tweak-o squishes my signal

[flies]

hey all,

well i got through some of the basic misunderstandnings i had about breadboards and audio jacks and i now have a working tweak-o prototype http://www.smallbearelec.com/Projects/TweakO/TweakO.htm .  This is my first project ever (other than simple voltage amplifiers i made in school), so i'm really stoked that it works!

The only problem is that when i turn the distortion amount pot (R3) up, the signal gets much much quieter!  I thought increasing the resitance across the b and c was supposed to increase the gain!  it seems like what's happening instead is that when i change the resistance on r3 the circuit clamps down on the audio signal and starts clipping at a lower level... no boost!  the transistor has a gain better than 500 so i wonder what's going on 

is this what the circuit does when it's working properly?  or do i need to look over my circuit again?  general concept assistance is most welcome as well

[smallbearelec]

Yea, this is how a "diode-clipping" distortion works. The high gain of the transistor boosts the input signal to a level sufficient for the diodes to conduct. The exact voltage at which they do so is set by the fuzz control. When the diodes conduct, they lop off the top part of each half-cycle, so the volume goes down as the clipping increases. If you want a hotter output, either change the ratio of the out put voltage divder, or add a second stage of clean boost.

[flies]

thanks for the reply!  I'm glad to know that i did it right, and it's also satisfying that that my ears told me what was happening (i've got lots of software experience with things like max msp so the sound of clipping is familiar, although digital clipping is obviously an entirely different ball game).  I had thought that the diode clipping would work by increasing the gain so that there would be more clipping, but your explanation makes it clear that this is not what's happening in the tweak-o.  i think i will try and add a second gain stage if i build the tweak-o a second time, but since this is literally my first-ever soldering experience i think i'll stay on the beaten track.

thanks again for making and hosting the tweak-o!