183Face - Full Size Fuzz with 1969 Texas Instruments BC183 Transistors

discontinued due to cease and desist 

A no messing, original spec, full size Fuzz. I've tried to keep the important parts as the originals, but have added some of my own touches as well, such as 'mil spec influenced' wiring, internal gold colour and external holoflake sparkle clearcoat on the raw casting.

Provenence - I have acquired a box of Texas Instruments BC183 silicon transistors from 1969. When I received these, the box had a stock ticket in it, on a slip stating 4 Mar 1969 - BC183 - ARBITER LTD - there is very faint but recognisable Jen logo stamped on the slip. My certificate of authenticity that will accompany each build of these will include a scan of this.

History - The short lived Italian company Jen Elettronica produced many products for well known companies such as Vox and Arbiter. Most notably they were the original producers of their own design the cry baby wah.

I am as certain as I'll ever be, that this stock was intended for use in Fuzzfs, Vox Tonebenders and crybay wahs

So they are basically the real deal, I have coupled them with modern day components equivalent in material and construction to the type used in 1969 and to my ears sound as close to a vintage unit as is possible.

Detailed reproduction parts -The PCB itself is a perfect reproduction of the Dallas Arbiter originals, even down to the part number and company logo on the reverse.

Added to this, the enclosure is a painstaking reproduction of a 1966 thick wall, type 1 cast (for all you fuzz nerds). It is moulded from an original unit and is as close to the first production units as possible.

Point of note - My 2n2Face, while derived from the same circuit, is my 'take' on this circuit and has a much more modern tone. This pedal, the 183Face is a slavish vintage tonal reproduction and the two are quite different sonically.

These will be battery operation only, with no LED, the only modern concession is that the input and output are the 'correct way round'.

I build these pedals in my garden workshop in Northamptonshire UK. I finish the entire pedal to a standard I think looks as good inside, as it sounds on the outside. It might be covered up but when you're in that moment you KNOW the mojo you have under the hood.

Please be aware, these are totally hand built, so there might me some slight cosmetic variation between each pedal. The gun metal finish is an oxidation process and will vary slightly in shade, and sometimes shows a pleasing uneven patina due the enclosures casting process. Your pedal will age gracefully, as parts of the case wear-polish, usually around the front corners.

I play and adjust each one to make sure they sound as good as the first one i built. The grade and rating of every component has been painstakingly tested and I am proud to put my name to each pedal I build.

RF interference - Many old fuzz circuits are vulnerable to Radio Frequency Interference from a host of different modern electronic devices ranging from lighting to heating controllers to fridges. If you are having problems with RF using one of my pedals here are a few resources that can help. RF interference is not down to a faulty pedal.