Danelectro Cool Cat Fuzz V2, anyone have one?

justinhedrick · September 07, 2011, 10:05:48 AM

i got this for christmas last year and literally never used it. I got to crank it up this weekend and i was SEVERLY disappointed. It is not all that fuzzy. I thought i had a bad battery, so i plugged it into a power supply and the same thing. plus, i had to adjust the input gain (via a trimpot inside) because my stock crappy Dean pickups were distorting the input . . .

anyone else have one that can offer some insight?

grimniggzy · September 07, 2011, 10:10:27 AM

I've heard its a pretty weak fuzz. No first hand experience though.
Off Topic: But apparently the Cool Cat Drive is awesome for the price, it's an OCD clone.

Hemisaurus · September 07, 2011, 01:39:44 PM

It's based on something called the Peach Fuzz, it's a weird circuit. It's two of those LM386's they use in those Lil Smokey amps, run wide open, like they are in the Lil Smokey, and buffered each end by an op amp.

justinhedrick · September 07, 2011, 01:52:13 PM

yeah, it only sounds good with the fuzz knob cranked. might have to put it on "the list".

Hemisaurus · September 07, 2011, 01:59:28 PM

You can up the gain of those IC's, read the datasheet, page 3.

http://www.national.com/ds/LM/LM386.pdf

Basically the Fuzz control is setting the level of signal that is fed into those two chips, up the gain of those, it'll gain up and clip more.

Hemisaurus · September 07, 2011, 03:18:33 PM

3 simple mods, take 3 little switches and a couple of diodes

Mods 1 & 2, fit a switch between pins 1 & 8 on each of the 386's, this would let you bump up the gain tenfold on each device.

Mod 3, a pair of diodes connected to the far end of C7, the other end to the switch, and thence to ground let's you switch in some diode clipping.

justinhedrick · September 07, 2011, 04:01:26 PM

could i just hardwire a chunk of wire between pins 1 and 8?

Hemisaurus · September 07, 2011, 04:07:18 PM

Yeah, I was just making it fancy

You get to choose which of the 2 386's you do it on though

justinhedrick · September 07, 2011, 04:16:44 PM

Quote from: Hemisaurus on September 07, 2011, 04:07:18 PM
Yeah, I was just making it fancy

You get to choose which of the 2 386's you do it on though

i can't pull up the schematic at work, i'm assuming they are cascading? so if i jumpered the 2nd one, it would be a low gain into a high gain scenario, right?

Hemisaurus · September 07, 2011, 04:22:38 PM

Yes. The second one is IC3 the third one is IC2

All those mods are on the non-surface mount stuff.

justinhedrick · September 07, 2011, 04:29:24 PM

Quote from: Hemisaurus on September 07, 2011, 04:22:38 PM
Yes. The second one is IC3 the third one is IC2

All those mods are on the non-surface mount stuff.

i haven't even cracked it open. i bet there's 2 pc boards in there . . . maybe?

Hemisaurus · September 07, 2011, 04:32:08 PM

Never cracked a cool cat, though Bob has one, so my time will come. But yeah, Dano tend to have a 'switching and power' PCB, which is common to all the units in a line (like the FAB) and then an 'effects' PCB. You won't need to worry about the other PCB.

Hemisaurus · September 07, 2011, 04:37:27 PM

Sounds like they mod'd it themselves, there's a V2 http://www.coolcattone.com/product_fuzz.html if you had an input trim control, you have a V2, did you try playing with the dipswitches? Do that before you open it up

justinhedrick · September 07, 2011, 04:39:49 PM

Quote from: Hemisaurus on September 07, 2011, 04:37:27 PM
Sounds like they mod'd it themselves, there's a V2 http://www.coolcattone.com/product_fuzz.html

i know. i have a V2 . . . hence the title of the thread.

but the mods you are talking about aren't something that they've already done.

Hemisaurus · September 07, 2011, 04:41:52 PM

Hmm, they may have redesigned the circuit entirely though, those mods may not apply