Another guest appearance with a verified layout by Chris at Capitalist Death Cult!
Here is what he has to say about this bass fuzz monster:
Capitali$t Death Cult Effect$
YUKAGIR Preserved Siberian Fuzz
The Yukagir (pronounced Yookahgeer) Preserved Siberian Fuzz is named after a 39K year old Wooly Mammoth fossil that was unearthed in Siberia in 2002. This effect was basically the distortion I needed to make use of the NOS Soviet military germanium transistors and diodes I've amassed a collection of.
Essentially - this is a "Green Ringer" style octave noisemaker with a jfet blend control that is followed by a burly PNP germanium fuzz+distortion that works equally well for bass or guitar. The germanium transistors are MP42B's, and the diodes are germanium D311's - both originally manufactured in the 1970s for the Soviet military.
The original inspiration for the fuzz came from the Apocalypse Audio H Fuzz - and it bears some tonal similarities to the Zvex Wooly Mammoth/Mastotron. I added a voltage inverter to the fuzz circuit so that it can function with a regular 9V/negative tip power supply like a One Spot.
The controls are as follows:
INPUT: fuzz gain - it will squeal when you max it.
TREBLE: tone control, that mostly adds high end definition as you turn it clockwise.
OUTPUT: master level
MIDS: a three way switch that is almost flat to the left, scooped in the middle, and boosted to the right
GATE: this knob is highly interactive with the mids switch and input knob - it will also filter some of the lows as you turn it clockwise.
RINGER: this is the octave blend control - this knob will also interact with the gate, as the level of octave will cause some velcro-ish sputtering of its own.
The footswitch on this unit is the Demedash Incandenza relay "soft click" design and will last WAY longer than a mechanical switch, and is super reliable. However - depending on your power supply and whether or not you daisy-chain others to that supply, the pedal will either default to powering up or down every time you disconnect it. Kind of like how Boss pedals are always on every time you power them up with a One Spot.
There are a lot of different tonal possibilities in this box - from gated and sputtering to roaring bass-heavy blare, as well as some FZ-2 style boosted+scooped octave fuzz tones, too.
All handbuilt and finished by just me (Chris) in my garage in central coast California!
