Pedal works fine on it's own but not with other pedals

[One-Eyed Shaman]

I just finished building a fuzz pedal -  and it works fine by itself, but when I go to connect it to another pedal, as soon as the 1/4 cable touches the jack, both pedals are shorted and turn off. The same thing happens when their enclosures touch. Both are powered by a 1 Spot. What could be the problem here? Is it possible the enclosure is being grounded or something like that?

[stallik]

The problem could be that one pedal has a positive ground, the other negative.

[mth5044]

The enclosure should be grounded. What's the fuzz?

[One-Eyed Shaman]

It's a Death By Audio Supersonic Fuzz Gun.

I connected the enclosure to ground and the pedal shorted - so it definitely seems like power is touching it somewhere, right?

[Jdansti]

Do you have a schematic?  (or at least let us know what the transistors are.)

[One-Eyed Shaman]

This is the layout I followed. I used BC517s for Q1 and Q2 and a MPSA06G for Q3, per the suggestions in the comment section on the post, http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2012/04/death-by-audio-supersonic-fuzz-gun.html.

[Jdansti]

Well, your transistors are NPN. I assume that you have negative power connected to ground.

Does the problem happen when it is connected to different pedals or just one?

[One-Eyed Shaman]

The problem occurs when connected to any other pedals Rat, Fuzz Face, Boss delay, etc.

This layout just uses normal positive voltage for power and negative ground right? Like it doesn't need a negative voltage inverter to work with a 1 Spot, right? I'm not entirely familiar with this concept so just asking.

[R.G.]

I don't see any need for a positive ground setup for this. The first two NPNs are run inverted, with emitter positive, collector negative, but that doesn't have much to do with power supply polarity.

You say that it works fine by itself. Try disconnecting the incoming power jack connecting it to the 1 Spot and temporarily soldering a battery connector to the circuit board to power it. Does it then quit when you plug it with other pedals?

[charriman]

i have the same issue with my BYOC tonebender.  If i use the one spot for everything except the BYOC (it is using a battery), no signal.  But if i run everything on battery, they work fine.
I was under the impression that the stuff would work together if the tonebender was on it's own supply or under battery power.  I guess not.

[vigilante397]

Are you using a metal DC jack with a center negative supply? That would cause a pedal to work fine by itself but freak out any other pedal (from experience).