I based my layout on the gaussmarkov layout… this is supposed to be quieter and solve some of the noise issues that previous layouts have had.

I have not built this box previously so I can not compare the noise level to other layouts, however, I will say that this is a noisy build and I can see by moving the wires around that it would be even noisier if it wasn’t layed out as it is.

Day 1: I started out by making a layout for perfboard from the gaussmarkov layout and comments here at this thread. I also found an old box meant for switching one keyboard between two computers. Nice and big.

Day 2: I went ahead and populated the perfboard and soldered it all together.

Day3: I completed the build by soldering all the wires, pots, switches, the led, and the jacks. It was easy to bias the jfet drains to 4.5v.

Night 3: I added the build to my pedal board and went to the gig…

This thing was extremely noisy!!! Waterfall sound like crazy, I guess that’s white or pink noise… I should do my homework about the names of noise eh?

Anyway… I still used it, but even with the guitar volume at zero it made so much noise that it was obvious to everyone on the stage. We’re a rock cover band that also does jam music jazz, fusion, and blues… we play loud.. for others to be able to hear my the noise it had to be extreme.

I came home from the gig knowing that the hundred or so posts that I had read about quieting the Dr. Boogey would pay off.

Day 4: I went back through the forum posts that I had bookmarked and got some ideas about lowering the noise. The first thing I did was changed Q1 from J201 to MPF102…. This helped substantially and left so much gain that I still probably won’t set the gain knob to full. While I was in there I added a 100pf cap parallel with the 20pf cap…this slightly tamed some of the highs… there was just a little too much high end crunch for me before.

When I went to re-bias the build I realized how much trimmer noise I was getting. I set Q1 to about 4.8v and the rest at 4.55ish and tested it one last time… sounded great, still a lot of waterfall sound…

I bit the bullet and replaced the trim pots with fixed resistors….WOW WOW.

Taking out the trim pots took away 85% of the annoying waterfall sound…

I brought home my Twin Reverb and my fx board and tried it out with my normal rig at stage volume…

Now my Dr. Boogey is only slightly noisier than my fulldrive2. It’s about as noisy as a fuzz face or something.

AWESOME!!

Big thanks to the DIY community for making fx building information available to the world!!

Photos:

Parts and Board

All wired up… check the old school foam pad

Wiring details

Slightly modded

All done

Back side

Added to board

Look…

Wife shot photos while we etched but we didn’t get all the steps…

After painting the sides before re-sanding the top… hanging dry:

I forgot about taking photos during the ironing steps… sorry

Painting the air bubble cutouts…

Paint dry (we actually put a hair dryer on a metal wine rack

aiming at the enclosure to speed things up LOL):

We forgot to photograph the etching… sorry…

Etch completed… ready to wet sand again and clean up..

Sanding the mask and paint mask etc…

Final coat of paint before wet sanding the top for the last time…

After sanding the top of the enclosure for the last time YAY:

Things we learned or will do different next time:

Spend more time on the initial sanding… keep on going with the 220 grit until the nicks and scratches are worked out. I think the initial sanding is probably the most important step for a beautiful box.

Work the edges more when ironing the pnp blue

Use good paint… after having this thing on the stage about ten times it has a few indented spots in the cheap flat black i used… ($.99).

Questions I have (haven’t searched for the answers yet).

What type of spray can paint would be best for in the etched areas… something that won’t get nicked or indented.

Any tips for the edges of a PNP transfer… they were the only place I had trouble on this etch… same for my first pcb etch (another post soon)… what is it about the edges that makes them resist the PNP blue so well?

Thanks for reading… please share your thoughts and experiences with aluminum enclosure etching.

I used the late 60s Boutique Fuzz Face Schematic from GeneralGuitarGadgets and adjusted the caps to let those bass frequencies through. On my previous boutique fuzz face build I used my own perf layout but on this one I used the Andrew Carrell layout that can be found in Aron Nelson’s gallery.

The transistors, sockets, LED and the trim pot are from SmallBear. The box, switch, LED Bezel and jacks are from PedalPartsPlus. Everything else is from Mouser.

Each of my builds has been prettier on the inside… I really worked to keep the wires down in this one but it still ended up looking like the back of a mixing console in there. I learned a lot about what I can do next time to make it beautiful on the inside.

The sound is awesome… Sounds like a real GE fuzz face… Steve at small bear is doing us a huge favor and saving us a ton of time by selling those matched transistors (thanks Steve).

Compared to my other Boutique fuzz face this thing has much more bass response / low end.

With my strat it really has “the fuzz face sound” with some added oomph.

With a Fender Jazz bass it’s warm, punchy and very fuzzy… makes you feel nice.

With a Music Man Stingray it is has lots of edge and a nice buzz and by turning down the input gain (bias knob) a tiny bit it warms up even more.

All in all I’m very happy with this build and I recommend the GGG Boutique fuzz face build to everyone who likes the FF sound.

Tychobrahe Octavia w/ body mod

I used the schematic from GGG on this one and did the Tobias Karlsson body mod. I did the layout my self using DIY Layout Creator by Branislav Stojkovic (cool software).

The transistors, diodes and the stomp switch are from Aron Nelson’s Store. The box, LED+Bezel and jacks are from PedalPartsPlus. dpdt from the shack. Everything else is from Mouser.

This was a fun project. I took me longer to do the layout for a small board than it did to solder… I found out that I really enjoy the layout process.

I should have used a bigger box… the Hammond B style box was a tight fit with that huge radio shack switch and all… I ended up using foam to keep the board from touching the box… really tight fit and no space for a battery.

The sound is awesome. The octave effect doesn’t respond well to notes below the 10th fret (7th on little E) or so but that’s not what it’s about…. I love the Jimi sound and this can really get the “purple haze solo” just right. It’s ugly and beautiful all at once. Put this thing in front of a fuzz or distortion and set the intensity knob about half way… F****** Awesome!

I’ve used this on stage at every gig since the day I built it and I love it every time I step on the switch.

From what I understand there are more versatile octave/fuzz builds like the FTM which I look forward to building, but the octavia really has a special sound. It’s definitely worth the build…. especially if you want the “purple tone”.

A big thanks to everyone who posts their guts out on this forum!!!!!!! Without you I probably wouldn’t be buried in wires and components all the time!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kindest regards,

Chris Brown