My First Build

[Be-Kind-Rewind]

Well I finished up my first build. All I need to do is put it in an enclosure. It's a Zvex Fuzz Factory clone but I'm not too sure if it is an exact clone. It certainly sounds like the FF but doesn't have all the tones available; that could be because i used 2n3906s instead of Germanium AC128s, so I'm probably going to get AC128s then finally put it in the enclosure. At first I had the pots wired backwards but I figured it out. Has some cool fuzz but not all I was looking for. I'm just glad the thing works. Tell me about your guys' first builds. What were they? How long did it take you? Did you have to debug a lot of problems? Was it as good as you expected? Did it work or did you give up?  Thanks.

[Paul Marossy]

Mine works about the same way as what you hear in the video on Z Vex's website. I used some old Raythoen Ge transistors in mine. I suspect that yours might sound different because of the Si trasnsistors.

[Be-Kind-Rewind]

Cool thanks. Where did you get your transistors because I doubt I'll be able to find such old transistors? What would be a good substitute?

[Paul Marossy]

Cool thanks. Where did you get your transistors because I doubt I'll be able to find such old transistors? What would be a good substitute?

I got mine off of ebay like 8 years ago. Basically any of the Ge transistor types that people commonly use in a Fuzz Face will work. If I did the www.geofex.com measurements correctly, each transistor was around 290 Hfe.

[stringsthings]

Well I finished up my first build. All I need to do is put it in an enclosure. It's a Zvex Fuzz Factory clone but I'm not too sure if it is an exact clone. It certainly sounds like the FF but doesn't have all the tones available; that could be because i used 2n3906s instead of Germanium AC128s, so I'm probably going to get AC128s then finally put it in the enclosure. At first I had the pots wired backwards but I figured it out. Has some cool fuzz but not all I was looking for. I'm just glad the thing works. Tell me about your guys' first builds. What were they? How long did it take you? Did you have to debug a lot of problems? Was it as good as you expected? Did it work or did you give up?  Thanks.

my first build [attempt] was a PAIA Phlanger back in the 1970's .... unfortunately, i had no soldering skills .... but i wound up with a very nice paperweight !  .... after many years of practicing my soldering skills, i am now able to build paperweights that also function as fuzz boxes ....

[petemoore]

  Pauls Ge's are NPN or PNP, of course the polarized components/power supply all need inverted when swapping to PNP from NPN plan.