diy pedals making slappy sound

[pinkjimiphoton]

bro, if that's the only mistake you've made so far, that's awesome...
cuz for all the stuff i've built, half of it's taken weeks sometimes to get running, and i'd say 30% never make it into a box!!

try the other caps, and hollah back!!

[richreynolds]

Thanks guys. I really appreciate the responses. I'm going to try adding a capacitor in parallel when i get off work tonight.

[pinkjimiphoton]

let us know how ya make out bro...
stick any old cap in there right now that's bigger, even an electrolytic... just make sure the + side goes to the input signal (really only matters in that if it's backwards at the input, the outer wrap of the cap you want connected to ground to shield it)...

i mean, just to see if it makes a diff. if it does, that's probably your culprit. good luck!!

[richreynolds]

Ended up making a whole new circuit. The sound is good now but the volume is less than unity.

[richreynolds]

I feel much closer to getting this circuit working

[Jdansti]

Same input and output caps as the other?

[richreynolds]

I used some .1uf film caps i got from pedal parts plus. 

[pinkjimiphoton]

ok, i'd advise trying some higher gain transistors. if anything, bigger caps should give more volume and more breakup.

can you check the bias on the tranny and get us some voltages rich?

[richreynolds]

I'll get the voltages as soon as i get home. Thanks for all the help by the way

[richreynolds]

Ok, I dont know if this is right but the voltages from power to the pins is:

C=.25v
B= 16.29v
E= 16.94v
2n5088 transistor

[richreynolds]

Seems like that's a lot of voltage.

[Jdansti]

You should have your black lead on ground and probe the terminals with the red lead.  Take a look at the units and verify whether the meter is reading V or mV.

[richreynolds]

I'll re check it tonight. Thanks for the help.

[richreynolds]

Ok, i used my black probe on ground and red to probe the transistor pins.  The readings are
C= reading 2 ways= sometimes reads .0F sometimes 17.75v
B= 1.62v
E= 1.12v

[Jdansti]

17V?

1) What is the labeled voltage rating of your power supply output? 
2) Is the output labeled as AC or DC?
3) Is it labeled or do you know whether the supply is regulated or not?
4) What is the voltage reading with your black probe on ground and your red probe on the first point where the positive power connects to the circuit?

[richreynolds]

Ok guys, finally got some time today. Turns out i was using an 18v adaptor! Stupid mistake! I just grabbed one out of a pile of adaptors and it was the wrong one! Also found some faulty solder joints to blame for the sound being less than unity. The adaptor thing was pretty stupid! Thank you guys for all the help! I really appreciate it and this forum is awesome!

[Jdansti]

Glad you got it figured out!  We've all made that mistake. You might want to consider labeling the ends of your adapter wires near the plugs, showing the voltage, amperage capacity, and AC or DC. You can use masking tape (not very neat) or these:

[richreynolds]

Thise look like they would come in very handy! Thank you guys very much!