The Fuzz Face

Typical 2-stage amp

Circuit Analysis

Idle condition:
300𝑚𝑉 4,200𝑚𝑉
Current through R2 is = 638µA, current through R3 is = 512µA.
470Ω 8200Ω

8,300𝑚𝑉
Current through R1 is = 252µA.
33,000Ω

Note that NPN types were rare in the early days of Ge transistor production so the PNP types
were popular; this created a positive grounding situation for most applications.
The Hfe for the AC128 is 45 – 165…a rather large tolerance band and for some builders, it is
more critical to match the gain of the devices.
The distortion control is non-linear…maxing all the controls does not necessarily produce
maximum distortion…there will be a sweet spot.
The Fuzz pedal can be unpredictable with the volume control of the instrument, playing an
important role with this effect. Controlling the volume from the instrument can alter the final
tone from a subtle crunch, near 10% vol. to fully overloaded fuzz, about 90% vol.

Hiss/Noise
When the Fuzz Face is maxed, noise is unavoidable because of the characteristics of germanium
and the high-gain of the circuit…some say that the noisiest appear to sound the best.
To reduce excess noise, a low value, snubber cap of about 100pfd could be connected from
base-to-collector on both transistors; this will limit the high-frequency response of the circuit
and reduce some hiss.

Germanium Transistor Selection and Transistor Biasing:

It is important to select proper transistors in order to achieve a basis. Germanium transistors
tend to have high leakage-currents and inconsistent gains...for some a desirable quality. Many
experimenters have agreed that a good match uses a low gain in the first-stage, typically an Hfe
of 80 and a higher gain in the second stage, an Hfe of 120.

The active component:

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The most important bias points are Q1C = -0.5 to -0.7V and Q2C = = -4.5V.
2
Vary the collector resistors to obtain the proper bias voltages; this creates the original idle
conditions of the AC128. Dunlop discovered the importance of this bias point later and began to
include a trim-pot for Q2 in order to obtain the ½ VCC point.

Germanium transistor Fuzz Faces

The first units manufactured used the AC-128, a 45-165 Hfe European Ge, PNP transistor, later
replaced by the Newmarket NKT-275. After the germanium years, the production switched to
the more stable silicon transistors, such as the BC108C, 109C and 209C.
The classic soft-distortion pedals, used by Jimi Hendrix had germanium transistors. There are
fewer sources for these transistors, now.
An Hfe of 70 – 90 is considered an acceptable band for gain and a leakage current of 130µA is
good.

Benchmark data of the Fuzz-face, the AC128 transistor (used in the early production models):

AC128 Ge, PNP, TO1 package

Maximum Collector Power Dissipation: 1W
Maximum Collector-Base Voltage: 32V
Maximum Collector-Emitter Voltage: 16V
Maximum Emitter-Base Voltage: 10V
Maximum Collector Current: 1A
Max. Operating Junction Temperature: 100°C
Transition Frequency: 1MHz
Collector Capacitance: 200pfd
Forward Current Transfer Ratio: 45 min.

Other original components:

The components used in the 60s produce the character of the pedal, some observations:

The caps: Standard aluminum electrolytic caps for higher values and film types for the smaller
values.

The resistors: The original models used 1/2W carbon-film resistors. They are not used anymore
in production because they are considered too noisy compared to the metal-film types.
Many people believe that carbon resistors provide the classic fuzz distortion sound.

The pots: The 1KΩ linear "Fuzz" pot produces a log-effect to the ear. Replacing it with a
reverse-audio pot will provide a more linear action to the rotation of the pot.

