Home built fuzz face

[ToneMerc]

There's tons of fuzz circuit variations out there, anyone built any that they really enjoy?

TM

[eniam rognab]

hey TM

i have breadboarded quite a few fuzz circuits in my short time and settled on the Tone Bender, i think its a MKII for my fuzzy germanium needs, i added a bypass-able rangemaster circuit to drive the front end more and also to keep both positive ground circuits in the same box

definitely socket the transistors, and pick those with the highest HFE

what are you going for?

edit: also check out the foxx tone machine, fuzz with octave

[ToneMerc]

hey TM

i have breadboarded quite a few fuzz circuits in my short time and settled on the Tone Bender, i think its a MKII for my fuzzy germanium needs, i added a bypass-able rangemaster circuit to drive the front end more and also to keep both positive ground circuits in the same box

definitely socket the transistors, and pick those with the highest HFE

what are you going for?

Eniam, I'll check the Tone Bender circuit out. I'm putting together a vintage tone pedal board. I recently picked up a new EJ Fuzz Face ( only because the price was far to good to pass up) and of course is not pedal board friendly, but I can gut it use it as a test bed. I did order a Dunlop FFM3 a few days ago which is PB friendly though.
I prefer the germanium fuzzes, but the trick is finding one that sounds good for me, very usable and not terribly expensive. Thus, the reason for wanting to make my own.

I sure wish I could get hold of a Berkos germanium fuzz though.

TM

[eniam rognab]

well my friend, if you can build a tube amp you could probably build a fuzz circuit blindfolded

i cant justify buying anything new being a starving student, i can barely justify buying enclosures and such

as you can tell from these circuits there isnt a whole lot going on which makes them inherently mod-able, you will have lots of room in the FF enclosure just socket everything

check out this great article on the technology of the fuzz face
http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/f ... fftech.htm

[JazzGuitarGimp]

Hey TM,

I imagine you already know this, but just in case you don't: Germanium transistors are susceptible to heat. I bought a '69 Slight Return pedal from Fulltone a few years ago. I love the sound of this pedal. First time I took it on an outdoor gig in the summer, I got my stuff set up and realized the fuzz wasn't working. Of course, I assumed it needed a new battery. So I sent my wife on a battery run, only to find out the unit was still not operational. Got it home later that evening, plugged it in to troubleshoot, and all was fine again. I contacted Mike Fuller to inquire about Ge transistors and heat, and sure enough, they don't mix.

Cheers,
Lou

[martin manning]

Classic Fuzz Face is great, but you need to tweak a couple of the resistors to suit the Ge transistors you are using, or build it with trimmers. Small Bear has good info on this and transistors (last I looked). GeoFX site linked above is good and has info about testing transistors. The Gibson Fuzz Tone (the "Satisfaction" fuzz) is funky and grimy with its 1.5V battery. There's pic of the one I built near the top of the FX pedal sticky. Mosrite Fuzzrite is cool and so is the Russian Big Muff (GGG has a pcb). Those are both Si fuzzes. These are fun little projects, and you can easily breadboard them up and see what they sound like before you comit to boxing them up.

[BTF]

I went the opposite way from the norm and chose silicon trannies for my Fuzz Face. I figured "tubes I got, fuzz I need".

I had some silicon HIGH gain transistors lying about. I put them into the Fuzz Face circuit, tweaked the top using a small value cap in the second transistor's base input, and have loved it ever since. It's very dynamic, cleans up great with the guitar volume knob, and when dimed is brutal.

It's great for that fluid, violin-like sound. If you try a Fuzz Face, don't pass the silicons just because they get a bad rep.

Good Luck!

[Blackburn]

Very cool that TM beat me to this thread. I was going to post something along the same lines, as I've never had any fuzz pedal that I really liked. I got pretty close to building the Tone Bender circuit a while back, but never went through with it. This may inspire me to get back up on that horse.

[LeftyStrat]

I have a pile of the supposedly holy grail Ge transistors with the big metal heat sink, AC128. I've yet to find one with the correct gains, low leakage, and low noise.

I haven't gone through them all yet, so there's hope. I'm using R.G. Keen's method for measuring them:

http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/ffselect.htm

I also just received this PCB (scroll down for clips):

http://www.guitarpcb.com/apps/webstore/ ... ow/3536156

It uses silicon BC109's, but sounds pretty good. The clips don't really demonstrate whether rolloff on the guitar volume works like a real FF. I'll try and give an update.

Though I have to rant about all these guys designing PCB's as small as possible. You have to solder the resistors in vertical, and I have to use a magnifying glass to see the designations. Someone needs to offer old-school layouts.

[dorrisant]

Not a fuzz face, but check out the buzzaround. One of my favorites.

I built something close to a buzzalike which is like the buzzaround, but eliminates two of the Ge transistors and uses an opamp instead. Really much this same but quieter noise wise.

These are a great fuzz with a little more string to string clarity especially when chording.

Tony

[crbowman]

I've built a couple of fuzz faces. Finding the right pair of transistors and getting them biased right is the trick. Not that hard to do, just don't expect to throw one together and have it sound great right out of the box. I've heard stories of Hendrix trying dozens of them before he found the one he liked. Also, they don't really play well with other boxes. They definitely need to be the first device after your guitar in the signal chain and even then they can sometimes be problematic with other devices down the line. That said after months of tweaking mine finally sounds pretty killer for that one magic thing they do.
FWIW, I hate building stomp boxes. Not enough real estate in the little bastards. It's like building a ship in a bottle.

[ToneMerc]

thanks for the feedback guys

TM

[Structo]

Not a fuzz face, but check out the buzzaround. One of my favorites.

I built something close to a buzzalike which is like the buzzaround, but eliminates two of the Ge transistors and uses an opamp instead. Really much this same but quieter noise wise.

These are a great fuzz with a little more string to string clarity especially when chording.

Tony

The Buzzaround have a nice sound no doubt.
I built one but I had trouble sourcing NPN Ge transistors ( I wanted negative ground) that had high enough gain and didn't leak.

The opamp is a good idea as it still uses a Ge for the final stage for that tone.

I have bought a few fuzz pedals over the years and always seem to be disapointed in them.
I even bought an expensive Analogman Sunface with sun-dial.

The problem with Ge fuzzes as everybody knows is the temperature instability.
Maybe if you keep it in a bucket of ice you could get away with a gig but they always seem to sound like crap after a while.

I also built a BYOC Ge Fuzz pedal that works well.

But, I'm still liking my cheap Biyang Tonefancier FZ-7 Fuzz.

Three unique "voices" of fuzz: Muff, Bright and Warm.

Plus the tone control works well.

http://www.amazon.com/musical-instruments/dp/B003VIC81W

[img:500:375]http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/416%2B1pI1sBL.jpg[/img]

The only downside is the size of the enclosure, but check out the one below.

http://www.amazon.com/musical-instruments/dp/B003VIC81W

They came out with a smaller pedal enclosure.
Pretty sure it is the same circuit.

[img:650:434]http://i01.i.aliimg.com/wsphoto/v0/6039 ... t-Star.jpg[/img]

I know I have posted about this pedal before but it's still on my board which says a lot.

[davent]

Joe Gagan's Easy Face, Hybrid silicon/Germanium.. Small Bear sell Ge's specified for it.

Few different front end options.

http://www.freeinfosociety.com/electron ... php?id=928

http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/dia ... a841b3e85a

http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/dia ... a841b3e85a

[cxx]

I love the fuzz face. The classic sound is from the germanium tx but temperature is an issue. I put an extra external knob to adjust the bias which keeps it working. It is probably one of the simplest but most versatile pedals out there.