Gibson Maestro Fuzz-Tone

Tony Palmer · Post by **Tony Palmer** » 9 Jun 2007 9:21 am

I used to have one of these from the 60's, but all I have left is the schematic.
Questions:
Is it possible to reproduce one of these?
Are 2N2614 transistors still available?
If successful, would it have any appeal as a retro fuzz tone?
Is this endeavor a waste of time?
For those who aren't familiar with it, it had the buzzy sound of the Stones "Satisfaction" or in the Yardbirds various Jeff Beck, etc. songs.

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 9 Jun 2007 9:46 am

Small Bear has the transistors (in 'very limited quantities' @ $7 apiece).
If I were to guess, I'd guess that it is too loose, too rude a fuzz for steel. But I also know better than to allow a guess to trump actual experience.

Matt Steindl · Post by **Matt Steindl** » 10 Jun 2007 1:55 pm

these are so cool.... if my memory serves me. Gearge used one on Revolution. Filthy stuff!

Lefty · Post by **Lefty** » 11 Jun 2007 2:04 am

I have one of these that I bought in 1968(?) I believe. It has an attached cord. A band mate in the 60's had one also without a cord (female input jack). The sound was different. Fuzz forever. I remember I used his, and he used mine. They are also making reissues. I don't know how these compare to the older models.
Lefty

Tony Palmer · Post by **Tony Palmer** » 11 Jun 2007 5:36 am

This one Model FZ-1A is powered only by a 1.5V battery, not a power cord. Imagine a stomp pedal without a 9V battery!
Anyway, I wouldn't use it for steel, it would be an interesting retro sound fuzz for guitar...I'm tempted to make one.
How would the components have been wired....just hanging in the air or on a board?
There are 3 transistors, 4 capacitors and 9 resistors.

Lefty · Post by **Lefty** » 11 Jun 2007 8:41 am

Sorry, by "Attached cord" I meant the guitar input cord. They both used a 9V battery for operation.
You don't get much note distiction with a chord, but a lot of fuzz.
Lefty

chuck lemasters · Post by **chuck lemasters** » 11 Jun 2007 4:17 pm

I don't remember mine being that fuzzy, seemed more like an overdrive. I do remember seeing an ad in the paper, "Maestro Fuzztone, you can't play Psychotic Reaction without one", so maybe it was really fuzzy....I don't know....my memory is really fuzzy.

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 11 Jun 2007 8:18 pm

I remember taking the plate off of the back and holding it up to a light bulb and it would get more fuzzy.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 11 Jun 2007 9:42 pm

There is an original FZ-1A on eBay now: click

Tony Palmer · Post by **Tony Palmer** » 12 Jun 2007 8:50 am

Hmm....so it did have an attached cord. What a hoot...I wonder why they thought it necessary to do that?

Brint Hannay · Post by **Brint Hannay** » 12 Jun 2007 11:55 am

I had one back then, '65 or '66?, (I only played guitar then) and I know mine didn't have the attached cord. It was already out of my possession one way or another by '67. I thought it sounded really cheesy. It's even harder to imagine it sounding any good for steel.

(Thanks to typos in a classified ad selling one back then, I always think of it as a "Maestic Pizztone".)

Brint Hannay · Post by **Brint Hannay** » 12 Jun 2007 12:01 pm

if my memory serves me. Gearge used one on Revolution. Filthy stuff!

I believe it was John that played the lead guitar on Revolution, and the "fuzz" sound was achieved by driving the board into distortion.

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 14 Jun 2007 1:40 am

I recall that if the room was cold these things stopped working.

I had one of these when they first came out and room temp really effected it's peformance. I remember going to the car and turning the heat on and letting it cook for about 10 minutes ( gas was 29 cents back then ) and then going back and playing Satisfaction ...

Hopefully the components ( transistors most likely) can handle temp changes by now...

Mike Wheeler · Post by **Mike Wheeler** » 14 Jun 2007 5:35 am

Tony Palmer said: Hmm....so it did have an attached cord. What a hoot...I wonder why they thought it necessary to do that?

Just cost. it was cheaper to use the molded cord, than a Switchcraft jack.

Tony Palmer · Post by **Tony Palmer** » 14 Jun 2007 5:41 am

Any thoughts on why a 1.5V "penlite" battery?

I recall screwing around with mine and doubling the voltage for an extra loud unstable mosquito fuzz sound (ahhhh....!)

Mark Vinbury · Post by **Mark Vinbury** » 14 Jun 2007 6:19 am

I'll bet they figured most guitarists only had one cord and to require them to purchase another one to hook up the fuzz would hurt sales.

I remember dragging one across the stage on it's short cord with my coil cord tugging it the other way.
If I'm not mistaken I think these came with instructions which gave settings that were supposed to make them sound like sax,violin etc.

Michael Johnstone · Post by **Michael Johnstone** » 14 Jun 2007 8:54 am

I had one back in the early 60s and always had trouble with the short cable. When I'd play guitar behind my head like T-Bone Walker - which was all the rage with with East Coast R&B beach bands - the thing would be swinging around about a foot off the ground and even in normal playing circumstances which included dance steps and choreography I'd be dragging it around the stage. I finally cut off the cable and added a female 1/4" jack but my less than stellar soldering skills produced an occasionally intermittant circuit.Later in 1966 when my band opened for the Yardbirds at the Peninsula Auditorium in Hampton,Virginia,Jeff Beck asked to play thru my rig which was the Maestro going thru a Fender reverb unit into a pair of Fender Bandmasters. All went well until the middle of "Heart Full Of Soul" when it cut out completely and he unplugged it and kicked it into the audience - never to be seen again. True story. Throughout the late 60s I tried Mosrite and Vox fuzztones among others without much joy. Then I saw Hendrix play an Arbiter Fuzzface and thought it sounded pretty good so I used one of those till about 1970 when I finally got off the fuzztone kick.

Ben Jones · Post by **Ben Jones** » 14 Jun 2007 9:11 am

widely regarded as the first fuzz box, perhaps the most famous use, tho certainly not the earliest, is Keith Richards on "Satisfaction".