Shout out to the guys at PMT Cardiff for letting me noodle endlessly and learn about the fabled fuzz face. I tried the Hendrix, Band of Gypsies and their standard blue silicon one. The best one for me by far was the silicon. It might have been very aggressive and bright (almost touching big muff territory) but it cleaned up a charm and so gave me anything from spitting rasping in your face fuzz to almost jangly cleans as long as my pick attach was very light. The only thing it didn't do well was the warm rounded muffled sound which the others covered better.
Anyone have particular preferences with the modern fuzz fi? I'm yet to play through a germanium one so perhaps my outlook will change entirely if I get my hands on one of those.
Another point... with such a simple circuit, is there really any point paying a premium for a boutique clone like an Analogman Sunface over the bog standard dunlop if it's using the same transistors? Eg the BC108.
Ta!
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You preferred the royal blue Dunlop one best? (I prefer the torquoise Jimi Hendrix silicon one.)
The Band of Gypsies one is not a Fuzz Face other than in name.
The MXR Classic 108 is the same circuit as the torquoise one.
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I also love the variety of sounds you get by using your volume knob.
I normally set the fuzz up full then back it off about an 1/8 inch. Volume to taste.
Works as a really nice chimey boost as well.
Cleaned up perfectly - it actually made my clean tone nicer than bypass by rolling the volume knob back, and that was with the fuzz just a fraction away from full. Very nice pedal.
i love it.
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@Ro_S Yep I preferred the standard Silicon one since it had the largest range of tones available on tap from the guitar volume. But the downside was it wasn't as warm as the others.
I definitely agree that the BoG sounded completely different and I wasn't surprised at all that it's a different circuit. I found it worked really nicely as a very warm rounded boost into an already driven amp.
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Im using the Kingsley Bard with the tremolo off which becomes a clean boost. A comp or eq send the tube inside into breakup. The fuzz does the same. I'm so impressed by the bard that I've bought a jester from a forum member to see what a dedicated OD and boost pedal should sound like. I showed the insides to a pedal tech and his reaction was wow. The construction is as impressive as Simon's (Kingsley) playing.
This is how the fuzz face BOG sounds with my set up.
@suspiciousminds where did you get your hands on the transistors from, and how hard a build was that?
@DrCornelius that would be great thanks!