Help me DIYstompboxes, you're my only hope!!!

[snarblinge]

looks to me like the transistors should read  C B E not E B C as you have them. assuming you haev ac127s based on my ones and a quick search for pinouts here.

[PRR]

> Without the C1 capacitor-

That makes ALL your voltages 9V.

Which means you do not have a ground connection to Q1 E and VR2.

Something is really mis-wired. Simplify: no switch, no jacks. Just board and battery. You want to find Q1 E at zero, Q1 B at +0.3V, one end of VR2 at zero, other end at +0.4V, Q2 C trimmable through 4V to 8V.

[buckwheat]

Something is really mis-wired. Simplify: no switch, no jacks. Just board and battery. You want to find Q1 E at zero, Q1 B at +0.3V, one end of VR2 at zero, other end at +0.4V, Q2 C trimmable through 4V to 8V.

Forgive my ignorance, but how do I test the board without the jacks?

[kvandekrol]

Right now you just want to get the voltages where they need to be on the transistors. Once they test out OK, you can add the jacks and try playing through it. But if the voltages don't test out first then it'll never sound right.

[arma61]

Forgive my ignorance, but how do I test the board without the jacks?

connect + to the board
connect - to the boards and to other 2 spare wires
using a pencil make a ring on your 2 spare gnd wires an put these rings directly on the barrel of the cable coming form the guitar and on the barrel of the cable going to the amp.
do the same rings for you input and output wire and put them on the tips of the above cables
(optional, though recommended,  fix the rings with some electrical tape so they don't move)
connect yout battery/adaptor to + and - goind to the board

so now we know if the circtuit itself is working..... then slowly slowly and one at the time we can add jacks and switch.

Ciao

[buckwheat]

Alrighty than,

I took the advice of everyone to simplify and breadboard.

I went with the Fuzz Face:



Part Substitutions:

C3 - 22uf
R4 - 10k

Here's the breadboard layout:





At first I got nothing. Then I turned around Q1, Q2, and C1 and BAM!, I got sound. It was even a little fuzzy.  I still have to turn my amp and guitar all the way up to hear it, but the effect is there. However, if I strum softly, I get a clean sound, if I strum hard I get a really hard edged fuzz. The fuzz sounds intermittent, like its breaking up if that makes sense. Also the 1k pot has no affect on the sound what-so-ever.

Here's the read outs I get after turning the Q's around:


9v-9.47

C1-9.28/8.95
C2-9.46/6.24
C3-9.35/9.35

R1-9.46/9.31
R2-9.46/9.46
R3-9.36/8.96
R4-9.46/9.39

Q1:
C-9.31
B-8.93
E-9.35

Q2:
C-9.39
B-9.31
E-9.36

What chawl think?

[fpaul]

emiter for Q1 goes straight to ground, so it should read 0 volts. check your ground buss to make sure all points are 0 volts.

[fpaul]

c3 has voltage at ground too, something is connected to ground that shouldn't be.

also, what transistors are you using?

[buckwheat]

also, what transistors are you using?

ac 127's.

From everything I found online, I've always been led to believe that the pins were:
       C - o
   B - o
       E - o

Doing it this way has NEVER worked for me. So after switching them around and finally getting sound, I'm thoroughly confused. I thought that ac 127's were PNP. Is this wrong?

So are the pins:

     E - o
  B - o
     C - o

[LucifersTrip]

I thought that ac 127's were PNP. Is this wrong?

they are NPN:
http://transistor-spravochnik.ru/description/ac127/22287

but that has nothing to do with the pins...just how you orient +/- in the circuit

[fpaul]

Try a couple of modern npn silicon with known pinout, after getting all ground points to read 0volts.

[alparent]

The thing I always had trouble with in datasheets was that some will show you the pins from the top and some will show them from the bottom (and that will flip the pins!)
That is why I like my multimeter so much......it as a transistor checker that id's the pins.

But like fpaul said try a couple of modern npn silicon with known pinout.
From what I read.......alot of Germ are not reliable. So making sure your circuit works with a reliable transistor first is a good practice (that I will also us from now on.)