just another fuzz question.

[birt]

i was comparing the easyface with the normal fuzz face (wich i have built a long time ago and pleases me very much) and started wondering.

the easyface is said to be very close sounding to the (perfectly biased with great transistors) fuzz face, but just not really "there".

since everything in the circuit is the same except for the pregain pot and the transistor. i don't think the pregain pot is making the tone of the pedal different since it's like a guitar volume pot. (well offcourse it does otherwise it shouldn't be there but it doesn't really change the character of the fuzz right?)
so it must be the silicon transistor. now what does it exactly do (or not do) that makes the uglyface sound just that little less fuzz face (i've read in some threads it has less gain and is more distortion like than the ff) and makes it so "easy" on the germaniums specs?

i suppose this has been answered before but i didn't find a satisfying answer searching the forum and other fuzz face articles.

[birt]

bump

[Skreddy]

It could be that 2N3906's are none too pretty sounding in a vintage fuzz circuit.  Better-sounding silicon choices include the BC108-BC109 family.  See Analog Alchemy for help in tuning your fuzz to the particular transistors you implement.

[petemoore]

  the easyface is said to be very close sounding to the (perfectly biased with great transistors) fuzz face, but just not really "there".
   "where"?
  It is said an apple doesn't look like an orange.
  Why not socket two Q's, trimpot Q2CR, and try every transistor combination you can come up with.
  I like the lower gainer [something like 70-120hfe] in Q1] and a little higher gain Q in Q2 [say 90-157hfe, maybe even higher?]. 
  As soon as you swap a transistor the circuit has changed, bias should be checked.
  I've found Ge FF's to not be there, ata gig, simply because of Bias Problems. One was extreme cold imbedded in TB during transportation, the other was sun heating a FF outdoors. I forgot a spare fuzz, and was stuck with a sound described as 'is your amp broken?'.My Ge now has diode stabilization and a Q2CR biaspot on the top of the box, I've thus far found it to be quite reliable.
   Si FF's, and Si / Ge hybrids are much easier to get to not suffere from this bias malfunctioning. I don't know where it isn't, but the sound of a hybrid FF is...most aptly put as...just a little different. I find them quite satisfying, and well behaved.
  Have you tried Phillip Bryants Axis Face?

[birt]

  the easyface is said to be very close sounding to the (perfectly biased with great transistors) fuzz face, but just not really "there".
   "where"?
  It is said an apple doesn't look like an orange.
  Why not socket two Q's, trimpot Q2CR, and try every transistor combination you can come up with.
  I like the lower gainer [something like 70-120hfe] in Q1] and a little higher gain Q in Q2 [say 90-157hfe, maybe even higher?]. 
  As soon as you swap a transistor the circuit has changed, bias should be checked.
  I've found Ge FF's to not be there, ata gig, simply because of Bias Problems. One was extreme cold imbedded in TB during transportation, the other was sun heating a FF outdoors. I forgot a spare fuzz, and was stuck with a sound described as 'is your amp broken?'.My Ge now has diode stabilization and a Q2CR biaspot on the top of the box, I've thus far found it to be quite reliable.
   Si FF's, and Si / Ge hybrids are much easier to get to not suffere from this bias malfunctioning. I don't know where it isn't, but the sound of a hybrid FF is...most aptly put as...just a little different. I find them quite satisfying, and well behaved.
  Have you tried Phillip Bryants Axis Face?

i'll try to find some PNP silicons to put in my GE fuzz.
i know it sounds different, i just wondered why the hybrid is easier to bias and keep well biased. there must be some kind of reson for this right? i mean there is still a ge transistor in there wich has to sound different in different temeratures?

[petemoore]

  See Geo Technology of the Fuzz Face. Comprehensive, what can be wrought from it even without comprehending even 1/2 of it.
  Try to catch about leakage/gain and biasing.
  See...Some dude, and the then 'they' they started off making transistors one day, out of a piece of rock the nick'd Ge. then some dude got a Blob of Ge's nemesis friend, "Si", to do the exact same work, but cheaper and more reliably built to closer specs for rockets.
  The old ones they carved out of rocks are extremely rare by my accounts, I have 8 Mesa Transistors [from a tuner/amp/phono console]. 50's-60's Radios of various sorts may contain these. Planar Ge's took over soon after the first Mesa productions started, stopping further Mesa production.
  I have names for each of my Ge's, because each possess individual character, and their voices sound slightly different at least. Many Refuse to behave with each other, especially in certain scenarios, as they vye for a permanent position on my pedalboard.
  Ground up Ge, filtered for contaminants, then pressed into wafers to become the bases of transistors IIUC is the current Manufacturing technique.
  GOOGLE : "Mesa Transistor"...fantastic and quite comprehensive historic study of transistor Mfring. w/Pic 'n diagrams.
  BTW...of the eight Mesa's I scavved from the Rcvr. 2 were tested this morning, at cool temps, one measured 44hfe, the other around 22, [without equating the leakage they have] so they're good, after testing, for use as diodes.