Fuzz Face
Two transistors that want to be plugged straight into the guitar.
What the circuit does
Two transistors in a directly coupled pair, germanium in the earliest versions and silicon later. The input impedance is very low by modern standards, which means the circuit loads the guitar's pickups rather than politely reading them, and that loading is part of the sound.
What to listen for
How much it changes when you roll the guitar volume down: it should thin out and clean up almost to the point of being a boost. If it does not do that, something ahead of it is driving it. See the chain notes on buffers.
Where it goes
The fuzz slot
Ahead of the other gain, and for some circuits ahead of everything. A vintage-style fuzz has a very low input impedance and is voiced around loading the guitar's pickups directly, so anything buffered in front of it changes what it hears.
This one is fussy about what comes before it. Its input impedance is low enough that it loads the guitar's pickups directly, and that loading is part of the sound. Put a buffered pedal in front and it thins out and stops cleaning up when you roll the guitar volume back.
Controls
- Volume
- Fuzz