DID THEY CHANGE THE CÜVAVÉ? - an in depth investigation (fuzztigation?) #Affordaboard

A few folks have told me that their newer cuvave fuzzes dont sound the same as the one I feature on the Affordaboard, so I figured it was time to roll up my sleeves and do some research. Is there a difference? Is the Cuvave over?
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[magranamx]

Vintage Cüvaves just went up 1000% on Reverb

[erikvincent]

I bought one this week. Mine was not gated. I was able to identify the circuit as a ZVEX Wooly Mammoth, except the pinch/gate knob is missing. On the Cuvave, they just hard set the pinch/gate knob with resistors R7 and R11, which goes in series with R3 to create a negative feedback loop (Fuzz Face style). To make it gate and Velcro more, remove R7 (0 ohm resistor) and if you use the middle and lower left pins of the unpopulated S1, you can replace R7 with a resistor value that is desired. A little gate/Velcro can be achieved by replacing R7 with a 220K resistor. Closer to Ryan's can be achieved by replacing it with a 470K. Extreme gate/Velcro can be achieved by going to 680K or 820K for R7's replacement. Anything much more over 1M is probably unusable. I'm happy with 470K, but dial it in to taste.

[Jaspertine]

I want to live in a world where gear snobs fuss over wether or not their Cuvave Fuzzes are original or reissue. The irony would totally be worth the annoyance.

[mjdbruyn]

You didn't even once refer to the Cuvave Fuzz controversy as "Gategate"? Unsubbed.

[prateekpoddar]

The intro banner absolutely destroyed me. Well done Ryan.

[printpanzee]

Wanted one of these for so long but didn’t want the disappointment of getting the so called ‘New’ version, but finally took a punt on one on Amazon (UK) arrived today in the goldlier gold with black screws and….. it gates!!! Sounds amazing and so much fun! Thanks Ryan!

[evanwilliams]

JHS needs to clone it for a limited run of 60 cycle hum fuzz

[phasmoid]

I ordered the Cuvave after seeing your original review, waited 4 months for it to arrive. Everyone asks how I get that gated Velcro rip

[markferguson]

Somewhere, on the other side of the world, Ryan's name is being spoken with hushed reverence, and prayer sticks are lit on his behalf.

[tommyfoley]

Ryan, that’s not the fuzz circuit you looked at. You looked at the components of the 5V USB power converting circuit. The fuzz circuit is on the other board. The one with the knobs.

[MalcolmO]

IMO, the only difference in sound is because of the gate. The buzz makes the new one more raw sounding, by a hair. That said, the new one appears to have different components at D2 and D3 and even though we were looking at the power circuit, that IS where the difference is because those different components aren't filtering the 60 cycle hum (no capitals ;) ) as effectively as the original parts were. If they get D2 and D3 from the original supplier, gate will probably return. My best guess.

[OwlOfBlues]

Hey, I just received my Cuvave Fuzz yesterday and it’s a weird one. It is a silver screw one, color is hard to tell since lighting and camera settings and screen changes everything but I’m inclined to say it’s to old color.
It does, however, not gate!

I found a post on Reddit where someone pointed out that a certain resistor is the source for the gate. They also said it’s a woolly mammoth circuit though I can’t verify how close they really are. I thought a WM was a 2 transistor fuzz and the Cuvave is 4 but I may be wrong here. Anyway:

On the top PCB (the one that actually contains the FX circuit and wasn’t shown in this video) you will find a resistor R7 towards the top middle section, just to the left where there is space for a switch that hasn’t been implemented. New pedals have a 0Ohm resistor here. I pulled it out (with a soldering iron of course) so it basically goes to infinite resistance. That leaves you with a super hard gate that’s practically unplayable, barely any signal passes unless it’s really really loud.
I then soldered a 100K resistor to the pads of R7 and now it gates really well, playable all the way but stops quickly when you mute the strings.
I tried it with a potentiometer as well but only tried up to 200k, the change was noticeable but meh, 100k was perfect for me. I didn’t want to put a pot on, I won’t need it. If you want to, I suggest a linear 500k pot, I think that’s what a woolly mammoth has an should provide a usable range of gate.
Oh I also changed the LED from red to yellow 😄

[jvin]

Since there are two boards in each pedal, mark all four boards with a sharpie to know 'home condition' and then swap boards between them. See if 'the gate' runs with which board went where to narrow down the important bits.

[calinguga]

you only showed the bottom boards Ryan and those only host the power regulation and filtering, and the jacks and switch. they are the same for every type of cuvave pedal. the actual pedal circuit is on the top board.

[Dr.NoahHope]

I took this apart tonight thanks to Robert Mc Beth for sending me in the right direction. I removed R7and socketed the two empty spaces beside it that were allocated for a switch .Ive built a few pedals so had a good selection of resistors to ty in it starting off with plain wire, the equivalent to the 0 resistor I removed . On to 47k which didnt make much of a difference . 100k quietened the noiseness dramatically and improved on the gating, as I went on 130k, 180k, 200k the gating improved each time 270k to 470k was too much velcro ripping and breakup for my liking and the overall volume decreased to around unity at full volume at 470k . I played around them for a while and settled on 180k . Ill leave it in there for a while before i fully decide, but its now the pedal that I originally thought I was buying and very happy with it . After taking the unit apart and adding the sockets it takes about 30 seconds to change between resistors as the unit will work without putting it back in the enclosure once you connect the two boards together. I also changed out the red led for a yellow translucent one ( always hated red leds ).

[juno]

I just received the new version (gold) from Amazon and I’m getting no unwanted noise at all. Further, it sounds fantastic (just like both in the video here), but does anyone know what a little beast this thing is on bass? I’ve found only one vid featuring this pedal with a bass and it just doesn’t fully reflect the great fuzz effect you can wring out of this pedal—very, very nice!

[gordontubbs]

I think the philosophy of the affordaboard is that it uses current production/accessible pedals. So you have to ask yourself this one question Ryan: if you lost your original Cuvave, would you replace it with the reissue, or would you reach for a different fuzz?

[greyklopstock]

OMG not the spin doctors reference! I love it! And that fuzz wrinkles my brain, OMG. If I were to try to explain what "Velcro fuzz" I'd just show them this. WOW

[LTDusersince]

wet dry setting makes reference of studio gear where you could mix the clean guitar signal (dry) with the full on effect signal (wet) and play in between.

[mike_lowndes]

Ahhh, a video containing both things you convinced me to buy. Love my Starcaster too.