# First Timer here... Advice on Fuzz Face pls



## AllHailDIO (Jan 10, 2021)

Hello.  I never built a pedal before but I've always been fascinated by pedals and how they're built. When I discovered this website, I was blown away with what was available.

One of my favorite pedals of all time is a Fuzz Face. I would like to build one, particularly the Twin Fuzz.

My soldering experience is limited to wiring each components in a guitar and making instrument cables. All easy stuff.  

Any tips on which soldering tip size, shape, and heat/voltage I should use for PCB? I have the Weller WL-100.

More importantly, when I'm looking at the rating of the capacitors and resistors on a parts list or schematic, I can never find any details regarding caps' and resistors' voltage. Smallbear has 1/4w and 1/8w. Does it matter which?

And can someone briefly explain the differences in materials and brands? Carbon film vs metal film? PIO vs Tropical Fish vs etc. The amount of options is overwhelming.

Sorry for the loaded question. Any help is appreciated!


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## Barry (Jan 10, 2021)

Look up this thread:

Basic Workflow Tips for Building a PedalPCB


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## AllHailDIO (Jan 10, 2021)

Wow, thanks for the share!  I'm going to read this in more detail but glancing over it, they did a really good job.  Didn't realize how much cleaning was required.  And using poster putty like that is really clever!

I think I would use coffee filters instead of paper towels to avoid lint. Idk what Kim wipes are.

Thanks again!

Also, does wattage matter on resistors? 

And I'll search the forum and Google to see how different materials and brands of caps and res can affect the performance or tone on FF circuit.


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## Doppler (Jan 10, 2021)

Have also a look to topics about Sandspur and Sunflower, these are Sunfaces clones, and Sunface is a highly respected Fuzz Face modded clone.


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## spi (Jan 10, 2021)

Doppler said:


> Have also a look to topics about Sandspur and Sunflower, these are Sunfaces clones, and Sunface is a higly respected Fuzz Face modded clone.


Sandspur makes a great first-time build.  Not too many components, no finicky Ge transistors or PNP to deal with.


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## AllHailDIO (Jan 10, 2021)

Doppler said:


> Have also a look to topics about Sandspur and Sunflower, these are Sunfaces clones, and Sunface is a higly respected Fuzz Face modded clone.


I saw those too but thought the Twin Fuzz was more interesting. I was planning on putting BC183 on one side and a GT402B on the other, since it has a toggle to select between the two pairs of transistors. 

Is the Twin Fuzz also highly respected?  If more recommended, I could simply make a GT402B Sandspur or Sunflower instead (I have a BC183 fuzz already from SGFX)



spi said:


> Sandspur makes a great first-time build.  Not too many components, no finicky Ge transistors or PNP to deal with.



Is Ge significantly harder to deal with?  Like they're more sensitive to solder?  And regarding biasing, would a bias trim pot resolve any biasing difficulty? Since I could just set it on the fly. 

I actually love my BC183 fuzz that I already own but AnalogMan's "BART" was on my wishlist.  However, I thought I try out a DIY since over the years, I've repeatedly heard FF circuits are fairly newb-friendly. And I've always wanted to make a pedal. Then I discovered the Twin Fuzz and having my favorite fuzzes in 1 pedal was an irresistible idea. 

All I know about polarity is very little; just that it must match between trans and for the circuit.  Just curious, what challenges does PNP come with compared to NPN? 

Also, I would prefer battery power only. I noticed the Twin Fuzz has a power jack option with a voltage inverter.  Would I simply solder a 9v battery clip instead of the power jack?  Ofc, I may be getting ahead of myself but my curiosity is ravenous.


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## Doppler (Jan 10, 2021)

AllHailDIO said:


> I saw those too but thought the Twin Fuzz was more interesting.



What I wanted to say is what you can find in topics or other sites about these fuzz may help you with yours. 

Like : https://www.coda-effects.com/2015/02/analogman-sunface-build.html
Or : http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/fuzzface/fffram.htm

I don't know Twin Fuzz, I understand its goal but I got no reference in mind about it. Except that if it's based on Fuzz Face circuit anything about FF will add to your understanding.

Fuzz Face looks simple, it is simple to build as there are few components, but it is quite complex to fine tune.


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## Bobbyd67 (Jan 10, 2021)

Socket your bias resistors xD on the sunflower (sunface clone) board if you're going the germanium route. Following the the build docs gave me a farty fuzz . Using the coda effect link just above helped a lot biasing the circuit


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## Danbieranowski (Jan 10, 2021)

Regarding wattages, it CAN matter, but usually 1/4w is used. If you look at the build docs it usually specifies on the doc itself next to where it lists the resistors.


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## spi (Jan 10, 2021)

AllHailDIO said:


> Is Ge significantly harder to deal with? Like they're more sensitive to solder? And regarding biasing, would a bias trim pot resolve any biasing difficulty? Since I could just set it on the fly.





AllHailDIO said:


> All I know about polarity is very little; just that it must match between trans and for the circuit. Just curious, what challenges does PNP come with compared to NPN?


Ge is more challenging to acquire matched sets with the right gain and leakage to sound good.  Although there's an easy solution:  retailers like smallbear sell matched sets which makes it simple (that's the path I used).  As regards to sensitivity, they are usually old stock parts so might be more fragile--but I'm not sure.  I socketed mine anyway to avoid risk of damaging when soldering (mostly because they are pricier transistors).

The PNP-based circuits here (such as TwinFace and Sunflower)  avoid the issue of reverse polarity by using a chip to reverse the voltage. Again, it's an easy solution, but just adds another factor to the build (another part to acquire and incorporate).

Neither of these are actually big deals, so I didn't mean to deter you--but if you're a first time builder I just highlighted that you may not want to fuss with them if you have the option to start with a simpler circuit.  Then again, nothing wrong with diving in right away.


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## Grubb (Jan 10, 2021)

AllHailDIO said:


> My soldering experience is limited to wiring each components in a guitar and making instrument cables. All easy stuff.
> 
> More importantly, when I'm looking at the rating of the capacitors and resistors on a parts list or schematic, I can never find any details regarding caps' and resistors' voltage. Smallbear has 1/4w and 1/8w. Does it matter which?
> 
> Carbon film vs metal film?


Hi mate. I just built my first pedal after having absolutely no soldering experience whatsoever, so you'll be fine with some experience under your belt.

Voltage for caps - just make sure the voltage is higher than what will be run through the pedal. Most circuits are going to be 9v but some run at 18v. I opted for the slightly more expensive WIMA caps and they're generally well above 18v so I won't need to worry about it. 

Metal film resistors are more consistent in their values so I went for them. If you test them as you build you'll see that there's still some slight variation in resistance between individual resistors.

Good luck with it!


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