Hi, new guy here.

[AdamOn6thStreet]

Well, I too have been bit by the recent DIY bug that is plaguing the Harmony Central FX forum.   I recently finished my first ever DIY project with much help from the guys over there and especially JPLAudio who helped me with making the schematic (heck, he really came up with it).  It is basicallty a patchbay with a mute switch that allows me to tune in silence (and take the tuner out of my loop) plus it makes the board neater.  

Now that I have done that, however...i really want to get into some real circuitry and I have chosen the ever classic Fuzz Face.  But I dont want to just copy someone's diagram...i want to take several versions, see what I like best, and then go from there.  I plan on ordering several different transistors and cap values, plus an armful of resistors.  What type of Cap is prefered in most FuzzFaces?  The trannies that I am looking at are: 2N3053, 2N7000, 2N5088, 2N3904, 2N508A, 2N527, NTE158, NT126, and if I can find some, a matched pair of Ge's.  Any other suggestions of trannies to look at?  Any references you can give me or maybe some schematics that I havent found online yet?

I will have many many more questions, so just be warned...and finally here are some pics of my last build:

https://webspace.utexas.edu/woodas/Pics/mutebox/SMuteBox%20066.JPG
https://webspace.utexas.edu/woodas/Pics/mutebox/SMuteBox%20073.JPG

Adam

[Tim Escobedo]

http://www.geocities.com/tpe123/folkurban/fuzz/fuzzyfaces.html

These are just a few of the many variations out there that I came up with.

[Brian Marshall]

hi adam

[AdamOn6thStreet]

http://www.geocities.com/tpe123/folkurban/fuzz/fuzzyfaces.html

These are just a few of the many variations out there that I came up with.

Yes!  I have been looking at that.  very interesting stuff.  I like the idea of the pot instead of the 100k resistor between Q1 and Q2.

[AdamOn6thStreet]

hi adam

hi Brian

[petemoore]

Suggestions for 1rst time FF builders/tweekerz.
  Check out all the FF info you can find, and read at GEO "technology of the FF' and Runoff Grooves Articles with the word Face in the titles.
 Measure every resistor for the FF board with a DMM,  account for every connection at a node before soldering there.
 For a more flexible Face:
 Socket both transistors so you can swap, and use a trimpot instead of Q2's collector resistor.
 Since the board is cheap and you should do alot of testing to find 'your FF, socket the input capacitor, [output cap?], make the gain pot a 2k or better, [you can always reduce it with a resistor across it's outside lugs...2 X 2k parallel=1k].
 I would just leave the 100k and 33k resistors on the board, if you want a lower value, you can 'tag' a parallel resistor on it [provided theres room], I like to leave lead length [a little bit] on top of the board, starting with a not small resistor, I can always reduce it by providing a parallel resistance path. I noticed only marginal differences messing with these resistors...the 470R [that's 470 ohms only, by the way] could be 1k as in some builds or I think some use even smaller...tag another parallel R on there and see if you notice anything much different....or socket any resistor you think you might want to mess with.
 The 22uf I sometimes use 10uf for, this reduces the amount of Bass Amplification of the circuit...the incap 'decides' how much bass gets cut.
 I've found FF's [different tunings] can easily be ...
 Mellower, well behaved with good guitar volume gain reduction to the point of becoming quite 'clean'.
 High gain to the point of being unruly, and require finding the right small value of rolloff cap from signal path to ground...or collector to base...to eliminate oscillation or tame the high end.
 If you socket the 22uf, not only can you try different values, but by inverting the polarity of that cap [just turn it around], and the battery supply polarity, you can switch from NPN to PNP, and try all kinds of FF transistor combinations.
 You could socket / trimpot everything, the things I like to mess with most are, in order of amount of percieved difference [IME]:
 Q2's resistance values..use a 20k trimpot, or 10k pot and ~4k7 in series.
 Input capacitor socket
 both Q's socketted
 then
 22uf socket
 Outcap socket
 Then
 If you start with a 1k for the 470R, you can tag a parallel 1k to it and have 500R there. Same with the 100k...you can lower it's R value with a parallel resistance path.
 BCxxx [109, 108 pick your poison]
 Jfets, Mosfets? 4401 for Q1?
 Geo explains the transistor gain in the 'Tech of FF"...lower gain ones do better in Q1.
 Have good fun with your FF building and tweekings...

[Fret Wire]

You want to stay away from high gain transistors in the basic Dallas Arbiter fuzz circuit, silicon or germanium. Even the 2n3904 has too much gain. For silicon, there's the classic BC108's & 109's, which can still be too high gain, and the 2N2369 and 2n2222 which are real good. For Ge, there's a few: AC128, AC188, AC128/01, 2N404, 2N508, OC75, OC44, plus others. NTE 158's can be a gamble, the first pair I bought had the proper gain and sounded good. Many times they don't.

For caps, you're pretty well stuck with electro's or tants for the 22uf & 2.2uf. 1uf and under, use good film caps. Resistors, use metal film, they're quieter. Use trimmers for the collector resistors, they make biasing easy.

