707a Fuzz - Pedalboard-Friendlier!

At last! Here we have the 707a, a pedalboard-friendlier version of the 707 NPN fuzz (now discontinued).

In short, this is my favorite fuzz circuit. My Flagship pedal. Based on the nigh-unobtainable Elka Dizzy Tone (a close cousin to the Burns Buzzaround, and more distantly related to the MkIII Txnebenders), but using a more aggressive transistor set and a few tweaks of my own.

It roars, it snarls, it crumbles, it breathes; the texture is deep and complex, yet pliable and never stiff or opaque. The natural gate snaps the whole world back into context, reminding you how fearfully loud the pedal actually is, in spite of the low noise floor. The controls are interactive, and it's made where every setting sounds good. Also works excellently for bass. This fuzz into a hiwatt will change your life. I could go on and on and on...

Like the other NPN version, this one works fine with a standard center negative 9v power supply, meaning daisy chaining is OK, but isolated power is always recommended. You’ll notice there is no battery snap inside, relay switching would drain it super fast anyway. Other than this, everything is the same except I don’t have to solder every single component, and hopefully that will mean I’ll make more of them!

Sonically, there's a different color to the texture, something inexplicably clearer and more refined. Hence the white enclosure. The decay crumble is a little more chalky. The cleanup is a bit less gradual. Low gain tones are more delicate. Low end is a pinch more focused. These are my subjective takeaways of this transistor set, but you’ll still get the same roaring snarl and crumbling gate that you’d expect from the most aggressive MkIII variant out there.

Controls are, from left to right: FUZZ, BALANCE, and FOCUS.
Fuzz controls the amount of saturation to the third gain stage, fully clockwise can get you into “bit-crushed” territory. Balance is the closest thing you have to “volume” however in the strictest sense it does not work the same way. It may more accurately be named “Intensity”. Focus is somewhat analogous to “tone”, but also does not work the same way. Counter-clockwise is “thinner” and clockwise is “fatter”.

All three controls are interactive: you may not hear a huge difference in fuzz or focus with higher balance settings; you may perceive a volume drop with thinner focus settings, and can compensate with higher balance; you may like a lower fuzz setting if you have gain stages before the pedal. My favorite setting is all three knobs at 2:00. The bass player in my band likes to use 7:00, 10:00, 5:00 and we both think that rocks. Don’t overlook the “thin” side of the focus knob, there’s some good tones in there, too. Try 3:00, 12:00, 7:00. Turn the fuzz up to max and get yr saggy Uncle Neil w/ a Tonebender solo squish..

All my pedals come with a calculable, yet arbitrarily-long-time warranty. Basically, I want my pedals working whether you bought it from me or not, whether you broke it on purpose or not, etc. If something isn't right, I'll make it right. (However, this excludes any kind of tone-chasing, alterations or mods. That journey is your own.)

I plan to keep these in production in perpetuity, until I run out of transistors and can't get any more, I run out of patience, or demand just totally dries up. As of now, all other 707 variants are discontinued, but nothing's ever permanent, I don't think. All that being said, we all know how terrible I am at keeping up with this website, so if any info seems out of date or you have any questions at all, just email me through the contact page and I'll get back with you quickly!

VERY SPECIAL THANKS to Alec Breslow at Mask Audio Electronics for the pcb design and layout, and Scott Evans of Antisleep Audio for the graphic design help since I still cannot be bothered to learn how.