What could be the gains of the GGG's Maestro FZ-1S transistors?

[yeeshkul]

30k does the job well ... i've just measured what i set on the trimpot ...

[GREEN FUZ]

AHH!! That`s better. A 100k resistor did the trick nicely, thank you.

BTW just to answer the original post, according to a schematic on AMPAGE, Q`s 1-4 should have an hfe of 200 where 5 and 6 should be around 400.

[yeeshkul]

Good, good! There is plenty of space around the collector of Q2 - the fuzzed signal although insanely boosted loses almost all the power on the "diodes" and 33k divider. I would use a 100k trimpot and check for the saturation so the sound is not distorted any other way than it should be - Q2 works like a CLEAN gain stage.

I would use 400 for Q3 too. Just to help the switch with light notes. Actually i did.

www.hoho.cz/efekty/sounds/DA.mp3

This thing becomes my favourite fuzz, i have to apologize for all the bitching and pricing Fuzz Face. It's my babe now

[GREEN FUZ]

I did try a transistor with a higher hfe for Q3 in the hope of improving the sustain. Didn`t make much difference. Unfortunately the lack of sustain really lets this circuit down and makes the sustain control a bit superfluous. Any thoughts on improving it? If you like this pedal you should try the Univox Superfuzz which has a similar sound but when you pluck a note it goes on forever.

[yeeshkul]

I've finished another unit this time with 2n5088s from smallbear (Hfe about 500), BC548B(Hfe about 250) for clipping and BC550C for Q4(Hfe about 680). It is the best sounding unit of the 3 i have built. And the sustain is really smooth. Also i used 68k for R12 so the volume is above unity.