tube fuzz

Here is the circuit which I'll initially be trying.  I've marked the approximate DC voltages at various nodes in the circuit.  These are what I *hope* the circuit will naturally seek out.  It may fall into other stable modes, though, such as oscillation!  Component values are guesswork for initial starting values.  They'll probably be different even at the start, because I'm not sure I have all those values on hand. As you can see, I'm trying an arrangement which I haven't seen done much, so it's kind of my own invention, based off of partially-similar examples in a number of other circuits.  That is, I'm running the tubes more or less symmetrically, with equal resistances above the plate and below the cathode: which would normally lead to virtually no gain, but then I'm bypassing the cathode resistor with a large capacitor, which I hope will lead to high AC gain while leaving the DC bias floating near the middle of the voltage range.  Then, I'm ...

The fuzz effect is one of the oldest guitar effects, and still one of the best (in the opinion of some, such as me!).  It was an integral part of Jimi Hendrix's sound, where it amped up both the intensity and the delicate sensitivity of his playing style.  And many will point to Keith Richards using it on "Satisfaction"; but that, to me, is an example of one of the many ways fuzz can sound bad.  It's not a sound that works in all contexts; indeed, it tends to require the guitarist to "play to the effect", choosing riffs, chords, and intervals which respond well with the fuzz effect, and avoiding those which don't. Fuzz is often lumped in with other guitar distortion effects, and is considered to simply be a more-intense form of distortion, on a one-dimensional spectrum that runs from mild ("overdrive", also sometimes called "edge" or "compression") through medium ("distortion"), through extreme ("fuzz"). ...