Sam Ash Fuzz

[col]

I built this after reading the article on pot repair (I don't know how to put a link here). With higher gain transistors it sounds Ok (BC184, BC547, BC108C hfe ~350-450 etc) but with the lowest I had (BC107, hfe~240) it sounded even better. I will try to get hold of some lower gain and see if that improves it further. I also liked these transistors in the Sin-ei fuzz.

[MartyMart]

Try to get hold of some 2N3114's ( large metal can ) or 2N2369's
These are in the 100 - 150 hfe area and make great NPN fuzz trannies
( Great for Q1 in FF's )
MM.

[Dragonfly]

...another low hfe tranny that sounds good, is cheap, and is super easy to get hold of is a 2n3904 ....ive tested about 400-500 of them and
they all were in the 95-150 hfe range....most between 110-125....

AC

[Yun]

...another low hfe tranny that sounds good, is cheap, and is super easy to get hold of is a 2n3904 ....ive tested about 400-500 of them and
they all were in the 95-150 hfe range....most between 110-125....

AC

i second that

[Doug_H]

Try metal-can motorola 2n2222's too. Those are my favorite.

[Dragonfly]

...another low hfe tranny that sounds good, is cheap, and is super easy to get hold of is a 2n3904 ....ive tested about 400-500 of them and
they all were in the 95-150 hfe range....most between 110-125....

AC

i meant to say 2n3903, but my brain was thinking 2n3904...both are very useful...the 3903 has the lower hfe...2n3904's are usually, IME, 150-225 hfe...the 3903's are 95-150...

sorry for the confusion...

AC

[Yun]

...another low hfe tranny that sounds good, is cheap, and is super easy to get hold of is a 2n3904 ....ive tested about 400-500 of them and
they all were in the 95-150 hfe range....most between 110-125....

AC

i meant to say 2n3903, but my brain was thinking 2n3904...both are very useful...the 3903 has the lower hfe...2n3904's are usually, IME, 150-225 hfe...the 3903's are 95-150...

sorry for the confusion...

AC

Hmmmmm, i dunno, man.  i've got pretty low hfe out of 2n3904's before.  then again, when buying the rat shack's "2n3904 TYPE" trannies- there's no telling, you know?

[PKV]

What schematic did you use?

[col]

I used the one on geofex. If you find the thread on pot repair from last week there's a direct link to it. Read that article, it's extremely interesting,

Col

[9 volts]

I like this effect but I feel like  I could get more out of mine. I'm using a 2n3565 and an oc140. To biase the oc140 correctly do I just alter the values of the 1.8k going into the emitter?
also If I put a 20 or 50 k volume put with it give a little more gain? Thanks

[9 volts]

ps I've read and used RG's  fantastic article on treble booster which mentions the method to correctly biase the transistor and I'm wondering if the same principal can be applied to the second transistor (eg altering the value of the resistor to the base and the resistor emitter)

[col]

Marty and Doug,

couldn't get those trannies. I got some 2N5551s and chose the lowest (hfe140). One of these in the second position with a BC107 in the first seems to give the best sound. I also tried some un-numbererd transistors I took from an old record player which sounded good in this but one of the legs snapped off while I was trying one in a different socket. I tried some large metal can trannies I have which do sound good in a FF but they didn't sound as good as the ones mentioned in this circuit but I can't remember what number they are,

Col