tone god - finish line schematic questions

[peterg]

I'm a bit confused about a couple of things shown on the Tone God Finish Line schematic:

http://tech.thetonegod.com/finish_line/finish_line.html

Which side is positive on the 1uF caps? I found the symbol on the net and it indicates that the black block is positive. Does that make sense?

Is the sym1 #3 lug connected to U1 pin 5 and Q1 and Q2 collectors?

[mth5044]

When in doubt about what way the electro's go, find one that is going to ground, such as C1. If the circuit is negative ground (which I assume this one as, as the majority are and TG does not say otherwise), you can assume the lead going to ground is negative. So the big black block would be positive and the other line part negative.

The sym1 lug3 only connects to the emitter of Q2. The little black boxs show the connections, which I take to mean the sym lug3 is jumped over the U1-5 connection and only going to E of Q2. It seems that on some points he puts the little black boxes, others not (such as C1/U1-6 has one connecting to VCC, but the R1 connection does not). That will make it difficult to read, but I'm pretty sure that sym lug 3 only connects to Q2's E.

[PRR]

> Which side is positive

The outside "can" is negative. This is clear if you cut-up a 1950s can-cap. You may get a clue looking at an axial cap which has a rubber-plug lead at one end and a welded lead at the other end.



BUT... it appears that the draftsperson flipped one cap. C1 is drawn correctly, but C2 clearly has zero at one end and +4V or +5V at the other end. The symbol does not agree with the electrical situation.



> if the circuit is negative ground

We could get a clue from the pinout of the LM386.