eZone53 2-Knob Fuzz Face

eZone53

This is my take of the 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 Jimi 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 inside 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.

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.

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.

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.

The pedal is equipped with two AC128 germanium transistors. Each is carefully tested for the correct gain and leakage to get that great fuzz tone.

The enclosure is made of a rugged die-cast aluminum and has been powder coated with a heavy duty hammertone finish and measures 4.39"H x 2.36"W x 1.03"D.

I used top quality parts in the making of this pedal such as 24mm alpha pots, Neutrik jacks, BC electrolytic caps, Vishay Roederstein cap, and Vishay carbon film resistors.