I was poking around some pictures and articles about the effects gear that The Edge uses and noticed his Dunlop Fuzz Face is a modded version (called "SMG2"). With all the Fuzz Face variants out there, I think this would be a fun pedal to clone. Does anyone know anything about this SMG2 mod and if there's a schematic, pcb, or vero board layout for it? I searched and searched and this old reverb listing is the most info I could find.
https://reverb.com/item/6703561-rare-dunlop-smg2-mod-fuzz-face-guitar-effects-pedal-2-germanium-circuits-only-51-made-u2-the-edge
From the listing:
https://reverb.com/item/6703561-rare-dunlop-smg2-mod-fuzz-face-guitar-effects-pedal-2-germanium-circuits-only-51-made-u2-the-edge
From the listing:
QuoteIn 1997, The Edge of U2 asked Sam MCrae (legendary genius pedal engineer & longtime employee + now head of R&D for Dunlop & MXR) to create a special Fuzz Face for his famous "747" guitar sound set up. In particular, The Edge wanted a pedal to duplicate onstage the roaring sound in U2 songs like "Mofo" & "Gone." He had some technical requests for McCrae, however: he wanted a germanium-based Fuzz Face - but wanted LED power light, the ability to accept a 9V adapter, & most importantly, have a special buffer so that the Fuzz Face could be placed before a wah pedal in his chain (traditional Fuzz Face models start oscillating wildly when typically put before wahs).
McCrae then went into the Dunlop lab & hand built a Fuzz Face exactly to The Edge's specs - hand cleaning the components & so on, customizing it especially for The Edge by including the guitarist's signature lightning bolt symbol. McCrae called it the "SMG2 Mod" Fuzz Face. "SM" stands for Sam McCrae; "G2" stands for the two germanium circuits that give this pedal its own distinct Fuzz Face vibe. The red covering doesn't just look cool but seems indestructible & the necessary "Dallas-Arbiter England" badging is there for some historical retro cool!
The sound is amazing: it's totally classic Fuzz Face germanium sound, but.... crisper. It's hard to define, but it cuts through a little more while retaining that liquid, woolly, warm Fuzz Face germanium sound. It's almost if a germanium Fuzz Face thought it was a silicon one, but in fact... wasn't, but celebrated this identity crisis instead with sonic panache. It's the total fuzz sound that you want - but has a hint of crispy distortion that makes it really present.