Re: Fuzz boxes

On 2/24/25 02:19, bitrex wrote:

On 2/23/2025 7:04 PM, john larkin wrote:

On Sun, 23 Feb 2025 23:30:41 +0000, TTman <kraken.sankey@gmail.com>
wrote:
>

Can anyone explain why the best ones seem to use germanium transtors, (
and 'matched pairs' at that)? Why not a simple op amp with back to back
diodes? Any circuits?

>
I designed the signal path for the Ryder amps.
>
https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/ryder-amps-cabs-from-the60s.663614/
>
They were named for a co-worker, Frank Ryder, who was also a small
plane aerobatic instructor. The only time I ever got close to motion
sick was after an hour flying with him.
>
The Ryder amp had a path that used a tracking diode clipper followed
by a diferentiator. They called it "bell tone", not fuzz. It had a
"long sustain", whatever that means.

 As a long-time guitarist my impression is that guitarists tend to be a pretty conservative bunch, and often the reason for something being considered "the best" tends to be because that's the way the classic pedals were and those were the products that the great names of history used.
 Certain signal paths and devices are sacred, like communion wafers.

yeh, things like new old stock silk wound wire done by naked virgins under moonlight in the amazon jungle delivered wrapped in tweed and then twisted in a certain way named after some guy that did it 50 years ago, is the way to really get the right "tone"