Maestro FZ-1S Super Fuzz-Tone

The Maestro Super Fuzz-Tone was introduced in the early 70s.  It uses 6 transistors, 2 of which are used as clipping diodes. Original transistors were 2N5133s, but 2N5088s or BC109Cs can be good subs. I've built 2 clones of this pedal in the past (though not with this layout) and used 2N5088s with good results. The original Balance control was a 30k dual gang pot, which you would probably have a very hard time sourcing. In both my clones I used a 50k with no problems, but if you want you can put 82k resistors between lugs 1 and 3 to get the dual gang pot to around 31k, though it will mess with the taper some. Said Balance control acts almost like a clean blend, and the switch offers 2 different tones. If you're tired of Big Muffs, give this one a try. Works great on bass too.

Here's a couple really short demos I did on guitar and bass on one of the clones I built a few years ago (pardon my butchering of a couple Black Keys songs).

Maestro FZ-1B Fuzztone (2 transistor version)

This was (I believe) the 3rd iteration of Maestro's Fuzztone fuzz pedal. The first 2 used germanium transistors and AA batteries. This marked the changed to silicon transistors and a 9v battery. Originals had 2N3860 transistors, but 2N2222s or 2N3904s would probably work just fine. Couldn't find any info on the diode, so socket and experiment. I also couldn't find any demos of the 2 transistor version (there is also a 4 transistor version of the FZ-1B), so you'll just have to make it to find out!

ESR Graphic Fuzz

Gnarly, oscillating fuzz tone–this is a bit of a weird one. The original used both positive and negative 9v (which I have a hard time wrapping my head around). FSB forum member Induction altered the circuit to support standard power supplies, so no need for a 9v battery or adding a +/- converter. And it should sound very close to the original. Here's his schematic for reference. Should easily fit in a 1590a. There's also a fabricated version of this circuit in the store, the OSCillot.

Here's a demo of it against an IdiotBox Blasteroid:

Ibanez CM5 Classic Metal Distortion

This one was a request. I removed the input/output buffers and the original switching scheme to allow for true-bypass switching. There is one jumper (the original had 6!) and a couple things that bug me, but I'm probably the only one who would care, so I won't worry about it. 

Update Feb 25, 2022: Had a few things wrong with the original layout. Apparently the old layout worked, but I'm sure didn't sound correct. Here's the schematic.

Simple FET Blender

Here's a simple blending circuit that uses a JFET to allow you to blend between effected signal and clean signal. I've used this on Big Muffs before and it's quite useful.

Pink Jimi Photon - Dirty Bad!! Model One Driver

PinkJimiPhoton from over on FSB shared this circuit he came up with. It's a bit of a Fuzz Face variant, but sounds fantastic. His original schematic doesn't include a master volume control, but one is easily added (if you want to add to the offboard wiring mess... lol). Use an A100k pot and wire the board out to lug 3. Lug 1 to ground and lug 2 becomes the new out.

Here's Jimi demoing it.

Fulltone OCD - Version 1

There are now 4 version of the OCD. The latest has a few guitarist I know wondering what was wrong with the last version, so if you're looking to go back to the original circuit, this layout is for you. The OCD one of the most respected overdrives out there. Derived from the Voodoo Drive, it uses two 2N7000 mosfets for clipping. I opted to make the tone pot offboard to allow a little more freedom with pot placement in the enclosure. Might not be a bad idea to use long leg pots for the Drive and Volume pots.