic by eye | |
| R7 | 100 | 100 | read from the schematic by eye | |
| R8 | 47K | 47k | feedback/bias; read from the schematic by eye | |
| R9 | 10K | 10k | read from the schematic by eye | |
| R10 | 10K | 10k | read from the schematic by eye | |
| R12 | 10K | 10k | read from the schematic by eye | |
| R13 | 2.2K | 2.2k | read from the schematic by eye | |
| R11 | 10K | 10k | read from the schematic by eye | |
| Capacitors 8 | ||||
| C1 | 10u | 10u | electrolytic; read from the schematic by eye | |
| C2 | 10n | 10n | read from the schematic by eye | |
| C3 | 100n | 100n | read from the schematic by eye | |
| C5 | 4.7u | 4.7u | electrolytic; read from the schematic by eye | |
| C6 | 100n | 100n | read from the schematic by eye | |
| C8 | 100n | 100n | read from the schematic by eye | |
| C7 | 8.2n | 8.2n | read from the schematic by eye | |
| C4 | 47u | 47u | electrolytic, power filter; read from the schematic by eye | |
| Transistors 4 | ||||
| Q1 | BC109C | BC109C | read from the schematic by eye | |
| Q2 | BC109C | BC109C | read from the schematic by eye | |
| Q3 | BC109C | BC109C | read from the schematic by eye | |
| Q4 | BC109C | BC109C | read from the schematic by eye | |
| Potentiometers 4 | ||||
| Abuse | B1K | B1k | Potentiometer | P1; read from the schematic by eye |
| TR1 | 5K | 5k | Potentiometer | trimmer, adjust until gating just stops; read from the schematic by eye |
| Sparkle | B50K | B50k | Potentiometer | P2; read from the schematic by eye |
| Volume | A100K | A100k | Potentiometer | P3; read from the schematic by eye |
| Switches 1 | ||||
| Fat/Thin | SPST | SPST | switches C1 across C2; read from the schematic by eye | |
Other boards based on the MicTester Silicon Tonebender
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