Build Your Own Clone Message Board

Finished an ESV Fuzz build with the AC127s. Works great, tests properly, sounds ...meh. I did some reading and found a post reporting similar results that said switching the positions of the transistors fixed his problem. So....I thought swapping Q1 for Q2 might yield some benefit. It didn't, it sounds spongey and muddy. Any good subs for the AC127s?
Thanks

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"Quotation: The act of repeating the words of another erroneously" - A. Bierce

are you sure the transistors are fully seated in the sockets and have you tried adjusting the bias?

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If there's ever an obscene noise to be made on an instrument, it's gonna come out of a guitar! - Frank Zappa

Yes to both. It's a solid build and all values check out as they should. I thought at first it was odd that the "fuzz" knob acted more like a tone than a saturation control, but I understand that's just the nature of these pedals. I tried many different bias settings before finding one, very narrow range, that was somewhat useable. I switched the trannies (Q1 for Q2) to see if that helped...it didn't I completely understand how subjective "good/bad" is, but in this case, perhaps I'm just not a fan of the AC127's? I could use an idea on a replacement. At this point I've removed the pedal from the chain and it will sit idle unless I can find a less saggy, less sputtery transisitor.
Thanks for the help...

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"Quotation: The act of repeating the words of another erroneously" - A. Bierce

well the first alternate trannies to try that come to mind are BC108's, they're silicon transistors that featured in fuzz faces made in the late 60s/early 70s
but as long as you are matching polarity and pinout you can try just about any transistor

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If there's ever an obscene noise to be made on an instrument, it's gonna come out of a guitar! - Frank Zappa