Aion Electronics Flare User manual

1FUZZ FACTORY / FLARE FUZZ
Flare
Fuzz Factory
Fuzz Factory Project LinkOverview
The Flare is a clone of the ZVEX Fuzz Factory, a really interesting
little box that lets you create everything from a really thick but
musical fuzz to some messed-up oscillations. The Fuzz Factory
is essentially a classic Fuzz Face with a LPB-1 booster in front of
it, but with the twist that it uses PNP transistors running on +9V
rather than -9V like a standard Fuzz Face.
This is not a user-friendly pedal by any means—the knobs are
very interactive, and there are a lot of settings that don’t work, but
if you start with some default knob settings you can get a good
feel for what it’s capable of.
The Fuzz Factory is notable for being custom-built directly into
the guitars of Matthew Bellamy of Muse. He uses it for his main
drive tone as well as for feedback & oscillation purposes.
Controls & Usage
• Drive controls the amount of fuzz, equivalent to an overdrive’s gain control. This also turns into
something of a feedback pitch control when the Stability is reduced.
• Level is the output level of the effect.
• Comp changes the attack. It is heavily affected by the Stability control.
• Stability reduces the +9V supply to change the bias of the whole circuit, changing the overall character
of all of the knobs and throwing it into oscillation.
• Gate turns off the transistor when the signal is below the threshold. Useful for creating glitchy sounds.
• Soft reduces the gain of the rst boost stage, which rounds out the fuzz a bit and gives it more of an
overdrive character.
• Tone is a classic SWTC (Stupidly Wonderful Tone Control) appended to the end of the circuit to allow the
treble content to be tamed a bit.
• Body is an input capacitor blend that fades between a 100n and 10uF capacitor. This increases the bass
and thickens up the effect.
Modications
The three additional knobs can all be bypassed if you want to just build a classic Fuzz Factory.
• Body can be left off without using any jumpers; just include C2 but not C8.
• Soft can be omitted by using a 220k resistor for R7 and jumpering pads 2 and 3 which are marked
“BYPASS” on the back side of the PCB.
• Tone can be bypassed by running a jumper between pads 1 and 3 marked “BYPASS” on the back.
Leave off C6.

2FUZZ FACTORY / FLARE FUZZ
Parts
Resistors
R2 10k
R3 47k
R4 470R
R5 5k1
R6 220k
R7 150k 2
LEDR 4k7
RPD 2M2
Semiconductors
Q1 2N3904
Q2-Q3 PNP (Ge or Si) 1
D1 1N4002
LED 5mm LED
Potentiometers
Drive 10kB 9mm
Level 5kB 9mm
Comp 10kB 9mm
Stability 10kB 9mm
Gate 10kB 9mm
Soft 100kB 9mm
Tone 10kB 9mm
Body 100kB 9mm
Capacitors
C1 10uF electro
C2 100n
C3 10uF electro
C4 10uF electro
C5 47uF electro
C6 18n
C7 100n
C8 10uF electro
Build Notes
1You can use either germaniums or silicons here. The original uses germaniums AC128s. You can buy
Fuzz Factory sets on eBay (I recommend eBay seller elebcz from Slovakia) or you can buy a standard Fuzz
Face set from either eBay or Small Bear Electronics. For silicons, use 2N3906 or comparable PNPs. This gives
a very different character than germaniums. There are plenty of people who actually prefer this version.
2This resistor sets the maximum setting of the “Soft” knob. You can probably drop it down a ways before
the maximum position cuts out, but 150k is inside the safe zone.
Starting control settings
The Fuzz Factory is a very fun but very glitchy beast. If you re it up for the rst time with the knobs in random
positions, you may be very disappointed in what you hear. Use these positions as a starting point. (1-10 scale)
Drive: 5 Volume: 3
Comp: 2 Stability: 10 Gate: 0
Soft: 0 Tone: 10 Body: 2
Additional Part Notes
• Capacitors are shown in nanofarads (n or nF) where appropriate. 1000n = 1uF. Many online suppliers do
not use nanofarads, so you’ll often have to look for 0.047uF instead of 47n, 0.0056uF instead of 5n6, etc.
• The PCB layout assumes the use of lm capacitors with 5mm lead spacing for all values 1nF through
470nF. I prefer EPCOS box lm or Panasonic ECQ-B/V-series.
• Pots are 9mm Alphas. These mount directly to the PCB. See page 4 for the recommend method for tting
and soldering all of these.

