Apollo Module Fuzz

Project overview

Inspired by Jext Telez White Pedal. Designed to bring back those legendary overdrive and fuzz sounds of the late 60s commonly associated with George Harrison’s Vox amplifier.

Introduction

Houston, we have a… FUZZ! The Apollo Module Fuzz was inspired by the legendary and timeless solo’s sound in ‘Time’ (pun intended) by Pink Floyd. Of course, you can use it to play anything you like, and we can’t wait to hear the results.

The Apollo Module Fuzz is a silicon transistor-based pedal, and if you have any experience with those, you might know that those can sound quite thin at times. Well, not this one! The Apollo Module Fuzz is as thick as they come and can be darkened even more with the on-board controls. You’ll lose the sense of gravity with this vintage-sounding fuzz, and you won’t want to get down. Trust us!

Inside the control room, we have 5 potentiometers – VOLUME, FUZZ, BODY, BRITE, and RANGE. The VOLUME knob allows you to set the loudness of the pedal to your linking – make it barely audible, set to unity gain, or blast it way up for a thick boost. The FUZZ control balances the amount of dirt in the tone – it can go from basically a clean sound to a never-ending sustain. Be careful, though; it can get really noisy at high settings. Next in the line is the BODY dial. With this control, you can decide how much of the bass is going into the fuzz section. You can set this knob to go from a tight overdrive to a full-on nasty fuzz with anything in between. Like with the FUZZ knob, be careful as it may get really noisy, this time at the low settings. BRITE lets you choose between more of a ‘hairy’ fuzz or a darker, smoother one. With this one, it all depends on your personal taste, as well as the amp you’re using. Last in the line is RANGE. This control sets the gain of the input transistor. What that means is when you turn it to the max, the sound will become more aggressive, fuzzy, but also the noise floor will get drastically elevated. Lower settings will provide a darker sound with a tamer response. You can experiment with the RANGE control as you wish, but around 80% of the max is an excellent place to start the fun with.

If you miss the times when humankind set their first steps on the moon while Mr. Gilmour provided the perfect musical landscape, then look no further. You have arrived at your destination…The eagle has landed!

Controls

• Body
• Brite
• Fuzz
• Range
• Volume

For further analysis on this circuit take a look at this thread on Free Stomp Boxes Forum.

For any technical questions regarding this build don’t forget to check out our Facebook Group and our forum at Free Stomp Boxes.

Apollo Module Fuzz – Building Docs

Apollo Module – Drilling Template