Sonic Tone Effects Fuzz Face

Sonic Tone Effects

This is my take of the original 1966 Arbiter Fuzz Face with extra features/mods. The original circuit was built with PNP Germanium Transistors and that is the key to that screaming Hendrix sound.

The original Fuzz Face was used by many famous players such as Jimmi Hendrix and Jeff Beck just to name a few.

The Fuzz Face is considered one of the best by many fuzz users. With its sonic capabilities, mushy saturation, touch sensitivity, tons of sustain and it's ability to control the amount of fuzz with the guitars volume.

In this pedal I added a bias trim pot to the outside to adjust the level of voltage going to the transistors as you may know germanium's are temperature sensitive. This also allows for more control in shaping the tones dramatically.

I then changed out the original 470ohm resistor for a 1K this gives the pedal more gain this seams to be what everyone is looking for in a fuzz face these days.

I also changed out the 500K volume for a 100K this makes the pedal a little brighter Eric Johnson is known for doing this to his fuzz face this is also what was used in the MK1.5 tone bender circuit which is the same as a fuzz face just different component values.

Also added small pf caps to the transistors to soften things up a bit.

Added a toggle switch to change from the original 2.2uf input cap to a smaller cap to cut out some of the lows and makes it great for Humbucker pickups.

Features:

• 1/4 output on the left
• 1/4 input on the right
• Left knob is the Volume
• Right knob is the Fuzz
• Transistor Bias pot outside
• 2PDT foot switch for true bypass
• Measures 4.39"H x 2.36"W x 1.03"D
• The enclosure is made of a rugged diecast aluminum that has been swirl painted using the Borax Method then clear coated.
• Vishay + Philips Caps are used along with Carbon Comp resistors.
• The pedal is equipped with two AC125 germanium transistors and sounds much better than the AC128 clunky sounding transistors... Each is carefully tested for the correct gain and leakage to get as close to the same tone character and breakup of the original units.