Moreland Magnetics 404 Fuzz

The Moreland Magnetics 404 is a germanium fuzz machine!

Andrew Wiggins, the Builder's comments on the fuzz are detailed in the following bulleted points: 

• This is a Fuzz Face circuit made with germanium transistors, which I have voiced to my own specifications. I’ve spent a lot of time with a lot of expensive fuzz faces and variants to arrive here, with this. 

• A carbon zinc 9v battery is included inside. This is the preferred way to power this fuzz. There is a DC jack, but powering with AC converters and adapters is not recommended for best results. The battery will last a calculable, but nevertheless arbitrarily long period of time, long enough to preclude doing the math here now. If you use DC power, it must be isolated from other pedals.

• Unplugging from the input jack turns the battery off. 

• This next point is very important, so I have emboldened the text so that hopefully you read it: This fuzz should be the first pedal in your chain. This circuit has an extremely low input impedance which in effect fuses itself to your guitar’s circuitry and does not sound any kind of acceptable if it instead sees a buffered signal, say, from your Boss tuner. 

• There’s a trim pot inside for bias. You’re not going to mess anything up if you change the setting. Bias will likely change with temperature, anyway. I set it where I like it, which is around -6.5VDC on the collector of Q2.

• The knob on the LEFT is volume, the knob on the RiGHT is fuzz. 

• Germanium transistors like to be at room temperature. Let them get acclimated after a ride in a hot (or very cold) car before you freak out about how they sound. It’s a whole thing, look it up.

• If there are any issues with your device, the first thing I will ask you is: Is this fuzz the first pedal in your chain?

• If the answer is YES and you still have issues, I will warranty service for a calculable, but nevertheless arbitrarily long period of time.