A reproduction of the legendary Ace Tone FM-3, with one change to make it more versatile.
When Ace Tone, which later went on to become Roland and Boss, decided to make their version of the Big Muff, they did something a little different that set theirs apart. They added an additional footswitch that would allow selection between the fuzz circuit and a boost circuit. And the boost also included it’s own tone control. One small problem: the boost and fuzz could not be used at the same time.
So when I decided to recreate the FM-3, I decided to make the fuzz and boost completely independent so they could be used together if desired. This meant that the input and output section had to be duplicated, which meant using two additional ultra rare Toshiba 2SC1000 transistors, bringing the total to six. But it was imperative to do it right.
I was able to find a quantity of the transistors in Japan that would ultimately allow me to build nine total. That is all there will be of these, unless more transistors can be sourced. I will not be making these with any substitute transistors.
The result is amazingly special. The best sustain of any muff I have heard, no joke. Tons of gain, but it’s never offensive. A real gem.
The highest quality of build:
Genuine Hammond 1590B3 enclosure
Alpha footswitches and pots
Lumberg DC jack
Super smooth NOS Hosiden audio jacks, made in Japan.
NOS Rohm 1S2473 diodes
Rubycon electrolytics
Qualcomp mylar caps
All NOS carbon film resistors
A reproduction of the legendary Ace Tone FM-3, with one change to make it more versatile.
When Ace Tone, which later went on to become Roland and Boss, decided to make their version of the Big Muff, they did something a little different that set theirs apart. They added an additional footswitch that would allow selection between the fuzz circuit and a boost circuit. And the boost also included it’s own tone control. One small problem: the boost and fuzz could not be used at the same time.
So when I decided to recreate the FM-3, I decided to make the fuzz and boost completely independent so they could be used together if desired. This meant that the input and output section had to be duplicated, which meant using two additional ultra rare Toshiba 2SC1000 transistors, bringing the total to six. But it was imperative to do it right.
I was able to find a quantity of the transistors in Japan that would ultimately allow me to build nine total. That is all there will be of these, unless more transistors can be sourced. I will not be making these with any substitute transistors.
The result is amazingly special. The best sustain of any muff I have heard, no joke. Tons of gain, but it’s never offensive. A real gem.
The highest quality of build:
Genuine Hammond 1590B3 enclosure
Alpha footswitches and pots
Lumberg DC jack
Super smooth NOS Hosiden audio jacks, made in Japan.
NOS Rohm 1S2473 diodes
Rubycon electrolytics
Qualcomp mylar caps
All NOS carbon film resistors
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