The Epsilon Silicon Fuzz is a modified version of the Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face pedal, specifically the 1970 silicon version. It incorporates three additional controls and a pickup simulator to enhance its functionality.

The original Fuzz Face pedal was designed to be connected directly to an electric guitar, and its performance could be affected if placed in the wrong position in the signal chain. When fed a low-impedance signal, such as when there is another pedal before it, the Fuzz Face loses some of its characteristic sound. To address this issue, the Epsilon PCB includes a switchable pickup simulator at the input.

The pickup simulator consists of a transformer, resistor, and capacitor that convert the source signal into a higher impedance that the Fuzz Face prefers. This pickup simulator was developed by Jack Orman of AMZ and has been used in commercial pedals like the Earthquaker Devices Erupter.

The Epsilon joins two other Aion FX projects based on the Fuzz Face. The Proteus is based on the 1966 germanium version of the pedal and includes a voltage inverter and the same pickup simulator. The Solaris is a modified version of the Proteus with three additional knobs.

The original 1970 Fuzz Face used BC108C transistors, which are high-gain devices with an hFE (gain) specification ranging from 420 to 800. These transistors are still available from manufacturers like Central Semiconductor or Multicomp. However, experimenting with different types of transistors, such as low-gain options like the 2N3903 for Q1 and 2N3904 for Q2, can yield different sonic characteristics, closer to the germanium version of the pedal.

Summary created by AI from the original source.