The Fuzz Face Explorer Board Kit - a learning rig for this popular fuzz circuit and a great way to demo new and unexplored transistors for Fuzz

[huntingtonaudio]

Here's a tool I designed to help you explore the classic Fuzz Face circuit. If you love fuzz this lil thing can help you design your own.



A little about it:

1. It can help you explore the original Fuzz Face circuit in a neat and organized way. Jumper wire spaghetti be damned. Use some tried and true part number/resistor value combinations (I'd start here: https://fuzzcentral.ssguitar.com/fuzzface.php) and poke and prod and measure this thing until you get a feel for the push and pull of this circuit.
2. Once you've gotten a feel for it with the standard part numbers and values, you can use this board to quickly hunt for and dial in ideal calibrations for any BJT transistor part numbers in your collection. Dig out a pair of transistors, check the datasheet (unless you want to just cowboy the thing and shoot form the hip), and tweak away as you try to dial in your fuzz.
3. If you're feeling adventurous you may be able to tap any of the 5 test points (otherwise intended for measuring current flow at certain points in the circuit) to expand the circuit design by adding your own modifying elements, stages, etc. at these junctures. That’s more of a hacking route, but hacking is certainly in the spirit of what we’re all doing here, I think.

I've written a little more about it recently on reddit. And if you want to get a better sense of how it works you can try the guidebook PDF.

Here's the link to the kit:

Fuzz Face Explorer Board Kit

The Fuzz Face Explorer Board is an unassembled learning board kit to help you explore the famous Fuzz Face circuit in a neat and organized way. Jumper wire spaghetti be damned. Use some tried and true part number/resistor value combinations and then poke, prod, and measure this thing until you...

huntingtonaudio.com

 

[DrewJD82]

This is pretty damn cool!!!! I’m going to have to order one of these to fuck around with!

 

[huntingtonaudio]

I appreciate the praise. If you do order one, I hope it's as useful to you as you imagine. I'm biased, of course, but I really love using it.

 

[mbenigni]

I'm in!

 

[huntingtonaudio]

I'm in!

Happy to hear it. It's all packed up and in the mail to you. I included a second PCB at not cost - why not, right?

 

[mbenigni]

Happy to hear it. It's all packed up and in the mail to you. I included a second PCB at not cost - why not, right?

Thank you so much! I'd already meant to comment that the price was great.

This will give me more room to experiment. Really appreciate it!

P.S. Really fast shipping. :)

 

[huntingtonaudio]

Thanks for the kind words.

I especially appreciate your comment about the price. The price is low for two reasons:

• I'm releasing these learning tools (that I designed for myself) to learn more about ecommerce and PCB / PCBA fabrication. The goal is to develop and release more 'enduser oriented' products down the road. So I'm not trying to make any real profit on these tools and jigs and tried to keep the costs down to an obviously good deal. It's neat enough to see the tools getting used and to learn about the process before I release (what I hope will be) more widely appealing and market ready products in the not so distant future. It's also been terrific getting to know some of the people in this community (and others like it). Most every interaction has been positive. That's unusual, in my opinion, for internet communities.
• This particular kit had a silkscreen typo (which I corrected with a sticker - you can see it online). So because it's less than perfect, I knocked down the price.

As for the fast shipping - I'm just really excited about this whole process and I more or less drop everything and run when orders come in.

Thanks again!

 

[mbenigni]

Thanks for the kind words.

I especially appreciate your comment about the price. The price is low for two reasons:

• I'm releasing these learning tools (that I designed for myself) to learn more about ecommerce and PCB / PCBA fabrication. The goal is to develop and release more 'enduser oriented' products down the road. So I'm not trying to make any real profit on these tools and jigs and tried to keep the costs down to an obviously good deal. It's neat enough to see the tools getting used and to learn about the process before I release (what I hope will be) more widely appealing and market ready products in the not so distant future. It's also been terrific getting to know some of the people in this community (and others like it). Most every interaction has been positive. That's unusual, in my opinion, for internet communities.
• This particular kit had a silkscreen typo (which I corrected with a sticker - you can see it online). So because it's less than perfect, I knocked down the price.

As for the fast shipping - I'm just really excited about this whole process and I more or less drop everything and run when orders come in.

Thanks again!

Great stuff! Coincidentally, I was just chatting with a friend the other night about how fun it would be to design and build effects, but how daunting the idea of scaling up with PCB manufacture, distribution, etc. to try to make any kind of a living (i.e. "commerce") out of it is. At this stage in life, I don't really see taking this pursuit in a professional direction, but I really look forward to comparing notes with you as we both move forward.

Agreed, this is a great community. The guys doing the "gatekeeping" here have excellent instincts.