Pre-testing PNP Ge transistors

Pre-assembly testing allows better selection of devices; use a 9VDC power source…a battery or
a 9.6VDC wall wart, a DMM and a test-bed…a standard bread-board works well.
Germanium has higher leakage and does not allow for direct testing on most transistor test sets
and most modern sets are designed for silicon types.
Less than 200µA is an acceptable level for leakage current.
The selective gain is 70 – 130; this range works well for typical guitar range. Some people may
prefer equal gain transistors, others may prefer a lower gain of 70-100 for the first transistor and
90 - 130 for the second…its user preference.
The value of the output level control has been the subject of some debate. Some people prefer a
100KΩ pot to the 500KΩ. The 100KΩ will provide more loading to Q2 and rolls-off the lows
sooner and is less subject to capacitive-loading; a 100KΩ pot should sound brighter.
The first production FF's were built with AC128's, a common European-type.
Early Ge transistors were not reliable. The tech sector evolved to silicon for transistors because
Ge is prone to high leakage and temperature instability. The AC128 is not a high-quality
transistor; it has moderate gain from 30 to 180 with a modest frequency response but well
within the audio band. At that time, the semiconductor industry was in its infancy and was not
capable of producing low cost, reliable and consistent devices.
The variation in gain is important and is key to the tone of the FF; it rarely sounds good without
tweaking and careful transistor selection.
There is a sweet spot for musical clipping and is dependent on the gain of the device. For
combinations of one high and one low-gain device, the range extends from 70 on the low-end,
to 130 on the high-end, with preferences for distortion-tone a matter of personal taste.
The amount of symmetrical versus asymmetrical distortion is achieved by selecting non-
identical gains for the transistors, with the frequency response of the transistors being
important. Transistors with fast slew-rates tend to clip like a razor edge and sound like so. The
AC128 has higher capacitance figures for germanium devices but fulfills the full audio
spectrum and this characteristic leads to softened edges of the waveform…a lower slew-rate;
high junction capacitance from collector to base produces a softer distortion too. The sound
may be further softened, by connecting a 10-100pfd cap from the collector to base of the
transistors. This was used in later silicon versions of the FF.

Silicon versions of the FF

The FF was built with several transistor types, including silicon. The first ones were primarily
AC128's, a PNP germanium device, followed by production with the Newmarket NKT275
which is similar in datasheet specs. At one point, Dunlop made FF clones. The JH1 and JH2
were made with high-gain silicon transistors. The JH2 used the MPSA18, with a typical gain of
800. The JH1 and JH2 are a great value for the DIY'er. You can rebuild the original FF circuit
in a short time.

Mods
There is a set of changes collectively referred to as the "Hendrix" mods or the "Roger Mayer"
mods.
Replace the 470Ω output resistor with 1KΩ.
Replace the 8K2Ω resistor at the collector of the second transistor with 18KΩ.
Replace the 1KΩ control in the emitter of the second transistor with 2KΩ. This mod primarily
seems to increase the output level and gain of the second transistor.
Changing the input and output caps will alter the bass response. To allow more bass, you can
double the value of each of these caps. In the case of the output cap 0.1ufd, raising it to 0.47ufd
may work better for Bass. This will prevent the bass signal from being lost by the impedance of the
coupling cap.
You could add a 1KΩ linear pot in series with the 470Ω resistor in the collector circuit of the
second transistor, with the output coming from the top node of the 8K2Ω resistor, configured as a
variable resistor. Another variant is connecting a 50KΩ pot, as a variable series resistor with the
input of the circuit, prior to the 2.2ufd input cap.

The low input impedance will load a high Z guitar PU appreciably; the first transistor will cut-off
or saturate with a very low input. Placing a resistor in series with the guitar pickup, raises the
effective source impedance, emulating a current source more than a voltage source. This will
behave more linear than a voltage source. The variable resistor allows clean-up control of the
distortion, producing a softer distortion.
The additional controls will interact to produce a variable colour to the distortion.
Softer distortion, may be achieved by adding a high-frequency, roll-off cap. Adding 10-100pfd
from collector to base on the second transistor or 100-680pfd across the collector resistor of the
first transistor will smooth things out a bit.
The Fuzz Face has attracted clones...with its low component count, it is attractive for first-time
builders and easy for experimentation. The Vox Tone Bender was a copy with minimal alterations
to the component values and was re-configured to NPN silicon transistors. There have been several
versions of the Vox Tone Bender and the Distortion Booster…both variants of the basic circuit.
The Roger Mayer Classic Fuzz retains germanium transistors and is essentially the FF circuit with a
few component values changed.