0.55V on Q1 and 5V on Q2 should have given a more mellow, smooth sound at the end in that hfe range. I personality prefer to set Q2's collector between 5 and 5.3V with germanium transistors with around 100Hfe. 4,5V is best for smaller Hfe like Q1 around 50 and Q2 : 80/90. That's very subjective of course but that's my personal tastes, I like to let a Fuzz Face « breathe » a little. It also gives a better clean up with more dynamics. For silicium versions (BC108C, BC109C, BC183…) : 1.4V on Q1 and 5.6V on Q2 for a glassy clean up and not too much compressed distorsion at full volume on the guitar. Your videos are excellent by the way ! Thanks.
Entering on this usable HFE topic: If the HFE of the trannies you're gonna use is too low, you gotta increase the resistance between Q1C and Q2C resistors. That resistor controls part of the overall output volume of the pedal, and it creates a voltage divider with the main Q2C resistor. Now where does transistor gain comes in? It also controls the output volume. When the transistor gain is too low, you gotta increase that resistance or the output volume will be too low. When the HFE is too high, you'll wanna reduce the resistance, or there will be oscillation. I learned this after some time messing with silicon transistors.
Based on this, my custom built Fuzz Face with 2N708 trannies (30-50 hFE) have 1.8 kohms of resistance in the voltage divider. I could even increase it to 2k7, but it would mess up too much the bias of the transistors.
You and I need to talk- my uncle was an electronics repairmen during the 70s and 80s and he collected old PCB boards to get precious metals from- only removing certain components that contained whatever he was looking for. Then he tossed the boards into a pile where they've sat to this day. He also collected any electronic device he could get his hands on- which turned out to be a ton of stuff. He has an old house trailer literally packed with all this stuff- everything from old gaming consoles, computers, to adding machines, VCRs, testing equipment, etc., etc- if it had electronic technology in it, he would take it and chunk it in his collection. Over the years ppl learned he would take old electronics so they started bringing him stuff. He even has old medical equipment in there- stuff hospitals would've used. Needless to say- he never got any precious metals out of any of it- if he did it was so little it didn't matter. But he still has all that stuff, and tons of it is from the 60s and 70s. I've robbed a few tubes off him over the years, but he still has a pretty good size collection of them- mostly form TVs and stereos. And unfortunately, he's older now and unable to do anything with any of it. Not in the best health to be honest. I need to get with him and go through the stuff- pull out what might be useful- and holler at someone like yourself. Really though- I don't know what all might be useful- someone like you needs to come go through it- I'm pretty sure you would find some real gems in there. No idea where you're located but I'm in North Alabama- which is also unfortunate, but that's a different conversation.
@@objectiveobserver2792 My uncle who has the stuff lives in Jasper- not far from you. I'm about two hours from B'ham on the MIss. state line. I need to get in touch with him and make sure he's still got all of it and wants to get rid of it. I haven't talked to him in several years. If I know him though- it's all still sitting out there waiting for someone to do something with it. I'll holler at him and let you know.
Old tube tv are collectable to some. Some old tube stuff if not worthwhile might have trasformers that could benrepurposed. I have used old tv power transformers for tube amps
@@hddbugg Unfortunately it's no longer there- I got a hold of my uncle and he said his kids already took it all. Sorry- I was rather disappointed myself.
I desolder boards by melting the solder on the pad and smacking the board on my bench. This removes enough solder for me to be able to hold resistors or diodes with my fingers and melt the little bit of remaining solder fast enough to not burn my fingers. "Icky Thump" is a good demo song for a fuzz.
Thanks for the video, pretty cool build, I think this is the best video about fuzz face build on youtube, I'm using 47k for q1 and unknown trimpot on q2 on my npn fuzz face, but sounds much cleaner than yours ...
I noticed that some of the PCBs have solid gold alloy connectors on them. One of them looks the same as used for miller welders and aviation. If it is, then it is a $500.00 part.
What a neat project idea! As great as carefully planned projects with painstakingly sourced parts are, nothing beats the character of a good junkbox build! Bold move to not include a DC jack, but I suppose the originals didn't use one either. About the only thing that would make this better is if the enclosure was also from some old piece of equipment. Anyway, great work!
