Beginner Fuzz Face Questions

[Forester]

I bought a fuzz face clone pedal at an estate sale several years ago and i've used it ever since. its pretty unique in sound to the other germanium fuzz's ive played. i'm attempting to make a direct clone of it as my first real guitar electronics project so i can leave the original and use my clone of the clone for shows. my first question pertains to the 9volt jack. on the original it uses a negative 9 volt jack, i ended up ordering a few positive 9 volt jacks instead by mistake. can i use the positive ones i have instead of the negative one used in the original? my second question is in regards to what appears to be a .1mH inductor in the circuit. now this inductor looks very similar to a 5% resistor except for odd band coloration and not like a big circular inductor in a wah. now i've never heard of an inductor ever being used in a fuzz face, but on the vero beneath the component it is labelled '.1mH' and im assuming thats the only possibility to my uneducated assessment. is this what it is or could it be something different? if is indeed an inductor, what is it used for? thanks again folks in advance for your help.

[jrod]

Weird! Does the "inductor" look like this: http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=82364.0

Any way you can post pictures of the clone? I'd be interested in seeing the circuit. I have never seen a Fuzz Face (or any fuzz for that matter) with an inductor. There is, however, a debate of sorts surrounding the built-in fuzz inside the Messanger guitar. That is the circuit posted above.

Sorry I can't answer your original questions.

[John Lyons]

Could be that the inductor is used  to make the input seem like a guitar when running a wah into the FF.
I don't know what the specs for such and inductor use would be but that's my guess. Or else some kind of
filtering on the power or maybe even RF filtering

[Quackzed]

as for the 9v jack, the jack should have a tip and a sleeve, so you could wire it to the board either way.i dont think jacks are positive or negative, its just weather the tip is wired to + or to ground . if you mean can you use a positive tip adapter for a negative tip pedal, then no. or if you mean a battery snap, the red wire is + and the black negative, so for a positive ground pedal you would use the red lead for ground on the board.
but i'm not sure weather your circuit is positive ground or not...but if you copy the way the jack is wired as far as tip and sleeve, it should work the same.

[Forester]

thanks folks! unfortunately i don't have a working camera at the moment so i can't get a picture of the circuit itself and have yet to learn how to draw up a schematic. the 'inductor' leads off from the perfboard and is wired to the power jack though if that helps. its strange, it resembles a yellow/tan 1/4 watt resistor except the bands are colored black-black-red-silver so its anything but. right below it though it is labeled clear as day as .1mH. are there any components besides inductors that use that same value?  i ended up going to the electronics store yesterday to pick up some .1mH inductors to see if they had any resemblance to the one in the original circuit and they are in the vein of a resistor but look more like a green carbon comp than the %5 so that only adds to me thinking it could be an inductor.  everything is pointing to it being that, but then again im perplexed as i've been mulling over different fuzz face schematics and not one uses one??? ill see if i can snag a camera this evening from a friend so i can get a shot of the little guy.thanks again folks for your time and help!

[zombiwoof]

What is it that leads you to believe that it is a Fuzz Face clone?.  Did someone tell you that, or is the circuit similar except for the "inductor" you found in there?.  Maybe it's actually something different.

Al

[PRR]

> the 'inductor' leads off from the perfboard and is wired to the power jack

Sounds like someone was picking-up radio stations via the power cable (a great antenna).

Try a 100 ohm resistor. Odds are it will work the same, except when you stand next to a transmitter.

[Forester]

hey folks. if i wanted to clone this and make it so i could tweak the parts out and such, i'd only have to socket the passive components correct?

> the 'inductor' leads off from the perfboard and is wired to the power jack

Sounds like someone was picking-up radio stations via the power cable (a great antenna).

Try a 100 ohm resistor. Odds are it will work the same, except when you stand next to a transmitter.

interesting, ill give that a try

What is it that leads you to believe that it is a Fuzz Face clone?.  Did someone tell you that, or is the circuit similar except for the "inductor" you found in there?.  Maybe it's actually something different.

Al

well thats what it was sold as. it has a couple germs in there and is not many parts, and from all the fuzz face circuits i've been looking at they seem similar except for that inductor in there. i still have to track down a camera.

