Live Long, and Fuzz - The Vulcan Octave Fuzz

Aion's Vulcan is a recreation of the fOXX Tone Machine initially released in 1971. This is a fairly thick fuzz pedal that appears to have gone through a couple of iterations before it was discontinued in 1978. Aion FX provides documentation and specs for two versions both using 2N3565 transistors. The early version uses transistors with hFE in the 230-250 range while the late version uses transistors with an hFE of over 450. I'd initially intended to build the late version, but when all of my 2N3565s sorted low, I ended up going with an early build.

As you can see from the PCB above, this is not a terribly difficult build. The real fun comes in finding the transistors (if you want originals - or at least original spec) rather than using modern substitutes. I'd picked up several 2N3565s (I'm pretty sure they're Fairchild units) and began sorting them for gain. Unfortunately while I'd hoped to get 4 or so north of 400, the highest gain I found was one with an hFE of 326. So at this point I switch gears, grabbed four in the mid 200s and set out to build an early version. The differences are fairly minor and are clearly pointed out in the build notes.

As Aion calls this project the "Vulcan" and as I'm a long time Star Trek fan, I couldn't resist having a bit of fun with the enclosure. Most Vulcan ships in star trek are a brass or copper color, so I went with copper Alclad metallizer for the surface finish. The decals are once again cooked up on my computer and printed out on clear waterslide transfer film using my laser printer.

I really loved how the finish on this one came out. I added a Vulcan symbol to the middle of the enclosure. Most of the text is in an 60s style Star Trek Font. The exception is the Vulcan calligraphy running down the right side of the pedal. I found the Vulcan calligraphic font online, but had to manipulate it in Photoshop to get it to line up properly (as Vulcan reads top to bottom). It simply says "Vulcan Octave Fuzz."

While I was concerned that having to go with the lower gain transistors meant that I wouldn't get as good a sound, those fears were unfounded. The sound from this pedal is awesome. I'm developing quite an assortment of various Fuzz pedals and I may need to expand that slot on the pedal board so I can have 2 or 3 going at once.