Building A Muffer clone as a first project, and am having a few problems

[markymayhem]

Sorry not entirely accurate on the 470k
at one end, it connectes to the + of the cap and the collector. there is a jumper from the collector toone side of the output cap, which is also connected to the free end of resistor attached to the 9v+, and at toe other end to the diode, input cap & base

[markymayhem]

OK.. I was getting frustrated with the muffer, and decided to build the bazz fuss from:  http://www.home-wrecker.com/bazz.html

5 components..  Anyway, the schematic as shown does not have a bypass.. or an on-off at all.. I wired it on oversized perf, used plenty of space between components, zerp solder splashes.. I'm 98% the board is good.  I wired it using the bypass wiring from the chart for the muffer...  I hook it up, and the bypass setting doesn't even work...  Again.. 98% it's wired right..  Do I need to modify the circuit to hook it up with switched bypass??

[markymayhem]

OK.. Correction on the off-board wiring for the bazz fuss.  I had the tip and sleeve connections mixed up.  Now the bypass works, but the effect does not... same thing as the muffer...  just quiet..  very quiet....  The only things I think it could be:  possibally backwards connection on the 100k pot.  Grounding:  On both boards I made a ground wire, and tied all the on-board and off-board grounds to this ground wire.  I used all the exact right components on this board... 4.7uf polar electrolttic cap, exact right diode and transistor etc...  I did use an old, old unused 104m disk cap for the output, but I'm pretty sure it's good.

WHAT COULD THIS BE??        

[Jay Doyle]

OK, I read through both of your threads and because you are having the same problem, and it is low output with no effect on the sound at all, it seems that you've cleaned up as much as possible, your ground wires sound right, and it works in bypass so your switch and jacks are connected right.

My Rx:

Check the pinout of your transistor. Go to Google, type in "[part number] datasheet" and then click on it to make sure you have the collector, emitter and base all going to the correct places.

Hope that this helps,

Jay Doyle

[dmk]

is it possible your tranny is duff?
or maybe your diodes got burnt out?
if you've got the same problems in 2 different circuits its got to be a component.
hope you get to the bottom of your problem!

[Yun]

make sure that you get the stomp-switch and it's jack wireing correct as well. 

[markymayhem]

On the muffer, the tranny is socketed, so I've tried 2 different ones in it, a 4401 and a 3902.  I also tried turning the tranny around...  no dice.  the 4401 goes E B C when looking at the flat side, the 3902 C B E.  On the bazz fuss from the other thread I used all brand new, just out of the box from rat-shack components, except for the out put cap.  Since I am working with 2 projects here, I'm pretty sure it's not a matter of a bad tranny or diode..  Also, I tested voltage across the diodes in the muffer, and am told it's correct..

[markymayhem]

Note about the tantantium caps..  They ARE polar... And by sheer dumb chance - they are correctly wired..

[oldrocker]

.

[markymayhem]

I don't want to give up on this one either..

[petemoore]

  I'm sure the voltage measurements [latest] are there somewhere, I'm too lazy to go look through and find them, IIRC the last ones I saw looked about workable...
  Note about the tantantium caps.. 
  I like using film NP caps, which can't be damaged @9v by miswiring.
  Tants are too easily damaged by Reverse polarity.
  Sorry I'm lazy, but these debugging threads get the useful info scattered about...long, convoluted reads.
  The latest voltage and audio probe results, concisely presented, precludes alot of sorting through to gather 'the necessaries'.

[markymayhem]

I didn;t install the tant. caps backwards sheerly by chance so they're probablly OK..  What should I be using for / doing with an audio probe exactly?

[GibsonGM]

You use an audio probe with your amp to find out where the problem in a ckt is.  See "Debugging" under "Repair" in the Wiki link at the top of the page.  When something doesn't work, 1st you check the obvious: power to the IC/transistor etc., solder bridges, backwards components/pinouts.  Then you audio probe.

Starting at the tip of the input jack, you work into the ckt with the audio probe while you bang a guitar string (or play music from a line out into your pedal).  You should hear the string/music thru the amp using the probe.  As you go along, the place in the signal path where you DON'T hear it indicates where the trouble is (at least the first trouble spot, lol).  Great way to find the bugs!  Note - use the cap on the probe to protect your amp input from DC voltages.  Don't try to probe the power supply, it just makes noize    Don't turn the amp up too loud or you'll mess your pants, LOL.    Audio probe is just for the signal path.   Use your DMM to assure proper voltages along power supply paths.   

The results of the debugging are used by us in here to help point you where to look; can't do much for ya without the info 

I always build a ckt without the bypass switch/LED first, and jumper some jacks to the input, output and ground, to test it.   After you know it works, the only possible (for the most part) problem should be in the switch after it's installed....

[petemoore]

  Count the # of connetions at a node, check that those are noce connections are made on the board, and only those.
  Repeat for each node.
  Observe polarity.
  Measure resistors.
  Apply DMM in every way possible way, check resistances, continuities, process of elimination] and Non-continuities ['reverse elimination process'...lol], voltages...GEO has biasing info, but 'near' 0v @ emitter, the base one diode drop [or a little more] above the emitter [~.6v], and 1/2V on the collector.
  Transistor pinout, I know we've been through most of this, complete list of course is the Debugging page.
  It 'has' to not work as is. It also Has to work when conditions allow it.
 

[markymayhem]

OK.. GibsonGM, now I know how to USE an audio probe.   Now how do I make one?

[petemoore]

  Take the cable that is plugged into your monitor [amp], connect the sleeve to ground like always, connect the tip through a DC blocking capacitor...done.
  To make things easier, a wire from the open end of the DC blocking cap coming off the tip makes it a 'probe'.
  I used an old guitar cable with a phono plug on one end, using the bare wire end to connect Gnd. and signal path through DC blocker.
  Connect the ground to the circuit, touch the probe coming from turned on/down some amp to signal path points in the circuit.
  You should get signal at the effect input/guitar cables tip [if not see if the DMM finds ground at the cable tip], then inside the input cap, probably goes to the base of a transistor or something from there, test that, if signal passes the input cap then good, if you're checking a gain stage, the output of the transistor should be louder than it's input...etc. working from back to front or front to back, you should be able to find where...if there's something blocking the signal.

[markymayhem]

Thanks for your help everyone!  I bought the tweak-o kit from Small Bear.  I am hoping that upon building it I will discover my error with these designs.  Pics & Report (hopefully  ) soon