[petemoore]

if i wanted to clone this and make it so i could tweak the parts out and such, i'd only have to socket the passive components correct?
  I'd start by thinking it can't be cloned, exactly, and that transistors in sockets are good because of the variance in those components, swapping is then very simple.
  GEO: Technology of the Fuzz Face.
  Search Fuzzface testboard, maybe 'perf-bread', I wrote a bunch of times how to perfboard/sockets/trimpot etc. a fuzzface 'testbed', can be a permanent circuit or...
  With the caps and resistors I use not mattering much as far as tolerances are concerned [poly-film and 1/4w carbon-something resistors], if I know what values I want I can simply choose them to populate the board with.
  People have preferences after FF building, here are some of mine:
  Panel mount bass lift [series's another capacitor on a switch, 'spliced in the input wire, thereby reducing the total value].
  Smallbear 1k fuzzface gainpot, the taper is perfect.
  Panel mount bias adjust knob [I like it 'fine tuned' so most/all of the shaft travel provides at least gated bias].
  100k feedback resistor [smaller].
  I prefer them with adjustable, light amount of LP filter on the end, the bright needs adjusted when things like room/volume change...if too non-bright, it's no longer really a fuzz face.
  See Axis Face...notice the extra cap 'on top'? [across the 'little value resistor..it rolls off a small-ish amount of HF's very nicely.

[Forester]

thanks for those tips pete, i already have a handle on some 1k pots from smallbear so im stoked to see how smooth the range is. ill

if i wanted to clone this and make it so i could tweak the parts out and such, i'd only have to socket the passive components correct?
  I'd start by thinking it can't be cloned, exactly, and that transistors in sockets are good because of the variance in those components, swapping is then very simple.
  GEO: Technology of the Fuzz Face.
  Search Fuzzface testboard, maybe 'perf-bread', I wrote a bunch of times how to perfboard/sockets/trimpot etc. a fuzzface 'testbed', can be a permanent circuit or...
  With the caps and resistors I use not mattering much as far as tolerances are concerned [poly-film and 1/4w carbon-something resistors], if I know what values I want I can simply choose them to populate the board with.
  [smaller].

i was going to socket the transistors for swapping and to protect me from torching them up. so i can socket the resistors and capacitors for swapping, and that goes for all kinds of caps correct? electrolytic, tantalum, ceramic disc, propylethelene etc?

[Forester]

thanks for those tips pete, i already have a handle on some 1k pots from smallbear so im stoked to see how smooth the range is. ill try out the 100k feedback resistor as well. thanks!

if i wanted to clone this and make it so i could tweak the parts out and such, i'd only have to socket the passive components correct?
  I'd start by thinking it can't be cloned, exactly, and that transistors in sockets are good because of the variance in those components, swapping is then very simple.
  GEO: Technology of the Fuzz Face.
  Search Fuzzface testboard, maybe 'perf-bread', I wrote a bunch of times how to perfboard/sockets/trimpot etc. a fuzzface 'testbed', can be a permanent circuit or...
  With the caps and resistors I use not mattering much as far as tolerances are concerned [poly-film and 1/4w carbon-something resistors], if I know what values I want I can simply choose them to populate the board with.
  [smaller].

i was going to socket the transistors for swapping and to protect me from torching them up. so i can socket the resistors and capacitors for swapping, and that goes for all kinds of caps correct? electrolytic, tantalum, ceramic disc, propylethelene etc?

[Forester]

hey again folks. well i wired one up today and socketed pretty much everything on the board as i wanted to fool around with it later and swap some things. well i plugged it in and its not working, the led lights up but it does not generate a signal at all. when turned on it does hiss and the pots can manipulate that hiss so at least thats working but other then that and the led, its a dead ship. i checked all my diodes and caps to make sure they were in the correct shape but its still not functioning. all the leads are fastened firmly into their sockets. i got some germs from a friend but i don't have the means to test them so i just put them in there, could this be the issue? does anyone know what else i could troubleshoot before i start taking things apart?

[petemoore]

  Measure node to node.
  Count connections at node 1, measure that there is exactly this # of connections at this node, that each and every one is exactly as shown on the schematic, including polarity. Repeat for node 2 etc.
  Distant point testing, figure out the farthest points from the node under test to apply the DMM lead, this way a test for say a resistor can simultaneously test for:
  The DMM lead, the DMM probe, the DMM, the transistor contact with a socket-lug-contact, the solder job between the contact and a resistor, the resistor value, the solder at the more + end of the resistor, the red battery clip solder, the red battery clip wire, the battery clips wire/terminal connection.
  All that is possible by touching the DMM leads between battery clip terminal + [the female of the clip, male of the battery...], as well as checking the circuit power polarity. Set to R-Range, this can show that many solder joints are good at the time of test, that there is a resistance value between Q1 and V+.
  Figure out how the circuit doesn't match the schematic = apply the DMM every way logical [for me].