Sandspur

[Preverb]

It seems like you mostly have Humbucker equipped guitars. I'm thinking a Sandspur with some lower(ish) gain transistors and tweaked Input and Emitter caps would probably suit you well. Also, a Silicon or Germanium MK II would work well for you as well if you tune it for Humbuckers.

Yeah, mostly HBs. One LP has P90s but it is in a closet in my mother's house in Canada. I actually only have an LP and a strat here. The 335 is still in a warehouse in Japan and the other 2 guitars are in Canada. There is an Aussie pickup winder that makes a "Big Bird" HB firebird pickup that I plan to try in the LP neck. I haven't been playing much at all though. I sold my Helix and have been waiting for a Quilter Super Block to arrive for over 3 months now.

How would you tweak the input and emitter caps? Which low gain transistors are recommended? (I noticed a few suggestions earlier in this thread...)

 

[Big Monk]

Yeah, mostly HBs. One LP has P90s but it is in a closet in my mother's house in Canada. I actually only have an LP and a strat here. The 335 is still in a warehouse in Japan and the other 2 guitars are in Canada. There is an Aussie pickup winder that makes a "Big Bird" HB firebird pickup that I plan to try in the LP neck. I haven't been playing much at all though. I sold my Helix and have been waiting for a Quilter Super Block to arrive for over 3 months now.

How would you tweak the input and emitter caps? Which low gain transistors are recommended? (I noticed a few suggestions earlier in this thread...)

I think most people go with like 260/400 hFE, Q1 and Q2 respectively, for the standard high gain Si Fuzz Face.

You may be better served in the combo of 120/200.

As far as the caps, it's best to breadboard the circuit and tweak those "live" so you can hear the results of swapping them. As a humbucker guy, i've routinely tweaked the input cap down from 2.2 uf in the stock Fuzz Face to anywhere between 0.22 uf-1 uf. I try to change the emitter cap only if I need to on a Fuzz Face and you can go down to 10 uf-15 uf if need be.

 

[Kroars]

With silicon I find that the gain range isn't as critical as it is with germanium. It's more about the relationship in gain between the two. All my bc183s were between 200-400hfe and as long as you have the lower gain in Q1 you should be pretty good. Experimenting is highly encouraged.

I’ve heard that before but wasn’t sure how true it was. Thanks for clarifying!!

 

[Coda]

I built one recently with BC109C’s. It’s perfect, and serves single coils and humbuckers alike, no tweaks needed.