Yes and no. Germanium transistors have leakage, which is an esoteric topic in transistor testing now that we have widespread silicon transistors. Digital multimeters do not account for leakage current, and so will give inaccurate readings. The DCA75 (a modern device) I use in this video however DOES account for leakage, and so I consider the test more reliable. To be fair, the DCA75 tests at a relatively high current (5mA), which isn't ideal for the context of guitar pedals. You can easily build a germ tester, R.G.Keen showed us the way 22 years ago: www.geofex.com/article_folders/ffselect.htm
Cheap chinese component testers measure leakage too, but trimpots / real pots are the way to go to bias the transistors properly, and they'll almost all sound good. Different, but good nevertheless!
Man the traces on those old pcbs are beautiful.
0.55V on Q1 and 5V on Q2 should have given a more mellow, smooth sound at the end in that hfe range. I personality prefer to set Q2's collector between 5 and 5.3V with germanium transistors with around 100Hfe. 4,5V is best for smaller Hfe like Q1 around 50 and Q2 : 80/90. That's very subjective of course but that's my personal tastes, I like to let a Fuzz Face « breathe » a little. It also gives a better clean up with more dynamics.
For silicium versions (BC108C, BC109C, BC183…) : 1.4V on Q1 and 5.6V on Q2 for a glassy clean up and not too much compressed distorsion at full volume on the guitar.
Your videos are excellent by the way ! Thanks.
I've salvaged a bunch of 'germanium' transistors this way! Usually (hfe=50-90),which is more usable than most folks' think.
Entering on this usable HFE topic: If the HFE of the trannies you're gonna use is too low, you gotta increase the resistance between Q1C and Q2C resistors. That resistor controls part of the overall output volume of the pedal, and it creates a voltage divider with the main Q2C resistor. Now where does transistor gain comes in?
It also controls the output volume. When the transistor gain is too low, you gotta increase that resistance or the output volume will be too low. When the HFE is too high, you'll wanna reduce the resistance, or there will be oscillation. I learned this after some time messing with silicon transistors.
Based on this, my custom built Fuzz Face with 2N708 trannies (30-50 hFE) have 1.8 kohms of resistance in the voltage divider. I could even increase it to 2k7, but it would mess up too much the bias of the transistors.
fascinating stuff. i recommend NTE de-solder braid
I've been watching your videos and recently bought a couple very similar boards before seeing this video! Cool!
I’ve tons of old 50’s-70’s boards. Glad I saved a bunch.
You and I need to talk- my uncle was an electronics repairmen during the 70s and 80s and he collected old PCB boards to get precious metals from- only removing certain components that contained whatever he was looking for. Then he tossed the boards into a pile where they've sat to this day. He also collected any electronic device he could get his hands on- which turned out to be a ton of stuff. He has an old house trailer literally packed with all this stuff- everything from old gaming consoles, computers, to adding machines, VCRs, testing equipment, etc., etc- if it had electronic technology in it, he would take it and chunk it in his collection. Over the years ppl learned he would take old electronics so they started bringing him stuff. He even has old medical equipment in there- stuff hospitals would've used.
Needless to say- he never got any precious metals out of any of it- if he did it was so little it didn't matter. But he still has all that stuff, and tons of it is from the 60s and 70s. I've robbed a few tubes off him over the years, but he still has a pretty good size collection of them- mostly form TVs and stereos. And unfortunately, he's older now and unable to do anything with any of it. Not in the best health to be honest. I need to get with him and go through the stuff- pull out what might be useful- and holler at someone like yourself. Really though- I don't know what all might be useful- someone like you needs to come go through it- I'm pretty sure you would find some real gems in there. No idea where you're located but I'm in North Alabama- which is also unfortunate, but that's a different conversation.
I'm in Birmingham, maybe I could get a few boards. I am not looking to cash in. Just to do some projects like this one.
@@objectiveobserver2792 My uncle who has the stuff lives in Jasper- not far from you. I'm about two hours from B'ham on the MIss. state line. I need to get in touch with him and make sure he's still got all of it and wants to get rid of it. I haven't talked to him in several years. If I know him though- it's all still sitting out there waiting for someone to do something with it. I'll holler at him and let you know.
Old tube tv are collectable to some. Some old tube stuff if not worthwhile might have trasformers that could benrepurposed. I have used old tv power transformers for tube amps
@@stoneysdead689 interested
@@hddbugg Unfortunately it's no longer there- I got a hold of my uncle and he said his kids already took it all. Sorry- I was rather disappointed myself.
that's the coolest diy fuzz pedal build ever, let alone the pedal sounding amazing! you sir are a hell of a pedal builder!
dude... nice sound! Okay maybe I need to do a fuzz face.
