What makes a Fuzz Face a Fuzz Face

[m7b52000]

I had an unpopulated socketed veroboard Fuzz Face so I populated it with typical resistors and 2 low gain germanium resistors from Small Bear - Hfe 23 and 24 respectively. A first test sounded gated and dreadful and, sure enough, the Q2 bias voltage was about 1V. After finding a suitable resistor I was able to get the bias voltage to about 3.9V and it sounded like a fuzz, even cleaning up OK with guitar vol pot. Is this still a fuzz face or is it something else. Those hfe values are not "orthodox"...

I have much to learn!

[antonis]

Is this still a fuzz face or is it something else.

Considering the fact that  each one FF is unique, there shouldn't be the term "something else"..

[mozz]

Try leaving the 8.2k stock and adjusting the 33k until you get 4.5v at q2c.

[amptramp]

  Does it have:

1. Temperature dependence of fuzz characteristics?
2. Inability to get the same response out of any two builds?
3. Sensitivity to voltage supply?
4. Sensitivity to battery resistance?
5. Requirement to use select-on-test parts to get the functionality you need?
6. Tone sucking of varying degrees?

If so, you have a Fuzz Face.

You have to try a bushel basket of them to get a good one - but if you then take it outside where the temperature is different, it doesn't work the same.  If you were a touring musician (back in the good old days before 2020) and you were scheduled to play in Nome, Alaska then Phoenix, Arizona, and various places in between, you had to have a number of different ones.  And you had to have batteries with some usage on them, not new ones, an exact amount of battery usage.  There was a thread here several years ago where a band canvassed the audience for a 9 volt battery with some usage on it - not a new one - to get the tone they wanted.

[iainpunk]

what makes a fuzz face a fuzz face is basically the topology, the schematic if you will. there are 1000 types of fuzz pedals on the market that are actually fuzz faces, but call themselves differently. as long as you use the same topology, its a fuzz face, independent of the transistors and resistor values.

i think the Hfe is rather low for a fuzz face, but that can sound quite good if the resistors are changed to accommodate correct biasing.

[antonis]

i think the Hfe is rather low for a fuzz face,

With all the respect Iain, there were many "interesting" fuzzes (of the classic FF topology) with 2N5089/BC549 BJTs..
(after all, a FF isn't exactly the ideal example of 2 stage negative feedback  quiescent point variations immune amp..)

P.S.
(you forgot the most critical requirement, Ron..)
7. Hair dryer tested bias..

[patrick398]

Is it in a round enclosure?

[iainpunk]

i think the Hfe is rather low for a fuzz face,

With all the respect Iain, there were many "interesting" fuzzes (of the classic FF topology) with 2N5089/BC549 BJTs..
(after all, a FF isn't exactly the ideal example of 2 stage negative feedback  quiescent point variations immune amp..)

i know, but i think with Hfe's under 50, it should be called Overdrive Face. i mean, i build a fuzz face with 2 2N3055 power transistors, really nice, but not really fuzzy, more of an overdrive