As far as matched Ge pairs, go no further than Small Bear Electronics. Steve Daniels sells matched pairs for the basic fuzz, as well as 3-transistor sets for the ToneBender. You can't go wrong spending more for a matched pair.  They matched in the proper gain range, and he includes the proper resistor values for biasing.
http://www.smallbearelec.com/Ordering/Stocklist.htm

First thing you should do is brush up on some Fuzz primers.

http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/fuzzface/fftech.htm

http://www.smallbearelec.com/HowTos/FuzzFaceFAQ/FFFAQ.htm

http://www.geocities.com/stompbox2001/ac128.htm

http://www.muzique.com/lab/yaff.htm

http://fuzzcentral.tripod.com/fuzzface.html

http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/v2/index.php?option=displaypage&Itemid=77&op=page&SubMenu=

http://www.tonepad.com/project.asp?id=38

[Fret Wire]

Wow! No one had even answered yet when I started typing! BTW, welcome Adam.  As you see, it's one of the most helpful forums out there!

[Marcos - Munky]

Hi Adam. Welcome to the forum. Hope you like it. You can find matched Ge pairs to sell at Small Bear site. Take a look.

[petemoore]

I've really been using the TB and FF. The ones that were built around matched SB sets.
 By the way...Where's Brett? I haven't seen posts by him lately...
 Anyway the Miss Piggy allows you to 'set' the gain of the transistors with dummy transistors.
 You can't really go wrong with a matched Ge set.
 FF boards are so easy and cheep, I like to have a proto board for a FF around for tweeking in and trying out different FF configs...that'd be the one with all the sockets and trimpots on it. You can drive yourself nuts trying out different FF types with a little FF protoboard on perf...get somethng you like, and build it on a 'permanent' board....after a few FF's, the board building should take ~less than an hour and 10$

[AdamOn6thStreet]

Suggestions for 1rst time FF builders/tweekerz.
  Check out all the FF info you can find, and read at GEO "technology of the FF' and Runoff Grooves Articles with the word Face in the titles.
 Measure every resistor for the FF board with a DMM,  account for every connection at a node before soldering there.
 For a more flexible Face:
 Socket both transistors so you can swap, and use a trimpot instead of Q2's collector resistor.
 Since the board is cheap and you should do alot of testing to find 'your FF, socket the input capacitor, [output cap?], make the gain pot a 2k or better, [you can always reduce it with a resistor across it's outside lugs...2 X 2k parallel=1k].
 I would just leave the 100k and 33k resistors on the board, if you want a lower value, you can 'tag' a parallel resistor on it [provided theres room], I like to leave lead length [a little bit] on top of the board, starting with a not small resistor, I can always reduce it by providing a parallel resistance path. I noticed only marginal differences messing with these resistors...the 470R [that's 470 ohms only, by the way] could be 1k as in some builds or I think some use even smaller...tag another parallel R on there and see if you notice anything much different....or socket any resistor you think you might want to mess with.
 The 22uf I sometimes use 10uf for, this reduces the amount of Bass Amplification of the circuit...the incap 'decides' how much bass gets cut.
 I've found FF's [different tunings] can easily be ...
 Mellower, well behaved with good guitar volume gain reduction to the point of becoming quite 'clean'.
 High gain to the point of being unruly, and require finding the right small value of rolloff cap from signal path to ground...or collector to base...to eliminate oscillation or tame the high end.
 If you socket the 22uf, not only can you try different values, but by inverting the polarity of that cap [just turn it around], and the battery supply polarity, you can switch from NPN to PNP, and try all kinds of FF transistor combinations.
 You could socket / trimpot everything, the things I like to mess with most are, in order of amount of percieved difference [IME]:
 Q2's resistance values..use a 20k trimpot, or 10k pot and ~4k7 in series.
 Input capacitor socket
 both Q's socketted
 then
 22uf socket
 Outcap socket
 Then
 If you start with a 1k for the 470R, you can tag a parallel 1k to it and have 500R there. Same with the 100k...you can lower it's R value with a parallel resistance path.
 BCxxx [109, 108 pick your poison]
 Jfets, Mosfets? 4401 for Q1?
 Geo explains the transistor gain in the 'Tech of FF"...lower gain ones do better in Q1.
 Have good fun with your FF building and tweekings...

Like this?:

http://www.runoffgroove.com/multiface.html

I was planning on doing the socket thing...does anyone sell transistor sockets or do most people just cut up some IC sockets?

[AdamOn6thStreet]

Hi Adam. Welcome to the forum. Hope you like it. You can find matched Ge pairs to sell at Small Bear site. Take a look.

I looked but i cant find them on the stock list

I like Small Bear, Ive dealt with him before...but for some reason his shopping cart wont work with IE 6.0 which is what I prefer. (and before you mention it, I hate Netscape, Mozilla, etc.)

[Fret Wire]

On the Small Bear link I posted, follow down on the stock list and you will find TO-5 transistor sockets. Mouser also has them. Use cut up IC sockets for the caps and resistors (or use trimmers).

[AdamOn6thStreet]

oh awesome, thanks