Ninja Fuzz Face

It's been a while since we posted anything, so we're due for an update. There's no shortage of things to report, that's for sure. Here's one I've been meaning to post for a while. I call it the Ninja Fuzz Face.

A few months back we got a request at the FMO Gear Shop from Vincent to make a replica silicon version vintage Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face. Vincent really wanted to use a round Fuzz Face housing, and I happened to have an empty Dunlop JD-F2 enclosure that I was saving for some future rainy day project.

The funny thing about that enclosure is that the rubber tread has no "smiley" graphic like the originals did — I always hated that, and I though it looked pretty stupid on with the red finish Dunlop used. But when we painted it black and added some black knobs, it turned out to be pretty slick looking. This stealth black Ninja Fuzz Face definitely means business.

The inside is even more impressive. Greg had some of the phenolic material that was actually used to make the original Fuzz Face boards in the sixties. Then he populated the board with NOS 1/2 watt carbon comp resistors, period correct Philips capacitors, and a pair of BC108 transistors. Of course, the addition of the bias trimpot deviates from the original design, but is incredibly useful for fine-tuning the fuzz tone. We should have registered this Ninja Fuzz Face as a lethal weapon — it's a Killer!