Reissue Gibson Fuzz-Tone FZ-1A Petition!

[Kinkless Tetrode 66]

Please sign and share this petition!

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/reis ... tone-fz-1a

[da Geezer]

Or, you could just build one yourself(?)

http://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic ... 13&t=16862

You have to be a member of FSB (simply join) in order to see the layout and schematic, but it's all there. It could probably be built for less than $50 (probably much less)

G

[martin manning]

IMO a RI Fuzztone is not a viable product. It requires hard to find and finicky germanium transistors, and possibly tweaking each unit... a production nightmare but fine for a DIY project.

Geezer, your link is to an FZ-1 circuit. A schematic and PCB layout for FZ1-A are available here: http://fuzzcentral.ssguitar.com/schematics.php

[Kinkless Tetrode 66]

I am not sure that an RI Fuzztone is not a viable product... Despite the "production nightmare" of dealing with germanium transistors, there are still many big manufactures who do so with success... Although it may require extra work on the manufacture's behalf, it is not as much as a "production nightmare" as it may seem. If it was, they simply would not make germanium fuzz pedals. This petition is just to see/show that there is a demand.

[Structo]

A year or two ago I wanted to build a Burns Buzzaround fuzz pedal.

It uses three Germanium transistors.
The original used PNP transistors.

But I didn't want a positive ground so I bought 100 NPN AC176 transistors from a guy in Germany.

There were hardly any good transistors in the lot, most if not all were extremely leaky.

Good Germanium transistors are getting rarer than hens teeth.

[JazzGuitarGimp]

Demand may be a bit finicky for this: a few years back, I ordered a '69 Slight Return from Fulltone. It's a Fuzz Face - based circuit with a few extra controls. Had I known the germanium transistors don't work when the temperature is too high, I probably would not have bought it. My first outdoor gig with it on a summer day was super disappointing to say the least. It would have been nice if the documentation (or better yet, the description on his website) had made a disclosure about it crapping out under heat so that I could have made a more informed purchase decision before I plunked down $250 for it. Though it is a great sounding pedal.

[Kinkless Tetrode 66]

I guess I am the only one who would want this... I know that germanium transistors are harder to find, and that they are temperature depended beasts - but still, who wouldn't want a Maestro RI? I contacted Gibson and they said that there were "no plans at this time", let's try to change that! Please sign and share this petition! http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/reis ... tone-fz-1a

[rp]

wasn't this the Satisfaction pedal?

[NickC]

I get my minimum daily requirement of Germanium from this:

Prescription Electronics Yardbox
http://www.fuzzbox.com/yardbox

[martin manning]

wasn't this the Satisfaction pedal?

That's the story.

[rp]

You'd think Gibson would be all over it, would have reissued it years ago, even a crap non germanium version just to cash in.

The petition is kind of odd, Gibson makes pretty much mass market crap these days, if they did make a super-special-limited-deluxe-custom shop-germanium accurate (germane?) version - the Keef Sig Model, it'd be silly expensive, and if they just cranked out a good enough modern version in a proper looking box people would be meh. It's not very likely they are going to make a fab copy and sell it for $130.

[martin manning]

The thing is they did make a nice reissue a couple of years ago, and promptly discontinued it. There are some on offer for ~$300 on E-bay.

[rp]

was it actually germanium?

[martin manning]

Yes, constructed pretty much like the original on an eyelet board. I built one for my lad at his request. It has a really dirty sound, and that is pretty much all it does.

[rp]

Ok, guess Gibson could do it well and at a reasonable price, and the petition is valid. So who the heck runs Gibson now - ain't they ever heard of the Rolling Stones? Or maybe they think only aging boomers will be interested? I wonder how many Fuzz Faces Dunlop sells a year, or EH Muffs?