Fuzz. Old school and timeless.
The Arbiter Fuzz Face was first released in 1966 and they were notoriously inconsistent. Germanium transistors are sensitive to temperature changes and prone to leakage. There are stories of Jimi Hendrix trying out entire crates of them to find the good ones. Even Eric Johnson's techs are constantly on the lookout for the magic sound. The transistors were later changed to Silicon, a much more stable and consistent medium but there were still a few nasty sounding ones amongst the sweet ones.
Thanks to many of the DIY gurus, most notably R.G Keen and his must read article The Technology Of The Fuzz Face we can now reign in this circuit.
Thanks to many of the DIY gurus, most notably R.G Keen and his must read article The Technology Of The Fuzz Face we can now reign in this circuit.