Fuzz Architect pedal - batch "B" in pictures ... now called the 32FZ

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laurie
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Fuzz Architect pedal - batch "B" in pictures ... now called the 32FZ

Post by laurie » Mon Oct 21, 2019 5:10 pm

I'll be doing graphics (water-slide decals).
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Re: Fuzz Architect pedal - batch "B" in pictures

Post by laurie » Wed Oct 23, 2019 12:37 pm

This "B" batch will be 14 pedals. All 100% hand-wired. All 100% point-to-point. All 100% fiddly, time-consuming, and pain-in-the-arse :roll:

The Germanium transistors are all military surplus and the ones I use have been hand-selected from a huge quantity of generic transistors. I do an initial rough sort by measuring the gain and leakage of *every* transistor and once I've weeded out the ones that won't work (over 90% of them are incorrect for fuzz) I carefully test and audition every transistor to ensure it will work properly and sound good. I only keep the best transistors to use in the pedals.

If you have one of the "A" batch you know how good these pedals are. The "B" batch has some pedals that are even better than the "A" batch... I managed to find enough high-gain Germanium transistors to build six of the "B" batch pedals all Germanium:
- one all Germanium pedal with "normal" gains for both transistors (Q1 has gain of 75 and Q2 is 120... this pair was VERY hard to find)
- four all Germanium pedals with normal gain for Q1 and "hotter" gain for Q2 (between 150 and 200)
- one Germanium pedal with "extra hot" gains for Q1 and Q2 (Q1 has gain of 95 and Q2 is 230)

There will also be eight pedals that are the standard Fuzz Architect with Germanium Q1 and Silicon Q2, the same as the "A" batch. These are very good pedals in their own right:
- five will have gains for Q1 in middle of the "normal" range (70 to 80)
- three will have gains for Q1 at the upper end of the "normal" range (81 to 85)
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Re: Fuzz Architect pedal - batch "B" in pictures

Post by laurie » Wed Oct 23, 2019 12:43 pm

The build jigs.
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Re: Fuzz Architect pedal - batch "B" in pictures

Post by laurie » Wed Oct 23, 2019 12:45 pm

First pedal guts complete in the jig. This one has Q1 gain of 77 and Q2 is silicon.
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Re: Fuzz Architect pedal - batch "B" in pictures

Post by laurie » Wed Oct 23, 2019 1:26 pm

Testing vintage Germanium transistors is slightly more complicated than testing modern transistors. Modern transistor testers assume that there is no leakage in the transistor (a modern Silicon transistor has essentially undetectable leakage).

A specialized test-rig plus a spreadsheet are required for vintage Germanium - the leakage must be measured, then the gain calculated taking the leakage into account.

A good technical overview can be found in sections 24 and 25 here:
http://diy.smallbearelec.com/HowTos/Fuz ... /FFFAQ.htm

Here is my custom-built transistor test rig. It is essential to use a high quality meter - I've always used Fluke meters.
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Re: Fuzz Architect pedal - batch "B" in pictures

Post by The_Doc » Wed Oct 23, 2019 4:20 pm

I’m very interested in grabbing one of the all germanium ones in this batch please Laurie. You know the sort of fuzz I like (warm and fat), and I’ll be guided by your expert ears to choose the one for me ;)

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Re: Fuzz Architect pedal - batch "B" in pictures

Post by laurie » Thu Oct 24, 2019 2:50 pm

The_Doc wrote:
Wed Oct 23, 2019 4:20 pm
I’m very interested in grabbing one of the all germanium ones in this batch please Laurie.
Thanks!
The_Doc wrote:
Wed Oct 23, 2019 4:20 pm
I’ll be guided by your expert ears to choose the one for me ;)
No pressure then... :shock:

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Re: Fuzz Architect pedal - batch "B" in pictures

Post by The_Doc » Thu Oct 24, 2019 2:54 pm

Ha ha ! I trust you mate and thanks, as always :)

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Re: Fuzz Architect pedal - batch "B" in pictures

Post by laurie » Thu Oct 24, 2019 2:59 pm

The build continues. I'm thinking this might be the last batch done hand-wired/point-to-point. Takes too many hours per pedal...
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Re: Fuzz Architect pedal - batch "B" in pictures

Post by laurie » Fri Oct 25, 2019 1:39 pm

Box 'o Architects
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The finished pedal guts for the batch of 14 pedals.
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