When you said simple circuit, you weren't kidding.
Salvage is great fun!
I desolder boards by melting the solder on the pad and smacking the board on my bench. This removes enough solder for me to be able to hold resistors or diodes with my fingers and melt the little bit of remaining solder fast enough to not burn my fingers.
"Icky Thump" is a good demo song for a fuzz.
Great content! Instantly subscribed
Awesome video and more impressive breadboard setup
That thing is pretty cool huh?
fantastic video !!!
...and glorious sounds at the end 👍
Glad you enjoyed!
Thanks for the video, pretty cool build, I think this is the best video about fuzz face build on youtube, I'm using 47k for q1 and unknown trimpot on q2 on my npn fuzz face, but sounds much cleaner than yours ...
5:40 - I'd want to make a fuzz with those top hat diodes!
Best channel on YT
Thank you!
The transistors being so close together could short as the cans are normally connected to the collector leg, one or both cans need to be insulated.
Good tip! In this instance the transistor cans are isolated. :)
this is such a great idea
Beautiful job!
Glad you enjoyed!
Nice build! It's getting harder to find those NPN Germaniums.
Thanks for your videos too
@@danmillward8595 thank you for thanking him and helping me find another pedal building channel.
Excellent vid. Thanks!
Thank you!
I noticed that some of the PCBs have solid gold alloy connectors on them. One of them looks the same as used for miller welders and aviation. If it is, then it is a $500.00 part.
Interesting, guess I'll have to look into that. Thanks!
@@graybenchelec How did this pan out, I'm so curious!
Cool build! But I have yet to find the area on ebay you found these boards! 😆
I have a saved search under "vintage electronics" category :)
So cool man
Great video thanks
Thanks!
Some of those look like Motorola Micor (or MSR2000) repeater control cards. No metal card handles on any of them..?
What a neat project idea! As great as carefully planned projects with painstakingly sourced parts are, nothing beats the character of a good junkbox build! Bold move to not include a DC jack, but I suppose the originals didn't use one either. About the only thing that would make this better is if the enclosure was also from some old piece of equipment. Anyway, great work!
Professor pq tem ter 2 transistores?
Awesome!
Thank you!
Nice!
awesome.
what did you use to shield the underside of the board?
also, i think your music selections are pretty funny. haha
Double-stick foam tape. Both elevates the board to keep from shorting and secures it during transport.
Any chance you have a link to this double sided foam tape?
Thanks!
@@xderiwxFoam weatherstripping is an option, like a roll of 1/2” foam tape
The guy who sold my AC 125s said modern devices can't really measure Ge transistors, do you agree with him?
Yes and no. Germanium transistors have leakage, which is an esoteric topic in transistor testing now that we have widespread silicon transistors. Digital multimeters do not account for leakage current, and so will give inaccurate readings.
The DCA75 (a modern device) I use in this video however DOES account for leakage, and so I consider the test more reliable. To be fair, the DCA75 tests at a relatively high current (5mA), which isn't ideal for the context of guitar pedals.
You can easily build a germ tester, R.G.Keen showed us the way 22 years ago: www.geofex.com/article_folders/ffselect.htm
Cheap chinese component testers measure leakage too, but trimpots / real pots are the way to go to bias the transistors properly, and they'll almost all sound good. Different, but good nevertheless!
Your collecting all the germanium you can find so you can phoooone hoooome !👽
Or teleport to McDonalds or something
✌😍
It's funny how an absolutely terrible amplifier circuit is actually so awesome at making interesting music.
Cool, but man. Put a 9v on it lmao
That's fair. A battery, as long as you remove the input jack, will last years in this pedal, but I hear you.
if adults are eating their fingernails i consider this so DISGUSTING
all that time and it sounds that bad. Horrible actually.
TFW you build an NOS fuzz face then ruin the TONE by using an Amazon basics battery, smdh
The battery wont affect it.
@@electronicguy4550 A carbon zinc battery sounds different than an alkaline, though not everyone hears the difference,
cheap batteries are the way to go with fuzzes
Not really NOS, it’s salvaged parts. Also it sounds perfectly fine
Make an MXR Diſtortion Plus & a Marſhall in a box type pedal in þe ſame encloſure.