The last of our Dirt-Cheap Boutique Stomp Boxes is the Two-Transistor Fuzztone. This is a dirty, rudimentary amplifier, where one transistor overdrives another and the resulting signal is asymmetrically clipped by a set of diodes.[9] The result is a thick, aggressive, Hendrixesque tone with greatly increased sustain and sensitivity. This design is based on T. Escobedo’s adaptation of Christian Holmberg’s[10] venerable Bazz Fuss fuzztone box. Like any boutique effect worth its salt, both the Blinkie Tremolo from the previous project and the Two-Transistor Fuzztone have true bypass switches, so you can bring the effects in and out of the effects chain without having to unplug everything, and with no signal degradation.
a standard soldering kit (See the appendix.)
a ruler
an electric drill with 1/4″ and either 1/2″ or 3/8″ bits
a utility knife
one or two alligator clips
(optional) Gorilla Glue, foam-backed double-sided tape, or hardware to mount the circuit in its enclosure
[9] Think of an audio signal as a wave; the diodes in this circuit clip off the peaks and valleys of that wave, converting the smooth rolling hills of a natural s-curve into a series of mesas—sloppy square waves. The resulting sound, in various contexts, is called distortion or fuzz.
[10] Holmberg is known throughout the Internet as “Hemmo P.” He’s made a huge number of simple, fun music circuit designs available online. His impact on the folk craft of mucking up guitar tone is immeasurable.