My fuzz ain't fuzzing!

[kydnav]

It's boosting

I was making one of those diy fuzz pedals. All done, just needs casing, so I tested it..
I plug everything in. Turn on my amp. Turn on the pedal.
WHAM! Volume boost!

I turn the pot down, volume goes down.
Turn the pot up, volume goes up.

Now this would be great if I wanted a pedal to boost my volume. But it's supposed to be a fuzz!

I can't make pictures of it right now, but I used this for making it:
http://www.newtone-online.nl/downloads/MuffFuzz.pdf
(warning: PDF & Dutch)

If anyone has any idea what might be wrong, thanks a bunch!


[edit]

Added pictures!

The whole bunch (yes, it's a wirey mess, I know.. It's my first attempt)


Front:


Soldering:


Click for bigger!

[JustOpenYourMind]

are you playing pretty hard? Distortion pedals needs diggin in to get a decent sound.

[bongomania]

Originally Posted by JustOpenYourMind

are you playing pretty hard? Distortion pedals needs diggin in to get a decent sound.

You're kidding, right?

[kydnav]

Even if I pluck at my hardest, not a grid of fuzz in my tone..

[JustOpenYourMind]

Originally Posted by bongomania

You're kidding, right?

actually, not at all. I find that you can really control the amount of distortion in your sound by changing your technique, If you play normally, you get just a hint of dirt in the sound, when You dig harder, the sound gets more fuzzy.

My experience is from an overdrive pedal in front of an all tube amp though, it might not work the same with another amp.

Most guitar players i've seen do it too, when they play soflty they get a pretty clean sound and when they dig in the distortion kicks in.

It makes sense, diggin' in produces a stronger signal, a stronger signal will overdrive any pedal or preamp more easilly, hence the added distortion.

[rakirksey]

I'm looking at the schematic and there is one thing that looks a bit odd.

The BYOC E.S.V. Fuzz seems to be similar, but there is a resistor from the base of the first transistor to the emitter of the second transistor. The schematic you have seems to have this floating resitor R4 that doesn't connect to anything. Maybe if you connect it similar to the BYOC circuit you might find better performance.

[Stu L.]

Originally Posted by JustOpenYourMind

actually, not at all. I find that you can really control the amount of distortion in your sound by changing your technique, If you play normally, you get just a hint of dirt in the sound, when You dig harder, the sound gets more fuzzy.

My experience is from an overdrive pedal in front of an all tube amp though, it might not work the same with another amp.

Most guitar players i've seen do it too, when they play soflty they get a pretty clean sound and when they dig in the distortion kicks in.

It makes sense, diggin' in produces a stronger signal, a stronger signal will overdrive any pedal or preamp more easilly, hence the added distortion.

While that is true of overdrive pedals, fuzz pedals are a totally different animal. It should be fuzzy regardless of the volume hitting it.

[bongomania]

Originally Posted by JustOpenYourMind

My experience is from an overdrive pedal in front of an all tube amp though, it might not work the same with another amp.

Ah, that explains it. What you are describing makes perfect sense in that context. The reason I said "you're kidding" is because most distortion and fuzz pedals put out a much heavier level of distortion even at lower input levels (light playing), compared to an overdrive pedal.

Try a fuzz pedal out, you'll get an interesting surprise!

(to the OP, sorry for the hijack, I don't know the answer to your problem.)

[JustOpenYourMind]

That clears things up, thanks,

Now back to the thread.

[musicelectronix]

touch sensitivity wouldn't explain it (aka plucking harder to get more distorted sound) and the schematic is correct (Rakirksey's description kinda reminded me the fuzz face and its happy family).

Ok now, two reasons that your circuit do not work:

1- you made a mistake somewhere. Especially check the diodes and their orientation
2- use high gain transistors, such as 2N5088 or similiar (average hfe=1400-1600)

Edit: I am not just saying this in that logic => high gain transistor = high gain pedal The negative loop diodes needs enough juice, or they won't clip at all. A moderate gain transistor won't feed them, such as 2n3904.

[Wren and Cuff]

3 things first.

Check that the clipping diodes are facing the opposite directions, and connected to ground properly.

Check all ground connections, then check 'em again.

Check the pin-out on the transistors.

Just a bit of advice. Try a regular old Fuzz-face first. Silicon resistors work just fine (2n3906 is a good place to start). *note, this will be PNP, don't try a regular power supply on it. Stick to batts for now. make an NPN FF later. http://fuzzcentral.ssguitar.com/fuzzface.php
also, switch the in and out caps to .22uf or .47uf to better accommodate bass!
good luck,

matt

[Wren and Cuff]

Hey musicelectronix,

I guess we posted at the same time!

[megadan]

99% chance that you made a mistake somewhere in soldering the circuit. Check everything, and then check your grounds!! Make sure what is grounded is supposed to be, and that nothing that isn't supposed to be grounded is.
That's almost always the problem I have when building anything. Especially in a metal case with metal jacks. If you're 100% sure you have the circuit right, insulate with some hot glue or some material or plastic or tape or whatever you have.

[musicelectronix]

Originally Posted by Wren and Cuff

Hey musicelectronix,

I guess we posted at the same time!

howdy brother

[Hookus]

This happenned to me before. The problem was that I had the ground from the input and output jacks connected to each other, and the board and battery connected, but I did not have them all tied together. Once I connected input, output, board, and battery grounds all together, it worked fine.

Check carefully for solder bridges on the stripboard as well.

[kydnav]

[roflol]

i've always had problems like this till i introduced more clipping in circuits haha

[ehque]

Wow, where else do you get 2 pedal builders telling you how to build your DIY fuzz?!

[kydnav]

Still not working

[arai]

have you made sure all your values are correct. i always get confused by 100 k and 10k resistors. they look very similar .