The Perfect Fuzz Face! Time-O-Lite Fuzz | R2R Electric x Waterslide Guitars | Gibson Les Paul Tones

The Perfect Fuzz Face! A darkroom timer from another era. Two NOS OC44 black glass germanium transistors. And one of the most singular fuzz enclosures ever to find its way onto a pedalboard. Welcome back to Edge of Breakup.

In this episode, the R2R Electric Time-O-Lite Fuzz takes center stage — piloted by my 2002 Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul R8 loaded with Ron Ellis LRP Humbuckers and the Emerson Custom x Edge of Breakup Les Paul Prewired Kit, into a vintage 1966 Fender Princeton Reverb.

The Time-O-Lite is the product of a long-time collaboration between R2R Electric founder Chris Vincent and Waterslide Guitars — over two years in the making. The enclosures are genuine Time-O-Lite industrial darkroom timers, converted by hand into fuzz pedals with painstaking care for the original controls. The concentric potentiometer configuration repurposes the original hardware: lower larger pointer for Volume, upper small red pointer for Fuzz — period-correct CTS units throughout, a 1966 CTS 500k and a 1983 CTS 1k. NOS Allen-Bradley carbon comp resistors, NOS capacitors, a 1979 ITT .01uf chicklet-style cap, and true bypass switching complete the build. Every pedal has aged in varying degrees — each one tells its own story before you've even played it.

This unit features NOS OC44 black glass germanium transistors — a low-noise, high-gain device with warm, musical compression that sits beautifully in a Fuzz Face-style circuit. R2R also builds the Time-O-Lite with OC42 and AC107 germanium transistors, each imparting its own character. The tonal range — from gated and spitty at low bias to large, open, blooming fuzz at full bias — is enormous, and the circuit is extraordinarily reactive to guitar volume and pick attack. Important: no buffers upstream. This must sit first in your signal chain.

The 2002 Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul R8 is a faithful recreation of the 1958 Standard — more density, more sustain, and a midrange thickness that a germanium fuzz translates into a saturated, vocal quality that is unmistakably its own. The Ron Ellis LRP Humbuckers were originally developed for the 2012 Gibson Lee Roy Parnell Signature Les Paul, built to recreate the PAF pickups in Duane Allman's original 1957 Goldtop. Vintage-accurate, clear, articulate, harmonically rich — more open and dynamic than any modern production pickup, with midrange movement and bloom that makes the guitar come alive.

The Emerson Custom x Edge of Breakup Les Paul Prewired Kit is a purpose-built collaboration between Emerson Custom and this channel — premium pots, premium capacitors, and a treble bleed voiced for maximum expressiveness in a fuzz and overdrive context. Rolling back the volume on an LRP into an OC44 fuzz through this kit is one of the great transitions available on a guitar.

Through the warm, intimate voice of a 1966 Fender Princeton Reverb — 12 watts, single 6V6, blackface touch sensitivity — this combination of Les Paul density, PAF-voiced humbuckers, and NOS germanium fuzz achieves something that belongs entirely to its own moment.

Be sure to join @r2relectric's email list so you know when his ultra limited hand-built NOS fuzzes, boosts and wahs hit Reverb to purchase! They DO NOT hang around long!

https://www.r2relectric.com/how-to-order

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🎸 2002 Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul R8 | Ron Ellis LRP Humbuckers | Emerson Custom x Edge of Breakup Les Paul Prewired Kit

🎛️ R2R Electric Time-O-Lite Fuzz | NOS OC44 Black Glass Germanium Transistors

🔊 1966 Fender Princeton Reverb