Believe it or not, when I first started building pedal circuits I wasn't too concerned with keeping track of when they were built. Eventually I did decide to keep track of build dates, so I used my own social media posts to get as close as I possibly could for the ones I hadn't kept track of before. For the past few years I assumed my first build was on the second of January 2020. After doing some research I found a reddit post where I asked for help troubleshooting my first build, which turned out to be on the first of January 2020. There were quite a few Bazz Fuss builds that were never taken into account at all, most of which have since been harvested for parts to build something else. I did say most, as I've recently come across one of the last surviving Bazz Fuss builds that I forgot about and never completed.
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| Bass Fuzz on a US Quarter for size reference. |
My very first Bazz Fuss was slapped together from parts I had laying around. It's sputtery, velcrowy and it sounds like shit in any other setting than full bore. Because it was my very first build I'm leaving it the way it is, for better or worse. My plan was to finish off this other Bazz Fuss to celebrate the fourth anniversary and make it more of a useful circuit than my very first build. This will give it an actual use, and a date of completion. Since this circuit was built previously, I can't give it a birthdate but a completion date is still important to the circuit. All I needed to do was install the volume pot, wire it into my test box, and, since it has a socket, see which transistor sounded best.
The problem being, no matter what I do it sounds like shit, if it makes noise at all. I will assume this circuit sounded ok previously or it would have been harvest for parts long ago. I used some really nasty solder back then, but I made sure to reflow it all when I was installing the volume pot. It could be a bum volume pot, it could be a bad component on the board, although I doubt the latter, or it could be my test box's power input needs replaced. Apart from the Screaming Tree/Screaming Bird clone, the last few circuits I've tested in it sounded like shit. I'll start with giving the test box a new power input, if that doesn't work then I'll know it's the circuit itself.
Sadly I can't give this circuit a birthday, nor can I give it the completion date I was hoping for. It's a super simple circuit, so I'm confused as to why I'm getting the results I'm getting from it. I may just keep it around as a novelty. A memento, as one of the circuits I built back then and never did anything with. I would prefer it to be working though, that's the best outcome, but if I tear it down and replace everything would it be the same circuit? That would be very much a Trigger's broom scenario. Regardless, here we are in 2024! It's time to get a few circuits made, house them all up, and focus on making more music with them. I had a blast recording my first demo in 2022. Hopefully I can make more this year, or in 2025.
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