suggested hfe for Q1 and Q2 in fuzz face clone

[jlullo]

Hey guys, I am in the process of building the fuzz face from fuzzcentral, and i read that the recommended hfe for q1 is 70 and q2 is 120.    has anyone built one with different gains and preferred them to the suggested ones?

[$uperpuma]

I built one with 115 and 130 sounded fine... almost an overdrive/fuzz

[jlullo]

i want one that isn't overly wooly, but not too piercing either.  superpuma, do you think that i should try that for this sound?

[Ronsonic]

I've got some 80s stock NPN germs that all measure about 90. They sound amazingly like the regulation PNP at 80 - 120.


Ron

[Steben]

i want one that isn't overly wooly, but not too piercing either.  superpuma, do you think that i should try that for this sound?

Go for the 50/50 rule then. 100+100 would do fine. But remember to put a trimmer somewhere to get that 4.5V at the collector of Q2. And you better do all this at "low living room" temperature, maybe "bedroom" temperature is better.

[mac]

I breadborbed one with 2n388 texas inst (50,60) and it sounded as good as a (90,120). Also tried a tonebender mk2 with a (40,50,60) trio and again it was ok. As long as you get 4.5v on q2 it will sound good.

Maybe tweaking the 33k to compensate for lower/higher gain ge?


mac