The Many Faces of Fuzz

The Many Faces of Fuzz
The classic Fuzz Face is the basis of many a home brew fuzz box, and the DIY sector has spawned a nearly infinite supply of variations. Here's my contribution.

Though all variations share the same component values, subtle variations can be heard by plugging different transistors in each position. Circuit A is based on Jack Orman's MosFace. Swap the transistors and you get something suggested by Joe Gagan (Circuit B). Circuit C goes the next step...two MOSFETs. Circuits D and E use JFETs in Q2 position. For some reason, a JFET in Q1 position doesn't seem to work very well. And when the JFET is used in Q2 position (circuits D and E), the biasing adjustment of the 10k source trimpot is very touchy and sensitive to battery voltage. But still sounds good once the sweet spot is dialed in.

Diode protection for MOSFETS might be a good idea. An interesting variation is to substitute a 1Meg pot in place of the 100k resistor connecting the base/gate of Q1 to the source/emitter of Q2.

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