FUZZ FACE LIVES!!!! The 3rd Iteration Of The Hairy Guitar Pedal Works!!!! (Video & Audio Demos)

[Update: I included some audio files of me on the electric ukulele. Don’t laugh too hard!]

Of all of the places I expected ham radio to take me, audio engineering was definitely not one of them. I am not much of a musician, though I can strum a few chords rather choppily on the ukulele. AA1F, on the other hand, is a talented guitarist.

So, that’s how I got thinking about DIY guitar pedals. And of course, the Fuzz Face pedal is the beginner builder’s stomp box. My first attempt was a failure. My second attempt was a failure. Poor AA1F, on his way to bed, would hear “wait, give this one a try…PUHLEEEASSSSEEE!???!!!!”

But my third attempt…Well, it didn’t work either. But then I had a bit of an epiphany. I had asked AA1F to turn down all of the gain on his amplifier and guitar so that we didn’t accidentally fry them (hey, I have no idea if this was going to work.) Could it be the base of the 2N2222 transistor wasn’t getting enough voltage? I had him turn the output on his guitar all of the way up. I made one other quick change on the breadboard that I will have to describe later as its a skate night and I am running out of time…

And the amplifier came to life! With the awful, distorted, noisy cacophony that is the Fuzz Face! Listen to AA1F here:

If it is not obvious, that is switching from clean to fuzz.

And listen to me, raw and unedited, on the electric ukulele here:

I powered it with 9V from a switching power supply. And then I added 1400 Hz at 1.4 volts into the port that the guitar would plug in to. I used my new Koolertron 60MHz function/signal generator.

With the signal generator off, you can see a flat line across the oscilloscope. It is a bit fuzzy, but to me I interpret this as DC voltage. Trust me, if my descriptions do not make sense to you, I am not a professional in electronics or even all that experienced in it. Leave a comment and spell it out for me!

Here it is a bit closer up…. I know there is probably more detail to see in this trace…

When I turn the signal generator on, I now get looks like square wave riding on top of original line.

And a closer view…

In any case, I am delighted that the mythical Fuzz Face came alive! This could be a really neat and rewarding path down the road into electronics…

Always yours,

KM1NDY