Message To All New Builders!

[ayayay!]

I was not too happy when I first read this as I thought it was kind of rude.  Now that I think about it, you're right.

It's good advice.  

[joegagan]

i have heard from dozens of guys over the last ten years that built the easyface with no probs. it's possible the number of builds is in the thousands> it basically solves all the beginner FF probs with the hybrid tech and one trimpot to bias. it is fun,  people with no multimeter have even built good sounding ones with no prob.

[Earthscum]

I find myself playing a balancing act with the 2 collector resistors. I had notes on it at one point, but I used NTE158's in my friend's FF without measuring leakage, and it worked great after the aforementioned tweaking. I was shooting for (about room temp) 4.5 at Q2's collector and .5-.6 at Q1's base. I cannot for the life of me remember why I came to that conclusion, but that's what I shoot for now with all my FF's. A bonus came with lowering the resistors in my buddy's box... it shaved some of the shrillness out of the higher gains... totally smooth, even through SS.

But every one is a tweaking game for me now, and trying to remember what I had figured out the last time. Simple circuit, my @$$!!! Like I said, Bazz Fuss never gave me a problem, so I used that to stick every transistor and diode into. My breadboard is like a BF whore. 

[MrTonesNZ]

I was not too happy when I first read this as I thought it was kind of rude.  Now that I think about it, you're right.

It's good advice.  

Thank's John, didn't mean to be rude, i'm being genuine. FF is not for the faint hearted!

[MrTonesNZ]

I think whenever someone finishes there first Fuzz Face, they should get some kind of award

[Earthscum]

I think whenever someone finishes there first Fuzz Face, they should get some kind of award

They do... they get their first Fuzz Face!  

And hella bragging rights!

[MrTonesNZ]

I think whenever someone finishes there first Fuzz Face, they should get some kind of award

They do... they get their first Fuzz Face!  

And hella bragging rights!

Well yea i was kind of thinking that, but a cash prize wouldn't hurt

[Seven64]

my first build was the magnus modulus delay

i just recently got into distortions and really wanna try a germanium distortion.  apparently thats a bad idea tho

[newfish]

Good advice.

That's not to say, "Don't do it" - if you never try, you never achieve - but for such a simple circuit, there's so much going on.

I'd heartily recommend the GEOFX 'Technology of...' article before building - it's not a long-winded "text-book" chapter either, just clear, concise information about what's going on.

The fewer components in the build, the more critical each component becomes.

For anyone wanting to 'Fuzz up' their tone, I'd say go for NPN Silicon transistors and negative ground.

[Scruffie]

I think worst of all... it starts the hunt for ellusive germanium transistors and that 'tone'... and it wont end.

[lopsided]

for new builders: check the Beginner Project  http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?board=6.0
everything is thoroughly explained and all questions already asked and it sounds good
will help you a lot with your next builds

[snarblinge]

first one I started was a son of screamer, but the board never got drilled and it sat in a box for 7 years.

First completed was a Silicon NPN FF, sounds ok. I did read the tech of.. doc carefully before i switched on the iron though, and I too have travelled the long road of transistor acquisition, late nights trawling ebay and those russian Ge's in 50 lots. the collection grows, the fuzzs get better, but the 7th 8th... ones caused me more pain than the first few.

love it when you don't earth a FF and you cant figure out why the bias won't work, then you spend 15-20 mins wigging out with the fuzz control and the volumes on the gat.... or is that just me?

[MrTonesNZ]

first one I started was a son of screamer, but the board never got drilled and it sat in a box for 7 years.

First completed was a Silicon NPN FF, sounds ok. I did read the tech of.. doc carefully before i switched on the iron though, and I too have travelled the long road of transistor acquisition, late nights trawling ebay and those russian Ge's in 50 lots. the collection grows, the fuzzs get better, but the 7th 8th... ones caused me more pain than the first few.

love it when you don't earth a FF and you cant figure out why the bias won't work, then you spend 15-20 mins wigging out with the fuzz control and the volumes on the gat.... or is that just me?

Thing that gets me is i do it all the time. Like tonight i tried to show my partner, "look what i made!".... "Oh sounds like s***." Bias pot wasn't plugged in....

[EVAD]

I've built the Roger Mayer Classic Fuzz Face (IvIark Tagboard) like ten times and never had a problem.

NPN, PNP, Germanium & Silicon versions.

I just leave a working circuit on my bread board and plug in new transistors
and sometimes different input and out caps till I think it sounds good, then build one.

easy peasey.

[MikeH]

Or a fuzz factory. It seems like half of the troubleshooting threads we get are about them. 

Pressing the "like" button right now...

F'reals.  Can super-like-love this?

[asatbluesboy]

Yea well you dont count  . You mustve had some electronics experience before hand right? My only prior electronics experience is curcuit bending a few kids toys

As a matter of fact, I'd just done some mods (ok, maybe a few too many) to my Small Clone. I've got this crazy "building up" thing; I read a lot about something for months before I ever attempt doing it.

[ask4tristan]

Yeah, Ive got a pretty large breadboard and use it frequently for my arduino. Good stuff, I tell you.

[Strange]

One of my first builds was the Multiface. I used a larger than required piece of perfboard and socketed almost every componet to allow me to 'explore' what was going on with the circut. Much like Joe's suggestion this build let me understand what each of the componets brought to the circut and what happened when I messed about with different values. Using my multimeter at various points helped alot with learning that tool as well.

From there I went on to explore the delicious world of germanium.

[garcho]

Ask yourself:

'How exactly will this device help empower me to make music that I'd want to listen to?'

Everything else will fall into place, especially if you get good at breadboarding schematics.