3FUZZ FACTORY / FLARE FUZZ
Schematic
C
C
B
B
E
E
B
C
E
10k
47k
470R
5k1
220k
2N3904
AC128
AC128
10uF
47uF
10uF10uF
100n
4k7
5MM
1N400X
10kB
10kB
10kB
10kB
5kB
GND
GND
GND
GND
GND GND
100n
GND
18n
10kB
GND
2M2
GND
100kB
10uF
100kB
150k
R2
R3
R4
R5
R6
Q1
Q2
Q3
IN
+9V
OUT
C1
C5
C3C4
C2
LEDR
LED
D1
STAB
1
2
3
COMP
1
2
3
DRIVE
1
2
3
GATE
1
2
3
VOL
1
2
3
SW
C7
C6
TONE
1
2
3
RPD
BODY
1
2
3
C8
SOFT
1
2
3
R7

4FUZZ FACTORY / FLARE FUZZ
Build Instructions
For most circuits, I recommend tting the potentiometers to the enclosure rst and then tting the PCB onto
the pots. This prevents stress on the PCB. With ve to eight 9mm potentiometers on the Flare, though, this is
extremely difcult! Please see the recommended build order below.
Build Order
1. Attach the audio jacks, DC jack and footswitch to the enclosure.
2. Push the LED1 into the hole in the enclosure with the leads sticking straight up, ensuring that the at side
is oriented according to the silkscreen on the PCB.
3. Afx the 9mm pots to the PCB, but don’t solder them yet. It helps to bend the two side tabs out slightly so
they latch into the holes better.
4. Fit the PCB + pots into the drilled holes in the enclosure, taking care that the LED leads end up in the
proper holes. If it doesn’t t, or if you need to bend things more than you think you should, double-check
the alignment of the pots and switches.
5. Once you feel good about everything, solder the pots and LED from the top as the last step before
wiring. This way there is no stress on the solder joints from slight misalignments that do not t the drilled
holes. You can still take it out easily if the build needs to be debugged, but now the PCB is “custom-t” to
that particular enclosure.
6. Wire everything according to the wiring diagram on the last page.
1For the LED: You can use a bezel if you’d like, but generally it’s easier just to drill the proper size of hole
and push the LED through so it ts snugly. If you solder it directly to the PCB, it’ll stay put even if the hole is
slightly too big. Make absolutely sure the LED is oriented correctly (the at side matches the silk screen) before
soldering, as it’ll be a pain to x later! After it’s soldered, clip off the excess length of the leads.
“RPD” and “LEDR” resistors
The resistors marked “RPD” and “LEDR” are generally not original to the circuit and can be adjusted to
preference. “RPD” is the pulldown resistor to help tame true-bypass popping, while “LEDR” controls the
brightness of the LED. I generally use 2.2M for the pulldown resistor and 4.7k for the LED resistor.
Sockets
Since double-sided boards can be very frustrating to desolder, especially components with more than 2 leads,
it is recommended to use sockets for all transistors and ICs. It may save you a lot of headaches later on.

5FUZZ FACTORY / FLARE FUZZ
Drilling & Placement
Print this page and have an adult cut out the drilling template below for you. Tape it to the enclosure to secure
it while drilling. Note that the holes are shown slightly smaller than they need to be, so drill out the holes as
shown and then step up until they are the correct size for the components.
Parts Used
• Switchcraft 111X enclosed jacks
• Kobiconn-style DC jack with internal nut
Hammond 1590B
(bottom/inside view)
SOFT TONE BODY
STABCOMP
GAIN VOLUME
GATE

6FUZZ FACTORY / FLARE FUZZ
Standard Wiring Diagram
This diagram shows standard true-bypass wiring
with a 3PDT switch. When the switch is off, the
input of the circuit is grounded and the input jack
is connected directly to the output jack.
The SW pad is the cathode connection for the
LED. This will connect to ground to turn it on
when the switch is on. Usage of the on-board
LED connection is not required if you have
specic placement needs for your enclosure,
but’s incredibly convenient.
The wiring diagram also makes use of star
grounding principles where all of the grounds
connect to a single ground point (in this case the
sleeve of the input jack). This is best practice
to avoid added noise caused by improper
grounding. The sleeve of the output jack is
unconnected.
If using a painted or powdercoated enclosure,
make sure both jacks have solid contact with
bare aluminum for grounding purposes. You may
need to sand off some of the paint or powdercoat
on the inside in order to make this happen.
Make sure to double-check the markings of the
pads on the PCB for your particular project – they
are not always in the order shown here!
IN GND OUT SW
+9V
SLEEVE
TIP
TIP
License / Usage
No direct support is offered for these PCBs beyond the provided documentation. It is assumed that you
have at least some experience building pedals before starting one of these. Replacements and refunds will not
be offered unless it can be shown that the circuit or documentation are in error. I have in good faith tested all of
these circuits. However, I have not necessarily tested every listed modication or variation. These are offered
only as suggestions based on the experience and opinions of others.
Projectsmaybeusedforcommercialendeavorsinanyquantityunlessspecicallynoted. No bulk
pricing or discounting is offered. No attribution is necessary, though a link back is always greatly appreciated.
The only usage restrictions are that (1) you cannot resell the PCB as part of a kit, and (2) you cannot
“goop” the circuit, scratch off the screenprint, or otherwise obfuscate the circuit to disguise its source.
(In other words: you don’t have to go out of your way to advertise the fact that you use these PCBs, but please
don’t go out of your way to hide it. The guitar effects pedal industry needs more transparency, not less!)