BC108 Sunface lacking FUZZ?!s

[GrooveChampion]

Hey felluhs, I just built this monster. It has enough gain, balls and bass but....It sounds too much like a distortion, there just isnt enough fuzz. What's the meaning of this?!

All the parts are to spec BTW.

[Travis]

The Fuzz Face is an easy build but you usually still need to do some auditioning with transistors to get the sound you want.

[GrooveChampion]

I have a bag of BC108s

You are saying try them out?

[Travis]

Of course. And if they're not doing it for you then try something else. There are a lot of different brands of BC108 so simply having a transistor that says "BC108" on it does not necessarily make it any closer to the original

So there's that, and the fact that the transistors will have varying specs even from the same batch

[GrooveChampion]

I was a freaking dumbass and turns out the trimmer was set to minimum....

[Travis]

lol stuff like that happens to everyone don't worry dude! How's it sounding now though?

[GrooveChampion]

After adding the fat control the name THE SUN GODDESS is quite fitting, lets put it that way.

[GrooveChampion]

OK guys, so I built the circuit yet again and it sounds all low volume and way too gated.

I've tested my BC108Cs and according to my DMM they are each about 500 Hfe. Thing is that I swapped Q1 for a 2n3904 and the problem is still there.

Seriously, this circuit it driving me NUTS.

[Marbles]

Try a germanium... :D

Seriously though, I feel you. For some reason, fuzz faces and tonebenders: Never had any luck, Even the silicon one youre building. It just does not get to what I expect of it and what I hear in originals.. I have given up and moved on to more instant satisfying versions.
Sure, once every blue moon I give it a shot again, hoping I might stumble onto the perfect recipe of resistors and transistor values by pure luck, to have a fuzz that will last me forever, but so far: No.

I feel it's the simplest circuit hardest to make. Or, I'm just lazy. Probably that.

[nocentelli]

Marbles wrote

I feel it's the simplest circuit hardest to make. Or, I'm just lazy. Probably that.

I've built literally dozens of fuzzface variants, and have never been truly satisfied with the sound so you're not alone (I suspect they sound better with single coils through a nice valve amp, and I play humbuckers through a clean solid-state amp). The original tonebender (MK2) is similar, but there are some nice modernised versions that work really well with no biasing issues or messing with germanium, e.g. Skreddy Lunar Module.

[GrooveChampion]

I just finished the half assed Fulltone 70, which I ASSUME is a Fuzz Face variant and it works better....I think, definitely has better volume. The damn thing starts squeeling like crazy if I max the gain knob. I also replaced the stock trimmer with a 2k(the original I think is 5k?), I will just make a pot out of it and stick it out side.

I am so tired of these Fuzz Face shenanigans.

[rocket88]

Yep it's a fuzzface varient. Idk, I've had plenty of success with them and it's one effect that while simple does sometimes have issues. The biggest thing to do is make sure the bias is correct on Q2, which using a trimmer for the collector resistor really helps. There's actually a calculator that you can use to determine the right resistor values based on hfe if your transistors on analog alchemy, which can be a massive help if your not sure.

Despite the fuzzface shanagans it's a massive fantastic fuzz when done right and sounds amazing on bass too. Just like the tonebender, it's well worth it when you get it right.

[Marbles]

Ah yes, I must say: I have built multiple Lunar Modules and great sounding. How could I forget about that one. Great, great fuzz.

[Marbles]

One day, one day.. :D

You're totally right, but for some reason even with trimmers or calculating through your link I haven't able to make it sound good.

To be honest, I have only used that method for germanium and the germaniums I have tried are the GT308s. Highest HFE I had was around 100, so not that great to start with. I must have hundreds of 70-80hfe of the damn things haha.