Boss FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz

[Austrian]

Hello,
someone happens to have a schematic for a Boss FZ2 Hyper Fuzz for stripboard?

Thx and BG from Austria

[Elijah-Baley]

It's be verified, but I never built it.

[duck_arse]

Q4 - Q7 on that layout are shown correct for BCxxx transistors. CHECK YR DATASHEET if using 2Nxxxx's.

actually, check yr datasheet anyway.

[Elijah-Baley]

Always check the pinout of the transistor, orientation, etc... even when the layout is verified, especially when we don't know where it come from. Sometime the layout results verified, but maybe not update when it includes this little mistake.

[blackieNYC]

https://www.coda-effects.com/2015/08/boss-hyper-fuzz-boss-fz2-wall-of-fuzz.html?m=1

Schematic - google boss schematic FZ-2

[roseblood11]

https://www.pedalpcb.com/product/hypedfuzz/

[Austrian]

Thx guys for the answers

[imJonWain]

I'm working on a PCB for it i'll have in the FS section sooner or later.  Also with the transistor shoot for low hfe.

[Elijah-Baley]

Hi Austrian!
Did you start to work on the stripboard?
I'm really interested about this project.
Original transistors and ICs are obsolete, in the layout are suggested some alternative. What of those are you using?

Thanks!

[iainpunk]

The beringer sf300 is exactly the same, right? They sound really similar (almost exactly the same when compared side to side, with some fiddling around with the knobs [best friend let me borrow the original boss unit] )
I got the behringer for 'sinterklaas' (Dutch Christmas), and the spending cap was at €20, so its a very cheap pedal, if you plan to use it for the tone, and not because you just like building pedals. (Ive built a perfboard clone myself tho, because i like building)

[Elijah-Baley]

I'd like to build it.

I would like just to get some further information because it's a bit peculiar project and, though it's verified, I guess just a few of people built it.

Did someone build that veroboard layout?

[Breadbored]

Sorry for reviving this zombie of a thread, but I see a lot of people asking if somebody have built this from the vero layout. I'm actually working on it right now, done about half of the wiring so far and after that I'm going to measure some 2n3904 transistors to find some with lower hfe. According to the datasheet the hfe can go below 100 so I hope to find some with low hfe to use. Mind the order of the pins of the JFETs, the vero lists J201 as an option but the order of the pins are different to the vero so just flipping the transistor won't work so I got some J107s instead. The op-amps in my build will be 4558. I'll keep you posted with the results 😁

[antonis]

I'm going to measure some 2n3904 transistors to find some with lower hfe. According to the datasheet the hfe can go below 100 so I hope to find some with low hfe to use.

If you really need BJTs with low h_FE, it should be better to use medium power devices..
(like 2N4401 or 2N5550-5551 in TO-92 package or BD135-137-139 in TO-126 package.. - the later strongly recommended in case of no layout spacing issue..)

[Breadbored]

I'm going to measure some 2n3904 transistors to find some with lower hfe. According to the datasheet the hfe can go below 100 so I hope to find some with low hfe to use.

If you really need BJTs with low h_FE, it should be better to use medium power devices..
(like 2N4401 or 2N5550-5551 in TO-92 package or BD135-137-139 in TO-126 package.. - the later strongly recommended in case of no layout spacing issue..)

Yeah we'll see how the 2n3904's work out, if I run into issues I'll look into something else! The original FZ-2 transistors were about hfe 50, but I've had some trouble finding ones that low and I ordered the 2n3904's from a pedalmaking website (along with other stuff of course) so of course they won't have every transistor available so if I run into issues I'll have to order from an electronics supplier. Too bad shipping and handling is BRUTAL from those sites....

edit: I've seen FZ-2 style kits that use BC550 so maybe I'm making this too big of a problem but we'll see 

[imJonWain]

The difference, if any, is pretty subtle in my experience.  I used 2n3903s in my builds just because I have alot of them.  They seemed to sound different then 2n5088s but it wasn't much and honestly was probably totally in my head lol.

[iainpunk]

keep an eye on the pinout, the 2N series has different order of pins than a BC series, which the vero is designed for.

cheers

[Breadbored]

Finished the wiring last night and it works! I don't think the transistors were as big of an issue as I thought but I'll get something else at some point just to try it out. I've never had an FZ-2 style pedal before so I don't have a point of reference for the sound but to my ears it definitely is in the hyper fuzz ballpark. I recorded the video on my phone so the audio sucks but unfortunately I don't have any recording gear.

JFETs: J107
NPNs: 2n3904
PNP: 2n3906
OP: 4558

I built it just like the vero except that the 2k9 resistor is a 3k, otherwise it's just like the vero.

https://youtube.com/shorts/7iavGYuI59s?feature=share

[Breadbored]

So I finally got some new transistors to try out. With 2N3904 for all the NPNs chords sounded very muddy. Sounded HEAVY for doom-stuff but chords were a mess. I got some PN2369A and MPSA06 (haven't tried MPSA yet) and with 2369 in all the positions it was bascially the opposite, barely any fuzz at all even with the gain maxed out. So I tried some combinations and the one I thought sounded the best was PN2369A for Q12 and 2N3904 for Q13/Q14, that definately got the fuzz back but with better defintion as well. I might want it to fuzz a little more but my garage guitar has single coils and I usually use humbuckers so maybe that will fix it but it's late and I don't want the neighbours to hate me  It seems like Q12 has a WAY bigger effect on the fuzz and clarity than Q13/14 so if you want to tweak this circuit Q12 might be a good place to start. I'll try some other stuff as well, but I'll give the new transistor combo a try first