Sam Ash Fuzz-Stainer

The Fuzz-Stainer is a pretty rare fuzz box made by Sam Ash in the 70s. Don't confuse this with the Sam Ash Fuzzz Boxx/AstroTone, as it's a different circuit. Original units used 2N5173 transistors with BCE pinouts. I've made 2 versions of the layout, one for BCE transistors (on the right) and one for CBE (on the left). 2N2222s or 2N3904s seem like they might be good substitutes. Output is pretty close to unity with the Volume pot maxed, so you may want to replace the 10k pot with a 50k or 100k, and/or reduce or remove the 68k resistor from Volume 2 to Out. To make the trimmer external (like the Jerms clone in the video below), use a B20k pot with lug 3 going to the emitter of Q2, and lugs 1 and 2 going to ground.

AstroTone Fuzz/Sam Ash Fuzzz Boxx

Here's a quick one. Fairly simple silicon fuzz from the 60s. AstroTone marketed these under their own name, as well as making them for Sam Ash. I laid this one out so the board mounted pots are in a triangular layout. The Attack and Volume controls are mounted on the component side, while the Tone control is mounted on the solder side like this:

(photo credit: Fuzz Dog)