Jen Fuzz build report

[jmusser]

This one I got off Robin Tomtlund's site  http://hem1.passagen.se/robin2/im/jen.gif  I'd had it on the back burner to build for quite a spell, and finally had time to throw it together. He used BC318Bs and a BC209B to replace the BC546Bs and BC550B originals. I couldn't even get the originals to come up on the NTE Cross Reference. The replacements came out to be NTE199s, which cross to 2N5088s, 3904s, 4401s, 2222As, etc. I'm guessing that BC type trannys are more of an European thing, where the 2N series is more of an American thing. I used 3904s for Q1 and 2, and a 5088 for Q3. I tried several different configurations in there, including a high gain 5089 in the Q3 position, but it was too much. The 4401s did fine in the Q1 and 2 spots too, but I liked the 3904s in there better. This circuit does some real nice fuzzing, and sort of reminds you of the two knob Tone Bender in tone, but the "Attack" pot even wide open, isn't as aggressive as the Tone Benders or the Shin Ei. I think that's a good thing though, and doesn't make it such a one trick pony. This one travels through boost, distortion, to fuzz with the attack control, and doesn't quite get the "wasp in a jar" thing going even maxed out. This is a Flower Child era fuzz, and might be a bit trebly for most people, but I like it. To only use a 1K attack, and 50K volume pots, this thing is loud! It worked well with both my solid state amp, and my tube amp. This fuzz is not tamed by the guitar volume at all. It just turns the effects volume down. The guitar tone controls do better (especially treble) to be rolled off, or it makes your ears bleed from the high frequency sizzle. This one has very good sustain, and shows the fuzz more prominately on the 4 bottom treble strings than the bass strings. It's an easy build, and the only unusual value in there, is the 22 ohm resistor at the emmitor of Q2 and the attack pot. Luckily I had a salvaged 1 watter to use.