BJFE / BearFoot fx Guitar Effects Community

Hi all,

I've been trying to make a folk fuzz pedal and I'm experiencing a problem. When I engage the pedal the Volume goes to about half and the signal is clean (doesn't distort). I've checked for shorts across the vero board which there isn't any, I've made sure the components are in the correct location which they are (I used a layout on tag board fx) the track breaks are in the correct place and not shorted. Also the pots seem to be doing their job apart from the fuzz which seems to act like a second volume pot but the resistance does vary between 1M and 2M before C1.

I'm completely at a loss as to what could be wrong, the 2N1306 germanium transistors are the only thing I can think of at this point, Maybe i overheated them but they have the 0.3v drop between the base and emitter. I think I'm going to change them for some 2N2219a's if i can get hold of some.

Has anyone else got any ideas i could look into?

Cheers Bill

It's been a long time since I built mine but I could swear it used silicon transistors. They typically have quite a bit more gain so that could be it.

Did you socket the transistors? If you soldered them there is a chance they were damaged by the heat.

Have you verified the pin out on the transistors. Different ones will lay out the EBC differently. That could be it as well.

Detailed photos of both sides of the board and the wiring would help diagnose the issue.

Hi thanks for the reply,

I believe in Bjorns schematic you could use either 2n1306 or 2n2219a for T1 and T2? I did solder them directly to the board, I did check the CBE pin outs. I messed the first pcb up by putting a cut in the wrong place and decided to transfer to a new board, so i wonder if I killed the 2n1306's then. here are some pics.

[img][IMG]http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah95/Billy_Stead/20161116_131245_zpsmduvkigu.jpg[/img][/img]
[img][IMG]http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah95/Billy_Stead/20161116_131213_zpsdrtlrn9i.jpg[/img][/img]

cheers Bill

Nothing seems obviously wrong on a quick glance but . Some good steps to try are to check for solder bridges between rows of the vero. I see one but it's to the bottom row (top when you are looking at the back of the board) which appears to be unused so it shouldn't matter. You can check for bridges by turning your multimeter to continuity mode and checking row to row to make sure you do not have continuity (except where you have a link).

Hopefully BJ or someone more knowledgeable will come and help.

Hi again,

Yeah it was me. True bypass wiring fault lol

Thanks again