Moody Sounds BJF Sparkle Face fuzz kit

What sounds heavier and more genuine than (2) two selected germanium transistors in a fuzz face circuit? Sparkle Face has this! Two fine 2N1306 germanium transistors provide the perfect meat for your tone. This pedal is powerful and exciting. And a reliable friend on the pedal board.

 

In addition to the obvious knobs in a fuzz face, Fuzz and Volume, Sparkle Face is furnished with a Saturation control knob. The first impression is that it acts like a kind of a second Fuzz control, and closer acquaintance with the different settings makes you see it as such. You can turn up Fuzz and keep down Sat to get a certain tone. Or vice versa. All combinations provide a useful fuzz sound.

 

The build is very simple when it comes to components on the PCB. You have the two 2N1306’s, whose shiny gold pins are pressed into the big TO39 sockets. The trimmer, who should set the right bias, is also an easy-to-deal-with bit. And besides that, there are  ten or so caps and resistors, which are well separated on the PCB. A bit tricky is to connect the wires to the three pots, the jacks, the switch. Considering that the pedal holds a battery in a 1590b box, it is a bit of a trick to finish up, but no super difficult in any way. In short, a nice build for those who want a powerful vintage pedal of the best kind.

 

The Sparkle Face kit is designed by Björn Juhl. We have developed a kit with a newly designed PCB to offer from here. Share discussion about this circuit on the BJFE forum. Read more about Bone Bender, Fuzz 109, Sparkle Face and other DIY kits there.

 

The Sparkle Face kit includes all the parts needed to build the pedal including a pre-drilled enclosure. The kit also includes some modification components for those who want to fine tune the sound. Read “description and working theory”, linked to below, and take a deep dive into how the circuit works and get suggestions for modifications.

DIY kits contain complete instructions and all components needed to build the effect including pre-drilled enclosure.