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I know this has been asked before but I also know sources can change with time.. any recommendations for a place to buy a good matched set of silicon transistors for a fuzz face build? not looking for clean up as much as that good high gain fuzzy sound. willing to pay a bit more for a pair that is already matched. thanks!

Thanks!!

1. Black spray paint
2. Added painter's tape for stripes
3. White spray paint
4. Removed tape
5. Stamped letters and labels
6. Glossy coat

There was a bit of cracking with the white paint unfortunately, you can see in the lower left. Not sure why.. maybe that balmy Texas sun.

nom nom with matched 2n5952s from general guitar gadgets.
guts came out really clean too, will post a pic soon.
built for a friend.

Thanks!! I need to shorten the wire lengths to the pots before it's pretty enough inside to be on display...

update with finished paint
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sig my grubby paws have made this
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I just finished building a combination pedal using Madbean's Zero Point Micro running into Grindcustom's Tenebrion Reverb. I used the long brick for this build as I was going for kind of an ambiance machine. This was my first time using a board from Grind Custom FX, but it will not be the last. Very quick shipping considering Canada to Texas, and the board was very high quality.

I made a quick demo to show some of the more feedbacky-washy-ambiancey-ness.

Pending a paint job.

*Edit: link fixed, thanks micromegas!

My humble gigging board.



It sounds like this (my band): https://ocelotalot.bandcamp.com

Top left (white/black) is a Devi Ever Hyperion I built with a switchable Green Ringer octave and Voltage Sag knob.

Top right (ghost) is a Rat with switchable Gain knobs I built using Madbean's Runt board

Middle (bare with red sharpie) is a combination Delay/Reverb I built with Grindcustom's Tenebrion Reverb  and Madbean's Zero Point Micro II boards.

Bumping an old thread...

At the risk of sounding stupid, for your standard Loophole build (no vibrato mods), what if you replaced the momentary Detune switch with a potentiometer. Would this allow you to apply a detune to the playback that is not constantly falling but is "fixed"?

Thanks for the suggestions everybody. Update: I populated the madbean hipster (silicon fuzz face) PCB and ran it through the breadboard testing rig and it is working properly! I am able to bias the collector of Q2 to suggested values (4.5-5.5V) and it sounds more along the lines of demos I've heard.

The fuzz pot works normally for the first 80% or so of it's rotation, but for the last 20% it gets super hissy and static-y sounding. For all settings the distortion is still pretty harsh, much harsher than something I would want to use... but I do get clean up with the volume knob so that's something.

I think these new concerns are a matter of playing with transistor and resistor values, but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Also on my list is to determine what went wrong with the breadboard circuit, which should be a bit easier now that I have a working circuit for comparison.

Tried the different resistors, no luck. Still can't bias Collector of Q2.

Take 2 - breadboarded. Q1 HFE is around 230, Q2 HFE is around 350. Both are 2N222. Same problem as before. Used the Smallbear guide (https://www.smallbearelec.com/HowTos/BreadboardSiFF/BreadboardSiFF.htm)
Went through schematic and checked part values. No luck, still incredibly stuttery, cuts out, unusable fuzz with an unbias-able C for Q2.

With Fuzz pot maxed and bias resistor for C2 set to 8.2K:

Q1
C - 1.2 V
B - 0.6 V
E - 0.0 V

Q2
C - 8.6 V
B - 1.2 V
E - 0.73 V

http://tinypic.com/r/mkgpww/8
http://tinypic.com/r/fmlgj/8
http://tinypic.com/r/2utnvvp/8

Am I doing something fundamentally wrong here?

Ordered a Hipster PCB. Will update once built.

Voltages:

Q1
C - 1.13
B - 0.58
E - 0

Q2
C - 9.25
B - 1.13
E - 0.69

Transistors are 2n222. Running off of 1spot adapter at 9.37 V. Bias pot adjusted to 10k.

Vero layouts used:

http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2013/04/creepy-fingers-effects-si-fuzz-face.html

http://aronnelson.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=10880&g2_serialNumber=2

I will measure and post voltages on other pins when I get home from work (heh).

I used the continuity checker on my DMM to check my traces before I soldered, but I will check them again.

Pictures of the Aron Nelson build. Please excuse the messy wiring.

http://tinypic.com/r/2vt5nva/8

http://tinypic.com/r/hve4xj/8

I really appreciate any and all advice!! I posted mostly because I thought having the same problem in 2 different builds odd, and maybe there was something unique to the fuzz face circuit that I wasn't grasping. Always a chance I'm just a doofus though.

I have built 2 different NPN silicon fuzz faces from different vero layouts and on both I am unable to bias the Collector of Q2. The lowest I can get is 6.7V and that's with a 100K pot!!! The fuzz sounds strange and super gated and nothing like any clips of a fuzz face I've ever heard. Because it has happened with 2 different builds I'm thinking maybe it's an offboard wiring problem? Has anyone else had this problem?