(I did see the note on your website about the PCB typo. Thanks for calling it out.)

 

[mbenigni]

Step 1: Inventory

Thanks again @huntingtonaudio for getting this to me so quickly!

 

[JiveTurkey]

Step 1: Inventory

View attachment 24507

Thanks again @huntingtonaudio for getting this to me so quickly!

Is the gateway to an Iommi treble booster build?

 

[mbenigni]

Is the gateway to an Iommi treble booster build?

I was actually thinking about an Iommi-inspired Rangemaster last night. (Yes, you guessed it: insomnia.) I've heard his was modded in some way, but I don't know any details. (And I've gotten the sense from interviews that Tony doesn't, either.) It would be cool to build a "mid/treble boost explorer" not unlike this Huntington Audio fuzz explorer board, with switches, pots, and socketed parts wherever applicable to allow for experimentation.

(And then I'll play through a modeler 90% of the time anyway, but hey... fun!)

 

[mbenigni]

Step 2: Core parts soldered to board. NPN germanium transistors arrive tomorrow, and then we'll see what percentage of those solder joints were kosher.

One question for @huntingtonaudio if he happens to be available: why does the kit include 8x 3-pin SIP sockets? I only found places to use 4... which may be a bad sign LOL.

 

[huntingtonaudio]

Hey, mbenigni.

Sorry for the confusion. The remaining 4 3-position SIP sockets are intended to make the trimpots “hot swappable”. So they go in between the paperclip supports and then you can substitute different value trimpots if that is useful for your explorations.

Does this picture help explain?

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Step 2: Core parts soldered to board. NPN germanium transistors arrive tomorrow, and then we'll see what percentage of those solder joints were kosher.

One question for @huntingtonaudio if he happens to be available: why does the kit include 8x 3-pin SIP sockets? I only found places to use 4... which may be a bad sign LOL.

View attachment 25083

Did you buy a measured and tested set of germanium transistors or are you measuring them yourself?

 

[mbenigni]

Hey, mbenigni.

Sorry for the confusion. The remaining 4 3-position SIP sockets are intended to make the trimpots “hot swappable”. So they go in between the paperclip supports and then you can substitute different value trimpots if that is useful for your explorations.

Does this picture help explain?

Ah... whoops. :) I soldered those trimpots directly to the board. (Hopefully without damaging them with the heat from the soldering iron.)

I noticed the kit you sent had different trimpot values than those in the picture in the guidebook, so I subbed the W502 in place of the W102, and the W104 in place of the W503. This should give me a wider range of resistance (5K and 100K, respectively) and will hopefully obviate any need to substitute.

Thanks again for responding to my questions so quickly!

 

[mbenigni]

Did you buy a measured and tested set of germanium transistors or are you measuring them yourself?

I ordered these - for no better reason than one of the reviewers said he'd used them in a fuzz pedal and liked the sound of them:

4PCS BC108B BC108 TO-18 NPN Small Signal Transistor

 

[mbenigni]

One of my aims in working on this project is to try to understand - at least in broad strokes - what the circuit is actually doing. This is one of the better articles concerning Fuzz Face analysis I've found, in case anyone else is interested:

ElectroSmash - Fuzz Face Analysis

The Fuzz Face is a distortion guitar pedal designed in London by Arbitrer Electronics Ltd in the autumn of 1966. This analysis covers the first Arbitrer Fuzz Face model equipped with PNP germanium transistors from the first releases.

www.electrosmash.com

 

[SillyOctpuss]

I ordered these - for no better reason than one of the reviewers said he'd used them in a fuzz pedal and liked the sound of them:

4PCS BC108B BC108 TO-18 NPN Small Signal Transistor

Those are silicon transistors not germanium. They'll still sound great though. If you buy a $20 transistor tester you'll be able to check the hfe to decide which to use in Q1 and Q2.

Search amazon for tc1 transistor tester. This one will also measure leakage if you decide to try germanium. It will also identify the pinout so you know you have them the right way round.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

One of my aims in working on this project is to try to understand - at least in broad strokes - what the circuit is actually doing. This is one of the better articles concerning Fuzz Face analysis I've found, in case anyone else is interested:

ElectroSmash - Fuzz Face Analysis

The Fuzz Face is a distortion guitar pedal designed in London by Arbitrer Electronics Ltd in the autumn of 1966. This analysis covers the first Arbitrer Fuzz Face model equipped with PNP germanium transistors from the first releases.

www.electrosmash.com

I did a deep dive on the fuzz face last year. Hit me up if you want to go over anything.

 

[mbenigni]

Thank you, @SillyOctpuss! I don't know how I managed to get turned around when I ordered those transistors. My plan had been to start with NPN germanium. Ah well, baby steps - let's just get something working to start with.