Fuzz Face mini?

[BloodRose]

Questions...
Ive always been intriged by fuzz faces since Hendrix. Never been a need. Im considering one. There are so many now and each is a minor tweak Im sure. Germanium, non etc.. With the minis, of cource I want one more now.

What are the diff ones? I mean, I can look online and see a list, but what Im looking for is this:

The Joe B has this, so it will be similar to the plain fuzz face, but smoother
The blah model has the blank chip and is the most agressive..
Can anyone do a breakdown like that to help me determine the best for my needs? thanks

[El Supremo]

Re: Fuzz Face mini?

From the online vids I like the Bonamassa and Hendrix ones the best. Seem more articulate to my ears and clean up nicely. What I'm kinda boggled about is that the mini versions are considerably cheaper, whilst they have the additional option of being powered by an adapter.

[devastone]

Re: Fuzz Face mini?

It's a very simple circuit, I think the full size ones are just easier to sell for more because of the "cool" factor. The jack and diode, and maybe a cap, for the adapter probably adds 5 - 10 cents to the production costs while the smaller enclosure probably saves more than that.

I personally like the silicon versions, the germanium ones are too compressed to me, but YMMV. I'm not a big fuzz user anyway, they seem work better into more vintage style amps.

If you were to source the parts to build your own fuzz face on perfboard or something, including a nice enclosure, you'd probably be out $12 - $15 or so unless you were to use cork sniffer "vintage" germanium transistors...

[PFDarkside]

Re: Fuzz Face mini?

Fuzz face pedals are very interactive with your Guitar and Amp, and inconsistencies with individual transistors leads to differences between the same model. Also, remember that to use a Fuzz Face, you generally need a little gain on your amp. That helps to roll off some of the harsh treble that the transistor clipping creates. One of the great things about the Fuzz Face is rolling back the volume on your guitar to clean up the fuzz, it's an awesome overdrive tone. Germaniums generally do this better than Silicon, and the fabled NKT-275 do it the best of all. It's really fun when you have a guitar/fuzz/amp all interacting and slight changes in your volume and tone knobs affect the overall tone.

The mini Dunlops are the same as the bigger brothers, so I listed them by mini model number with my thoughts.

•FFM1 - Blue Silicon - BC108
-Aggressive, biting, bright with big bass.
•FFM2 - Red Germanium - "top hat" transistors (used be the "fake NKT275" ones i think)
-Dark, wooly, bassy, cleans up a bit easier than the silicon.
•FFM3 - Hendrix Silicon - BC108
-Smoother and less harsh than the standard blue one, seems to clean up a bit better and overall more "musical" in a blues/rock sense
•FFM4 - Bonamassa NOS Russian Germanium - (MP39/GT308?)
-Designed for Humbuckers, less gain than the Red Germanium, cleans up well
•FFM5 - Eric Johnson (prototype only) - probably BC183 Silicon
-Higher gain than Blue/Hendrix, but smoother top end than both of them
•FFM6 - Band of Gypsys - not a fuzz face, Octavia without octave. Really cool, heavy fuzz, it seems to have a very "useful" fuzz pot range, it doesn't need to be dimed like most of the above pedals

I think the Silicon fuzz faces from Dunlop are as good as any, but I think that the germanium ones come up a little short compared to the offerings from Analogman, Fulltone, etc.

[PFDarkside]

Re: Fuzz Face mini?

Good comparisons:

[devastone]

Re: Fuzz Face mini?

Good info PFDarkside! I should probably clarify my post and say that while FF's are simple circuits, there is some magic going on and that some matching or calculated mismatching should probably be done, especially if you are using NOS transistors.

[BloodRose]

Re: Fuzz Face mini?

PFDDarkside, Bro, you went above and beyond!! Thank you VERY much!! Exactly what I was looking for, even before the vids!