Bazz Fuss

[doctormario777]

I tried to build this pedal today:

http://www.home-wrecker.com/bazz.html

but wound up only getting buzzing (and nothing else from the guitar). I think my problem is that I haven't grounded things properly, would someone mind explaining to me how to ground the components in this pedal?

[Quackzed]

basically, you connect everything that has a ground symbol together. input  shield (not the tip),output shield(not tip) 100k pot lug 3 and the emitter are all tied together, then the battery - is connected to the input ring, so if you plug a mono cable into the input, it will connect the ring(battery-) to the shield(circuit ground) and power the circuit only when it is plugged in. disconnecting the in plug wil dissconnect the ring/shield connection and the battery (-) will not be connected and will be unpowered.if you dont need it to power off when unplugged, you can just connect all the grounds right to the (-) battery lead.

[doctormario777]

Thanks alot!

Do you think that I should shield the inside of whatever case I choose?

[blooze_man]

only if its plastic

[doctormario777]

One more question.

I've got some 1N914 diodes, but I don't see any markings to indicate which end is the anode and which is the cathode. One side is orange and one side is black, I'm assuming the orange is the cathode?

[Kinetic]

The end with the black band around it will be the cathode.  On a circuit diagram, the black band corresponds to the flat edge of the diode symbol.

[doctormario777]

One final question and I think I should have it!

Can someone explain the symbol for phone in/out? I'm not sure whether or not the upper or lower portion of the diagram refers to the tip vs. the sleeve. I'm assuming the lower one refers to the sleeve, but I'm not entirely sure.

[Quackzed]

the one that goes to the cap is the tip, the one that goes to - battery is the sleeve, and the ring is grounded.

[doctormario777]

also, couldn't you ground the pots simply by soldering the ground lug to the back of the pot itself?

[blooze_man]

No, that's the way a guitar's volume is wired. In a pedal you want to ground to the input jack.

[Mugshot]

No, that's the way a guitar's volume is wired. In a pedal you want to ground to the input jack.

of course you can. say Lug 1 of the volume pot of overdrive pedal X is connected to ground. you can simply bend lug 1 and solder it to the pot body which in turn is connected to the chassis ground usually.

[01370022]

No, that's the way a guitar's volume is wired. In a pedal you want to ground to the input jack.

of course you can. say Lug 1 of the volume pot of overdrive pedal X is connected to ground. you can simply bend lug 1 and solder it to the pot body which in turn is connected to the chassis ground usually.

Usually is the key word here.

If there is an electrical connection (get your multimeter and set it to ohms and put one end on the pot chassis and one end on the ground lug of your power jack (assuming these are both installed into the chassis/box )

If it reads a couple of ohms or less, you're fine, but if it doesn't - not gonna work. All it takes is for you to paint your box, or use isolated jacks, or for the pot nut to work loose over time, and all of a sudden it don't work too good. Usually in the middle of a gig (been there, done that, got told off for being a PITA guitarist with more FX than talent )

For the price of a bit of wire you can save yourself from potential problems later on

[blooze_man]

of course you can. say Lug 1 of the volume pot of overdrive pedal X is connected to ground. you can simply bend lug 1 and solder it to the pot body which in turn is connected to the chassis ground usually.

Oh duh. I didn't even think of that. The way I learned was to always use star ground to the input. I might try the other way to save some wire.

[Mugshot]

depending on my mood, i usually solder ground lug of the volume pot to the PCB ground, which is then connected to a single ground point. these days, im getting lazier than ever  and i thought bending the ground lug would be easier. the chassis is my star ground