Woah, chips? In my Superfuzz?
Big "chip" is a TPQ2222. It's four 2N2222's transistors, in one package. The first pic shows a 2SC1583 dual transistor in the octave section, and the second pic is the 2N2913 dual transistor. The big differences between the 2SC1583, and the 2N2913 are;
- 2SC1583 shares one emitter leg for both transistors (5 pins total), whereas the 2N2913 is two separate transistors each with their own emitter leg (6 pins total).
- 2SC1583 is higher gain (in the low to mid 300's), whereas the 2N2913 is lower gain (mid to high 100's).
Soundwise, the 2SC1583 produces less of an octave, hence chords tend to have less of a ring-mod feel to them. At higher drive settings, single notes will have an octave "bloom" to them as they decay. The 2N2913 on the other hand, provides much more of an octave presence. Chords tend to have that ring-mod feel to them, and the neck pup/tone down action produces a much sweeter octave, especially at lower gain settings. Not quite Jimi on an Octavia, but close. What is really interesting with the 2N2913, is that with the octave balance trimmer I can tone down the octave, and it sounds much like the 2SC1583. Best of both worlds.
This was an experiment really, since I've heard/read talk about using transistor arrays in the Superfuzz, but never actually saw one built and working (insert snide PLL remark
here 
). I tried two different arrays for the other four transistors; the TPQ2222, and the MPQ3904. As the TPQ2222, the MPQ3904 is basically four 2N3904 transistors in one package. Both gave great results, but the reason for which I went with the TPQ2222 was because of the decay when strumming a chord. It's very subtle, but it produces a much better (for lack of a better descriptor) "shower of arpeggiated notes", as the chord decays. Like I said, it's subtle, but enough to make you go "What the....". I still don't know why it does that, I'm not that technically adept, but my long-shot money is that maybe there's some cross talking going on between the four transistors in the package. Who knows.
Anyway you go, it still produces a fantastic fuzz. Here's the last vid I did of it, with the 2SC1583, in action.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U69rzNucrLM[/youtube]
We will now return you to regular PLL programming...
