Maestro FZ-1 Fuzz Tone help

[lowbrow]

I've searched high and low everywhere I can think of but have been unable to locate any information on Q2 voltages for the original fuzz. There's a wealth of info on the -1a with the 10K Q2 collector resistor and absolutely nothing on the -1 with the 1K5 Q2 collector resistor. Does anyone have any info or maybe an original they can measure?

[LucifersTrip]

I've searched high and low everywhere I can think of but have been unable to locate any information on Q2 voltages for the original fuzz. There's a wealth of info on the -1a with the 10K Q2 collector resistor and absolutely nothing on the -1 with the 1K5 Q2 collector resistor. Does anyone have any info or maybe an original they can measure?

I didn't do an extensive search, but yeah, it'd be cool to see actual voltages from an original.

The main reason, I believe, that there's little info on the voltages for Q2 is because it doesn't mean as much since the fuzz pot sets the bias.

For the FZ-1A, when the fuzz is set to the lowest, Q2C voltage is up near 1.5V. As you turn up the fuzz, that voltage decreases.

It's the same for Q3. If you put in a low leak transistor there, Q3CV will be around 1.3 - 1.4V, which will give you little fuzz. When you drop in a high leak one there, the voltage drops and the fuzz increases.

I've only built a couple FZ-1's, but I'd guess the voltages were probably around double the 1A. I'll build another soon and experiment more...

[lowbrow]

I've been experimenting pretty extensively with all the stages together and independently. I started with the assumption that what's true for leakage on the 1a is true for the 1. In ignoring my multi meter and tuning only by ear, my voltages for Q1base and Q3collector fell pretty much at double what Small Bear recommends for the 1a. Q2collector did not.

But if I assumed the current into Q2c was meant to be about the same, than figuring around the 1K5 collector resistor, I get a range of 2.87 to 2.95 volts, based on what is,recommend for the 1a.

I set up a test circuit of just Q2 (all positions actually). When the fuzz pot is maxed, that whole network between base and ground works out to a single 17K5 resistor (I used 18K) I tried (all the same model number) transistors ranging in leakage from 200 microamps on up to around 500. The voltage dropped on Q2c as leakage went up, but never dropped below about 2.5 volts. This leads me to think it needs to be someplace around 2.7 and depending on your transistor availability, the 1k5 might need to be adjusted up.

All that being said, it would seem that leakage for Q2 in the -1 is just as important as it is for Q3 in both the 1 and the 1a. I have a few RCA 2N270s as well as more modern SSI and ETCO versions. My tiny sampling indicates they where not very good transistors with regards keeping leakage low or a small spread in gain variation on the RCAs. Either Maestro invested a lot of time (money) pre selecting transistors for the -1 or a pretty good percentage of them actually sounded pretty shitty. But then, it was a totally new effect...with nothing to compare against...so that may have contributed to them not selling well initially. When you got a good one (like Keiths, or more so like Davey Allen's) it was glorious. But finding that good one might require testing quite a few units.