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Thought I'd share this with you guys. Bought a '97 Dunlop Fuzz Face. Played through it, was kinda 'choky' and sputtery. It was ok once I adjusted the trim pots on the pcboard, but still wasn't great.
Well, I ordered two transistors for fuzzes from www.smallbearelec.com and sockets, among other items. Took the FF apart, yanked the NKT275 transistors, and installed the sockets. Placed the two transformers in the sockets, played and tweaked a little... much better. Went from being gratingly harsh to sustainy and smooth. Still has some tooth when you use a bridge pickup, but gets a great softening of the pick attack when you use the neck pickup. If you use hammers/pulls it's smooth, but rounds off the attack when you pick hard. I know it isn't perfect, but it's close to an Eric Johnson tone. Well, close enough for me.
I'd recommend this to anyone who has a Fuzz Face or a germanium fuzz sitting around that they don't like. Steve at Smallbear sells you a set of transistors that are within the proper range for good performance in FF circuits. Highly recommended, and don't forget to socket them. This way you can mix and match, or try different transistors in there. Plus you're not subjecting the transistors to the heat of the soldering iron.
I'll try to do some clips soon. Heck, it even sounded ok into my Pod XT direct to my PC!
Pete
Well, I ordered two transistors for fuzzes from www.smallbearelec.com and sockets, among other items. Took the FF apart, yanked the NKT275 transistors, and installed the sockets. Placed the two transformers in the sockets, played and tweaked a little... much better. Went from being gratingly harsh to sustainy and smooth. Still has some tooth when you use a bridge pickup, but gets a great softening of the pick attack when you use the neck pickup. If you use hammers/pulls it's smooth, but rounds off the attack when you pick hard. I know it isn't perfect, but it's close to an Eric Johnson tone. Well, close enough for me.
I'd recommend this to anyone who has a Fuzz Face or a germanium fuzz sitting around that they don't like. Steve at Smallbear sells you a set of transistors that are within the proper range for good performance in FF circuits. Highly recommended, and don't forget to socket them. This way you can mix and match, or try different transistors in there. Plus you're not subjecting the transistors to the heat of the soldering iron.
I'll try to do some clips soon. Heck, it even sounded ok into my Pod XT direct to my PC!
Pete
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