Texas Tornillo Face Fuzz
The Texas Tornillo Face is a variation of the classic Fuzz Face, and is based on the famed Texas Square Face by Cesar Diaz, guitar and amp tech for Stevie Ray Vaughn.
I initially set out to faithfully recreate the Texas Square Face, but ran into a problem. The NTE103 germanium transistors that Diaz used were still being made, but the gain value of them had changed greatly over the years. Literally over a 1000% increase. So if I used them, it would sound nothing like the TSF.
So I sourced some NOS 2N1304 transistors that had the exact gain values I wanted. They were also Texas Instruments branded, which I thought was fitting. They turned out absolutely perfect for this.
Diaz also socketed the transistors and included a pair of NTE123 silicon transistors. I am doing the same on these as well as including the NTE103 high gain transistors, giving you nine possible transistor configurations. I will only be including the high gain NTE103s in the first batch of these.
Other specs:
All NOS 1/2W Piher resistors in the signal path. Piher resistors were made in Spain and were famously used in Marshall amps.
Vishay electrolytic capacitors
NOS Corning Glass Works ceramic output capacitor
Alpha footswitch and pots
Lumberg DC and audio jacks
Gavitt cloth jacket wire
The Texas Tornillo Face is a variation of the classic Fuzz Face, and is based on the famed Texas Square Face by Cesar Diaz, guitar and amp tech for Stevie Ray Vaughn.
I initially set out to faithfully recreate the Texas Square Face, but ran into a problem. The NTE103 germanium transistors that Diaz used were still being made, but the gain value of them had changed greatly over the years. Literally over a 1000% increase. So if I used them, it would sound nothing like the TSF.
So I sourced some NOS 2N1304 transistors that had the exact gain values I wanted. They were also Texas Instruments branded, which I thought was fitting. They turned out absolutely perfect for this.
Diaz also socketed the transistors and included a pair of NTE123 silicon transistors. I am doing the same on these as well as including the NTE103 high gain transistors, giving you nine possible transistor configurations. I will only be including the high gain NTE103s in the first batch of these.
Other specs:
All NOS 1/2W Piher resistors in the signal path. Piher resistors were made in Spain and were famously used in Marshall amps.
Vishay electrolytic capacitors
NOS Corning Glass Works ceramic output capacitor
Alpha footswitch and pots
Lumberg DC and audio jacks
Gavitt cloth jacket wire
The Texas Tornillo Face is a variation of the classic Fuzz Face, and is based on the famed Texas Square Face by Cesar Diaz, guitar and amp tech for Stevie Ray Vaughn.
I initially set out to faithfully recreate the Texas Square Face, but ran into a problem. The NTE103 germanium transistors that Diaz used were still being made, but the gain value of them had changed greatly over the years. Literally over a 1000% increase. So if I used them, it would sound nothing like the TSF.
So I sourced some NOS 2N1304 transistors that had the exact gain values I wanted. They were also Texas Instruments branded, which I thought was fitting. They turned out absolutely perfect for this.
Diaz also socketed the transistors and included a pair of NTE123 silicon transistors. I am doing the same on these as well as including the NTE103 high gain transistors, giving you nine possible transistor configurations. I will only be including the high gain NTE103s in the first batch of these.
Other specs:
All NOS 1/2W Piher resistors in the signal path. Piher resistors were made in Spain and were famously used in Marshall amps.
Vishay electrolytic capacitors
NOS Corning Glass Works ceramic output capacitor
Alpha footswitch and pots
Lumberg DC and audio jacks
Gavitt cloth jacket wire