Fuzz Face problematic

[Fuzz Man]

Hi,

I tried twice to modify my Fuzz with the kit from Analog Man but I´m having problems.

My first fuzz kit worked just for 2 weeks since it was assembled on my
Dunlop Fuzz Face.

When it happened I wrote to Mike and he told me that probably the
germanius were damaged during the soldering.

I ordered my second kit, the NKT kit and when it arrived I took it
to another technician to do the job.

With the kit on the Fuzz I felt it didn´t have enough gain and compressiom so I decided to put a 10k trim pot and ajust the bias voltage.

It worked ok for a few weeks and again failed.

I'm intrigued how a very simple circuit can be so probematic. :evil:

I measured the germaniuns:

On Hi transistor on the left lead 5.29v on midle lead 599mv on right led
473mv

On Low transistor on the left lead 0v on midle lead 113mv on right lead
593mv

I can´t lower the trim pot to have less than 5.54v

Can somebody help me?

Thanks.

[petemoore]

There are great reads on the subject of transistor biasing, FF building...Check out GEO and RUnoff Groove.
 Look at DIY FAQ and skills you need, for starters I would identify the emitter base and collector leads of your transistors or E, B, and C.
 When soldering transistors I use an alligator clip heat sink on the lead I'm soldering between the heat and the body of the transistor...Ive had also success by not applying too much heat but the heat sink allows for very failsafe transistor lead soldering.
 To tune a FF, I would recommend a breadboard, but I use perfboard with many sockets.
 Both tranny's, the in and ouput caps, the 22uf polarized cap, and maybe a resistor...
 the Q2 collector gets a trimpot where the resistor is shown.
 The feedback resistor [usualy 100k] can be made bigger value, with enough lead length above the board to 'tag' another resistor with it to reduce adjust the R value there.
 I use a 2k gain pot and adjust its value  down with a resistor [between 2k and 6k8] across its lugs 1&3.

[Gearbuilder]

Hi,

One best thing to do for costly germs is to put them on sockets in first before soldering them.Try your effect tweak it and  if your ok with the sound ,then you could solder them carefully (Peter method is the best to avoid overheating the germ).
Bruno

[petemoore]

I 'just use sockets' for transistors. I haven't built a FF withought them.
 Shoot I use em for bout every type of component at one time or another.  
 I use em in place of a resistor, ...plug a pot, Rvalued above but sorta close to what the schem says [I especially like this for Collector or Drain biasing]  tweek it till Me and my voltmeter agree on a taste, unplug it, find the value without readjusting it and place a fixed resistor into the socket.
 The heat and solder will flow into the socket so that parts can be more permanently mounted. [IME]..I don't know about replacing them...too much plastic would probly start getting in there.