Fuzz experience

His guitar slung across his back, his dusty boots is his cadillac.

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Tek465b
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Re: Fuzz experience

Post by Tek465b » Fri Mar 10, 2017 10:39 pm

Here is it, (wrong switch i know but work as-is). sound so frigging awesome for woodstock.
Its a kind of tonebender mkII with the first transistor re-arranged as a input buffer. the switch is for that. When the fuzz is in bypass mode you can still use the germanium buffer or not.
And it has ALOT of volume output, great for a clean fuzz.
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Image

angelodp
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Re: Fuzz experience

Post by angelodp » Fri Dec 07, 2018 12:46 am

Fantastic thread. I was there at Woodstock to hear and see this and it was ....... no words really, just lucky.

On the schematic for the three T's Fuzz I see 1.56 ? m not sure. If anyone would kindly calrify that.

Best Ange

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Xplorer
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Re: Fuzz experience

Post by Xplorer » Fri Dec 07, 2018 2:13 pm

You were there at Woodstock and saw Jimi ???? WOW !! Yes, Lucky ....
i Wonder how it was in reality compared to the sound recorded.
Sorry i couldn't answer your question. i didn't build mine yet, but will soon.

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Re: Fuzz experience

Post by angelodp » Sat Dec 08, 2018 4:46 pm

Yup, one of the last few thousands that stayed to the end. It was glorious. The Star Spangled Banner was at a level that is hard to descirbe, the culmination of all out frustrations, fear, anger and connection to what we are.

I sure would like to figure out t=what the 1.5m is, just the pop thing I suspect.

daveweyer
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Re: Fuzz experience

Post by daveweyer » Sat Dec 08, 2018 8:59 pm

Angel,
I got your PM but the forum software is not allowing me to write you back just now. So cool you were at Woodstock to hear all my little gadgets, and some guy(s) who played them pretty well. It's amazing the story still continues, and is now gearing up for a reunion, the 50th.
As far as the 3 transistor fuzz goes, the 1.5 may refer to the feedback pot (fuzz control) ; originally I used a 2 meg, but I think folks were having trouble finding that.
You can get a beautiful circuit board for the fuzz from Tek465; he took my schematic and laid out the circuit so you can easily make it.
Any other questions feel free to post.

daveweyer
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Re: Fuzz experience

Post by daveweyer » Thu Aug 19, 2021 2:44 pm

For any of you who want to duplicate Jimi's West Coast 3 transistor fuzz, a seller has listed some RCA 2N591 transistors on ebay. NOS out of the box, so be sure to get a few before they are gone.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/131568335758?h ... Sw~gRVu7mu

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Re: Fuzz experience

Post by revolver1 » Sat Feb 05, 2022 1:19 am

Hi all.
I'm having a real hard time finding some 2n591. I found a couple of places but they don't want to do PayPal which for the money I would have spent makes it a bit to risky for my liking.

There is a company in Italy that has quite a few but again same deal and no eh speaka de englaise.

So I had read somewhere that the NTE or ECG 102A might be a good substitute.

I don't know enough about transistors to know so I was wondering what some of you more knowledgeable types think?

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Re: Fuzz experience

Post by Pressed_Rat » Sun Feb 06, 2022 6:53 pm

I searched on NTE's website https://www.nteinc.com/search.php for "2n591". It indicates the NTE102A (PNP) is a replacement / equivalent. Here is a link to the data sheet http://www.nteinc.com/specs/100to199/pdf/nte102a.pdf. Allied https://www.alliedelec.com/ and Digi-Key https://www.digikey.com/ both have parts in stock and I am sure you can do secure credit card, or possibly PayPal transactions there.

Hope this helps.

revolver1
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Re: Fuzz experience

Post by revolver1 » Mon Feb 07, 2022 12:59 pm

Pressed_Rat, great handle!

Thank you for that. Guess I'll have to bite the bullet and try a few out at least until I can source the 2n591. I think it's going to be a mission finding the 591's with the right gain and leakage.

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Re: Fuzz experience

Post by revolver1 » Wed Feb 16, 2022 9:03 am

I've been looking around for a good Transistor Tester.

Just wondering if any one can recommend a unit that tests HFE and leakage?

revolver1
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Re: Fuzz experience

Post by revolver1 » Thu Feb 17, 2022 1:55 am

Is hfe something you can read with a metre and leakage needs to be calculated or is there a metre that can read both?

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Re: Fuzz experience

Post by daveweyer » Mon Feb 21, 2022 5:52 pm

Hey revolver, just send me your address and I'll send you the 2N591s. The Hendrix Foundation found a stash of NOS 2N591s from a defunct distributor, intending to maybe provide the WC 3 transistor fuzz to the general public if it all works out. In the mean time we are heavy with (mostly RCA) 2N591s from back in the day.
No need to go searching............

revolver1
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Re: Fuzz experience

Post by revolver1 » Sun Feb 27, 2022 4:47 am

Dave, you are an absolute super star.
I'll drop you a P.M.

revolver1
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Re: Fuzz experience

Post by revolver1 » Sun Feb 27, 2022 5:16 am

P.M sent.

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Re: Fuzz experience

Post by revolver1 » Fri Mar 25, 2022 3:04 pm

Hi all,

I've been thinking about something and wanted to ask if you think it would work.

First off to paint a picture, I've got a Stewart Castledine Clyde Wah and a couple of different anologman Fuzz pedals that I don't really want to molest.

I was thinking how Dave said he generally put a 10k resistor in the out put of Jimmi's Wah's and a 10k on the input of the Fuzz. So that's a total of 20k between the two circuits.

If I were to figure out what the value of the out put resistor on my Wah's were and the input resistors on my Fuzzes then subtracted this from 20k to find the nearest resistor value.

Would it work if I took one of those really small aluminium pedal cases and fitted a couple of Jack sockets and a 3PDT switch for true bypass and fitted the resistor in the signal path when it's on.

I'm wondering if it might be a handy way to use the wah in front of a fuzz without having to commit to modifications. Also when bypassed it wouldn't alter anything down stream.

What do you think?

Another little question I have that I hope some one can answer. I actually asked this over on DIY stompboxes but didn't really get a solid answer either way.

So with a fuzz circuit (PNP) my positive battery lead (ground) is disconnected from the circuit when the Jack is pulled out the socket.

So with the Jack disconnected if I were changing the battery and accidentally touched the battery snap reverse polarity on the battery would it damage the circuit?

I don't mind doing a bit of reverse polarity protection but I don't want to do it if it's a waste of time.

Cheers

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