Maestro FZ-1A transistors?

[SonicVI]

I need recommendations for transistors for an FZ1A clone.

thanks,
Daniel

[BJF]

Hi,

I have one FZ-1A for restoration.

It contains three transistors type 2N270.
These are general purpose germanium
intended for audio frequency.
Ucb 25V,Ic 75mA,Ptot 0,15W, hfe 70.

You might want to try locating
AC151r or ACY32, both similar but low noise.
Circuit would work with AC125 or similar too at higher noiselevel.

Regards
BJ

[SonicVI]

Thanks, would NTE102 or NTE1-2A's  be a good choice also? The only place I've found that has the 2n270's wants $8 each and the NTE's are half that.

[cd]

Thanks, would NTE102 or NTE1-2A's  be a good choice also? The only place I've found that has the 2n270's wants $8 each and the NTE's are half that.

Not if they're not tested.  Go the easy route, buy a matched pair of Fuzz Face transistors from Small Bear.

[SonicVI]

Thanks, would NTE102 or NTE1-2A's  be a good choice also? The only place I've found that has the 2n270's wants $8 each and the NTE's are half that.

Not if they're not tested.  Go the easy route, buy a matched pair of Fuzz Face transistors from Small Bear.

I'm not building a Fuzz Face clone.

[cd]

Thanks, would NTE102 or NTE1-2A's  be a good choice also? The only place I've found that has the 2n270's wants $8 each and the NTE's are half that.

Not if they're not tested.  Go the easy route, buy a matched pair of Fuzz Face transistors from Small Bear.

I'm not building a Fuzz Face clone.

Doesn't matter, the transistor requirements are similar.

[gez]

Thanks, would NTE102 or NTE1-2A's  be a good choice also? The only place I've found that has the 2n270's wants $8 each and the NTE's are half that.

Not if they're not tested.  Go the easy route, buy a matched pair of Fuzz Face transistors from Small Bear.

I'm not building a Fuzz Face clone.

Doesn't matter, the transistor requirements are similar.

No they're not.  I've posted the same old link to my biasing notes in many other threads and couldn't be bothered to do a search now but they're there in the archives.

Do a search for Maestro Fuzztone and one of the recent posts covered some trannies I used.  It's not that critical what numbers are on the can (suck it and see approach).  What is important is leakage.  Don't waste money on matched trannies for a fuzzface...

[gez]

Notes on bias etc in this thread:

http://diystompboxes.com/sboxforum/viewtopic.php?t=21909&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Bit of info about trannies here:

http://diystompboxes.com/sboxforum/viewtopic.php?t=34097&highlight=maestro+fuzztone

[brian wenz]

Hello Hello--  
   Yeah, I had great results with my Maestro clone after following Gez's notes.  Sounds really good and is pretty versatile.  Thanks again Gez!
Brian.

[K Zustang]

Hi There,

I am on a quest for building some legendary Garage-Psych Fuzz pedals: Maestro FZ-1, FuzzRite, a ToneBender and a Jordan Bosstone. I am specifically looking to get that "Seeds", "Nuggets" fuzz sound.

I have started with the Maestro and found out the 2N270 or 2N2613 are hard to find.
I am looking for some of the notes which Gez left about trannies and couldn't get those pages anywhere.

can anyone help me in finding the 2N270 workalike with the right mods needed? I have been reading tons of info and couldn't find a solution that more than one person agrees on  .

The transistors for the Bosstone, Fuzzrite and the ToneBender seem to be easier to found via Small Bear.

thanks,

[LucifersTrip]

Hi There,

I am on a quest for building some legendary Garage-Psych Fuzz pedals: Maestro FZ-1, FuzzRite, a ToneBender and a Jordan Bosstone. I am specifically looking to get that "Seeds", "Nuggets" fuzz sound.

I have started with the Maestro and found out the 2N270 or 2N2613 are hard to find.
I am looking for some of the notes which Gez left about trannies and couldn't get those pages anywhere.

can anyone help me in finding the 2N270 workalike with the right mods needed? I have been reading tons of info and couldn't find a solution that more than one person agrees on  .

The transistors for the Bosstone, Fuzzrite and the ToneBender seem to be easier to found via Small Bear.

thanks,

I built the ones above when I started a short while ago and the Maestro was definitely the most difficult to get to sound good...As you read above, it needs leakage in the transistors which is the opposite of what you're usually looking for. I just bought a bunch of inexpensive, random GE's with hfe in the 60-120 range and tried all different combos till I got something I liked. It's difficult with germaniums.... It's better to buy a bunch rather than just  the exact amount you need for a specific pedal. You rarely know which would sound better to your ear, with your specific guitar & amp.   Btw, I think I did actually wind up with NTE102A's in the last 2 slots. I don't remember Q1.

Of the above, the Fuzzrite is the easiest in my opinion and gets you the more wicked 60's garage sound. I'd go with that first. Mine sounded excellent with 2 cent 2SC1815's (hfe ~ 150) from Tayda:
http://www.taydaelectronics.com/servlet/the-172/2SC1815-TRANSISTOR-NPN-50V/Detail

good luck

[brett]

Hi
RE: What is important is leakage

I wonder if low/no leakage transistors would be best (e.g. many Russian and Japanese devices), because you could "add" leakage.  e.g. if a 1N4148 leaks 10uA, then add 10 of them for 100uA.  Or even better - use a resistor, so there is no thermal drift.
cheers

[mac]

I agree with Brett.
Leaky transistors can drift a lot. If you finger heat a ge leaking 100ua you will note that leakage can easily go up 2x, hfe up not that much. That means 1v more across a typical 10k. That can change bias to the point where the original tone is lost, or no tone at all!
Using a low leakage ge and a resistor to feed the base make for a more stable bias point.
For example, I have a Fuzz Face having a Toshiba 2sa49 at Q1, leaking less than 30ua. I observed a tiny drift in bias along the years due to the fact that changes in leakage and hfe are small.

Looking at the schematic, the 10k from the base of Q3 to gnd shunts a lot of leakage. Original units must have leaky ge as Gez noted.

mac

[K Zustang]

Well Thanks everybody,
During the last year I built about 10 fuzz pedals and another 10 overdrive pedals. Most of them ended up being Silicon based.
The fuzz pedals are absolutely wicked. I also ended up buying about 10 AC128 as a scattered bunch and started testing them for leakage.
I used the best ones for Fuzz Faces and variants including an amazing Buzzaround clone.
As for the leaky ones, I used them for a modified Maestro FuzzTone (FZ-1) but changed a few of the resistors until I found a nice combination which sounded fantastic.
It is actually very close in sound to a ToneBender MKI. The weird thing is that it works best with a 1.5V battery and not a 3V one. It is not a FZ-1A and really sounds like records that used a FZ-1 during 1965-1966. The schematic looks quite close to the FZ-1 scheme that wonders around the web but has some different values.
I think it's a worth while build and I really love its sound with a Tele or a ES-335 with fender amps.

Thanks again.
I am moving to distortion boxes now.