DIY silicon fuzzface starter project: 1

I've decided to do a very detailed starter project for people who haven't built anything before, the only thing I will presume is that you've practised soldering and are confident enough in that area. The project is a silicon transistor Fuzzface and I'll be building one step by step as I write, that way if I make any mistakes I should realise and be able to go back and edit anything.

This fuzz effect is still very popular with people and it's one of the easiest fuzzes to build with a very small parts count, so it makes it a great project for the beginner.

Ok, so before we start we need to get a list of parts together, so we aren't waiting around for things to arrive mid build. This is what we will need.

4x Resistors (1/4w metal film or carbon film)

33K

330R (330 ohm)

8.2K

100K

4x Capacitors

10N (10nF) ceramic

2u2 (2.2uF) electrolytic

47U (47uF) electrolytic

22U (22uF) electrolytic

2x Transistors (pretty much any NPN silicon)

2n5088 are great .. high gain and fuzzy (but feel free to use 2n3904, bc109 or whatever you want/have)

Pots (alpha 16mm are cheap and good)

1x 1Kb (1K linear pot)

1x 500Ka (500k audio/log pot)

a piece of stripboard (8 strips x 12 holes long) 9x25 is a common small size to buy.

Jack sockets... One stereo, one mono

A footswitch, 2pdt is fine as i'm not going to put an led in.

a Battery clip and a 9v battery, just to keep things simple and authentic ;)

Some wire. I use the single core from bitsbox, but you can use stranded or whatever you have.

You can use whatever sized case you like but I'd probably say a 111x60x30 Hammond is plenty big enough for this small circuit, if you want to use the bigger size feel free, it might be easier to wire up if it's your first time.

... and that's about it, I'll continue by getting the vero ready next time.

The total cost to make this is going to be around £12 excluding paint, fancy knobs and finishing touches, but including the price of a diecast case... if you have an old tin or something to build it in, the total cost would be more like £6 .. with BC108's, fancy knobs etc, you'll still be looking at less than £16 in total.