Double D not clipping

[Rafa]

Hi everyone;
I built the Double D (only jiggle channel)  from runoffgroove on my protoboard the problem I have is that the J201 is not available here, the only replacement I could find is the BF245 which doesnt amplify the signal much so the 4049 doesnt clipp. If I increase the voltage at the Bf245 it clipps and sounds pretty bad.
I was thinking about changing the first Q by an opamp? What about the second Q, will it clipp too?
Thanks a lot!
Rafa

[Ripthorn]

I actually have built the Double D without the J201.  It is only there to buffer the signal, I think, as mine sounds really good and doesn't even have it in there (I don't think).  All the clipping is due to the feedback of the inverters in the 4049.

[tackleberry]

No Q1 is an amplifier. There are several pedals out there using the 4049 like the tube sound fuzz that only use the 4049 for distortion. But they have a gain pot in place of the fixed resister for the first gain stage of the 4049. With only using 2 stages as the jiggle channel does your not going to get alot of clipping or output I know mine you gotta crank the gain on jiggle to get any real output and thats with a j201 in Q1. I reduced the 470k resister between the stages on jiggle for more gain.

[Ripthorn]

I stand corrected, I looked at mine and turns out I have the J201 in there.  Could you get something like the 2N5457 or MPF102?  Other than that, I am not sure what a suitable replacement would be.

[anchovie]

Have you checked the orientation of the BF245? The datasheets show the pins as being in the opposite order to a J201.

[Rafa]

Final Solution;
Input and Output buffer (I mean Q1 and Q2 or whatever they are) removed;
1M pot instead of 470k resistor
Now it works ok, a bit bassy but really god anyway.
Whats the difference between adjusting the gain from the input or after the first inverter?

[tackleberry]

The tube sound fuzz has the 1 meg pot in place of the 120k resister over U1a, but doesnt have a resister between stages like the DoubleD. Probably better with the pot before it hits the amps or like the tube sound fuzz. I had to mess with the caps oin mine alot to get it where I wanted it. The original value caps let thru alot of bass which was making things really muddy with humbuckers. I put all mine in sockets for easy replacement. You might try building the other channel with the 3 gain stages it gets alot more distortion. I put clipping diodes on a switch on the jiggle side for extra clipping when I want it or dont want it along with a saturation control ala AMZ.

[Rafa]

Well I must say that this pedal sounds a bit strange to me. At max gain its ok, but at lower gains its incredibly bassy. Has anyone fixed this problem?

[tackleberry]

When you roll back the gain all the treble goes first. They dont have it in the diagram but a bypass cap on the gain pot helps alot. Also as I said messing with the cap values helps. The .1 uf cap between stages might be to big. The .22 caps on the bounce side were way to much.