SOLVED 1966 Maestro Fuzz-Tone

yazooligan

yazooligan

Active member
Hey folks. I had a coworker bring me his ‘66 Fuzz Tone for repair. It’s missing the washer flange thing from the front, and he had a new input cable installed a few years ago by a local shop. Everything else appears to be original. It passes signal when the effect is off, but nothing was coming through when on.

I opened it up on my bench, saw a lead missing from the battery tray, consulted the schematic, wired in a new one, and….got fuzz, but it’s very weak and quiet. Tried a new battery and got the same result. Photos were taken before I added the missing lead.

Any guesses at what the problem could be before I break out the probe?

Note: Shoutout to the local shop “tech” who left the negative battery tray joint so cold that the wire slipped right out when I pushed on it. Fixed that before I tested it too. I don’t know if that shop still has the same person doing pedal repairs but yikes.
 

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PedalBuilder said:
Are you measuring those voltages against ground, @yazooligan? Or are you measuring the voltages between the transistor terminals? If you aren't doing so already, I'd recommend connecting one probe to ground/the positive battery terminal and using the other probe to check the voltage at each transistor leg.
Click to expand...
Those were between the transistor legs.

With one probe on the battery terminal they read as follows:

Q1:
E: -0.25v
B: -0.32v
C: -1.63v

Q2:
E: 0.00v
B: -0.07v
C: -1.35v

Q3:
E: 0.00v
B: -0.01v
C: -1.60v
 
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Nostradoomus said:
Does Q3's collector voltage change with the position of the attack knob?
Click to expand...
No, it doesn't change at all as I turn the knob.

Coda said:
I want you to know that I want you to get this thing working. The FZ-1a is like my dream pedal. You are a lucky sun of a bytch, and I will do what I can to help.

And if I can’t, maybe @Chuck D. Bones can help. He’s a good kid…
Click to expand...
Thank you so much! I'm dying to get it back in working shape. Already ordered the replacement rubber grommet for the footswitch.
As usual, the members of this forum are the best anywhere.
 
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jwin615 said:
If you have an audio probe, probe each side of C3. Really, all the caps
Isn't the car on comp cap usually ran to the volume pot?
Hard to see what's connected to volume but it looks like something was desoldered
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I think that’s where the -9v was originally attached before the OP reattached it. The FZ-1a has an off switch built in to the volume control.

OP, check out the lower right-hand corner of that board; it looks like that transistor casing could be touching something…
 
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Coda said:
I think that’s where the -9v was originally attached before the OP reattached it. The FZ-1a has an off switch built in to the volume control.

OP, check out the lower right-hand corner of that board; it looks like that transistor casing could be touching something…
Click to expand...
Last night I went through and bent the legs a bit to make sure nothing was touching anything else. And here's how I have the positive battery lead wired up. I have no idea if that's where it was originally soldered. I see gutshots of other FZ-1A's with the red wire going to the terminal on the left and some with it on the right terminal.
 

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yazooligan said:
Last night I went through and bent the legs a bit to make sure nothing was touching anything else. And here's how I have the positive battery lead wired up. I have no idea if that's where it was originally soldered. I see gutshots of other FZ-1A's with the red wire going to the terminal on the left and some with it on the right terminal.
Click to expand...
I believe either side will work since they both are ground points. Where do you have the white wire from the battery connected? Also, double-check that the white wire from the lower-right gnd lug connects to the case of the attack pot…

Check this out…
 
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We may have a winner…

I probed and signal seemed to flow okay through everything until it got to C3. That’s where the massive volume drop was. I grabbed a 1uf and jumpered around the old one and…IT WAS LOUD! I turned the knobs and they worked as expected too.

I’m not sure if everything is still in spec but that original C3 sounds ready for the trash.
 

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I'd be tempted to try and drill out the originals and put new(smaller) caps in the cadavers. Like amp guys do with vintage multi caps. Cut the red end off, tape it off with painters tape, empty, fill with red liquid tape and jam the new cap through you could shove something like a empty gel cap or other concave shape over the end to reform it. :)
Probably wouldn't work but would be fun to try.
 
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jwin615 said:
I'd be tempted to try and drill out the originals and put new(smaller) caps in the cadavers. Like amp guys do with vintage multi caps. Cut the red end off, tape it off with painters tape, empty, fill with red liquid tape and jam the new cap through you could shove something like a empty gel cap or other concave shape over the end to reform it. :)
Probably wouldn't work but would be fun to try.
Click to expand...

Ah the old drinking in public can wrap technique. :ROFLMAO:
 
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Awesome thread. Would give my first-born up for a 1966 Maestro Fuzz Tone.

The cap/can wrap takes me back to watching the Gas-Town Grand Prix — so long as you didn't get too schnocked nobody seemed to notice or care, but maybe we were fooling ourselves as we got pretty boisterous watching the mishaps and near mishaps as one corner had a slippery manhole cover and not all the crit-riders could avoid it when boxed in by other riders. Lotsa gendarmes doing crowd-control, too busy with that to pay us reprobates any mind.


I like the idea of housing smaller caps inside the drilled out old ones. Modern reliability and performance with ol' skoolio looks — LOVE IT!
You could even add some non-conductive/non-corrosive goupé on any bits (the ends) that look too new so it looks (and only looks) like the cap is leaking a bit. Some brown felt-pen to tarnish the fresh solder. It's at moments like these that I dig "relic"ing; mind, some days I like the look of new with old that's loud and proud. Like old racecars, they make the repair and get on with the racing, nobody's got time for faking patina.

Ask your friend what he wants, something that sounds good and looks good, or something that looks good and sounds good. Either way...
 
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Feral Feline said:
Awesome thread. Would give my first-born up for a 1966 Maestro Fuzz Tone.

The cap/can wrap takes me back to watching the Gas-Town Grand Prix — so long as you didn't get too schnocked nobody seemed to notice or care, but maybe we were fooling ourselves as we got pretty boisterous watching the mishaps and near mishaps as one corner had a slippery manhole cover and not all the crit-riders could avoid it when boxed in by other riders. Lotsa gendarmes doing crowd-control, too busy with that to pay us reprobates any mind.


I like the idea of housing smaller caps inside the drilled out old ones. Modern reliability and performance with ol' skoolio looks — LOVE IT!
You could even add some non-conductive/non-corrosive goupé on any bits (the ends) that look too new so it looks (and only looks) like the cap is leaking a bit. Some brown felt-pen to tarnish the fresh solder. It's at moments like these that I dig "relic"ing; mind, some days I like the look of new with old that's loud and proud. Like old racecars, they make the repair and get on with the racing, nobody's got time for faking patina.

Ask your friend what he wants, something that sounds good and looks good, or something that looks good and sounds good. Either way...
Click to expand...
These are great ideas! The customer doesn't really care about how the inside looks. Once it's functional again he'll likely either put it in a pedal drawer at home or on his pedalboard.

Since I'm about to order the rubber grommet (and some other goodies) from Amplified Parts, should I grab a couple of these too?

Capacitor - 50V, Axial Lead Electrolytic | Amplified Parts

Capacitor - 50V, Axial Lead Electrolytic - High quality low leakage tubular electrolytic capacitor. Rated for 85° C operation. Tolerance -20%, +50%.
www.amplifiedparts.com www.amplifiedparts.com

Or is there another axial cap I should be looking for?
 
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