10
Finally got my Fuzz Face clone working after a bad transistor tip
A guy on the ElectroSmash forums told me to swap out the 2N3904 for a vintage-style germanium transistor. Said it would fix my squealing issue. I ignored him for 3 months because I didn't want to spend $8 on a single part. Finally caved last weekend and ordered a NOS 2N404 from a surplus shop in Ohio. Plugged it in and the squeal stopped instantly. Now it sounds like Hendrix on a bad day in the best way. Has anyone else had a cheap part fix a build you were ready to trash?
2 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In2 Comments
carter.thea1mo ago
The 2N404 is a solid choice for that fix. I had a similar issue with a Rangemaster clone where a leaky germanium transistor was making it hiss like crazy. Swapped in a cheap NOS AC128 from a parts bin and it cleaned right up. Always worth trying the obvious gate resistor value tweak first too, but sometimes you just gotta trust the old parts.
4
Man, I totally used to roll my eyes at people swapping transistors like it was some kind of magic. This post definitely changed my mind though - I've got a dead Tone Bender on my bench right now that I'm going to try this on.
1