Single Transistor Boost Questions

[Joe Hart]

Yes if the emitter bypass cap is removed the gain will go down and the tone will change(degenerative feedback).  I am not sure I understood you last post, did the sound stay the same with the 100k, 3.9k and emitter bypass cap your first circuit ?

All of the changes I did (while messing with the circuit originally as well as the changes you outlined above) either made the sound sputtery and useless (to me, at least) or changed the sound VERY little. In other words, I did not get a clean boost, I did not get a slightly overdriven sound, I did not get a smooth fuzz sound -- it all pretty much sounded the same or didn't work at all. Granted, I didn't try changing resistors with a trimmer, but I did try a few different values for the different resistors. I had found a few different schematics for the LPB-1 (with different values) and the Hornby Skewes booster and a couple other circuits that had the same schematic and just kept switching things around.

I admit that I know very little about what I'm doing. It also seems (from reading this forum for years) that the differences between transistors (within the specified range) *should* be fairly subtle, but in this circuit the three or four other transistors that I tried didn't work at all (either no sound or just a fizzy sputtering) and any changes that I made to the circuit with the transistor I ended up using either worked or didn't (as I just explained in the previous paragraph).

So, to answer your question, the sound stayed the same with the 100K and 3.9K changes. It only changed when I took out the bypass cap, as would be expected.

I think this circuit is strange.
-Joe Hart

[Joe Hart]

Here's a sound clip. It starts with just my guitar and amp, then I turn the fuzz on. I recorded it a few different times and with a few different microphones and microphone placements, but it sounds strange. It's like it has a wah sound or strange flanger sound going on and the sound fades in and out when I hold a chord. I recorded it just using Windows Sound Recorder, so maybe that's the issue? Any ideas on what I did wrong? Thanks.

http://www.JoeHartBand.com/Evil Fuzz Sound Clip.wma

-Joe Hart

[Joe Hart]

Okay, here's how it actually sounds! I recorded a video and it had the same strange sound as I described above when I tried to record just audio. My video software had some settings and I checked them out and there was a setting for "eliminate background noise," and when I unchecked that, I was able to record a normal sounding video. Yay! So here's what this circuit sounds like. Let me know what you guys think. Thanks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYo-TJr7qLQ

-Joe Hart