KENT EA-3 FUZZ TONE BENDER ~ Vintage fuzz pics & schematic

[LucifersTrip]

I posted this in the vintage section of the other forum, but there's still some vintage freaks over here.

...very similar to the Walco Fuzz, here's the KENT EA-3 FUZZ TONE BENDER.

It's most similar to a Fuzz Rite. The big difference is that the "clean" is louder, bassier (almost muddy)
and a bit more distorted and at full ("increase"), there's still a large chunk of "clean" still in the mix.

top:



bottom:



bag:



instructions:



guts from afar:



guts top side:



guts top side labeled:



guts bottom side:



guts bottom side labeled:



schematic with voltages (new 9.6V battery):



transistors used:



It's breadboarded and confirmed and sounds almost identical to the original.
If you want to hit the voltages in the original, use hfe around 350-400 for Q1 and
250-300 for Q2.

Possible mods:
1) I could tell little or no difference with the 18K removed
2) Experiment with a smaller Q1 BC cap. The .01uF is kinda large. If you remove it
totally, it's noisy and the distorted clean/fuzz blend is not good.
3) Recommended: Increase the 12K for more volume & fuzz. Even better, place a
50K pot in series between the 12K and ground. Increase K for more volume & fuzz.
Note, if you lift the 12K completely, you will get more volume & fuzz, but the sound
(distorted clean/fuzz blend is not as good).

anyway, have a blast

[PRR]

New In Bag... wow!

Here's my Kent:



Note same logo.

Very-very similar PCB-stuff also.

[LucifersTrip]

Not new, but close....

The amp looks great. Very complicated array of controls!  Thanx for posting the pic...

Did any of the Kent amps ever have any effects built into them?

[deadastronaut]

nice find man...

the ''whirlie box'' sounds like fun too..

[LucifersTrip]

nice find man...

the ''whirlie box'' sounds like fun too..

hahah...maybe...I'm scared to go for one of their modulation effects, especially since I think it's a copy (or their version of) the  Walco Sound-Go-Round, which ain't great. I tweaked that to death and couldn't get it good enough to box.

[LucifersTrip]

Since I already have the original sound, I decided to improve my "clone" to my taste.

There's one main thing I wanted to do.

As I wrote above, the dirty "clean" part of the mix is always WAY up in there. I wanted to be able to
knock that down a bit, just leaving the fuzz.

The stock is at unity volume or a bit higher, but what keeps it there is the dirty "clean" part of the blend. If
you knock that out and just leave the fuzz, you'll be below unity.

The goal was to keep it true to the original sound, but take it further...not turn it into a
standard Fuzz Rite.

After a bunch of experimenting, I'm going with this.



If you have both pots full counter clockwise, you have identical to the original counter clockwise.
Slowly turn the 1M clockwise and at maybe about 25-30% you'll have what the stock sounds like maxed out.
As you turn the 1M further clockwise, the dirty "clean" slowly drops out leaving more fuzz. Turn the 100K
clockwise and the volume increases along with the fuzz intensity.

Now you can get a perfect mix of clean, fuzz and all at the volume you want.

[midwayfair]

Always extra cool to have the original packaging!

What year is this, any idea?