Fuzz Face Fuzz Control shorting out

[R.G.]

I love that the general reply at this site is to read that article assuming I haven't already. How is this helpful at all?

It's extremely helpful, because what I said was to follow the instructions to measure and record the voltage before and after the settings which "shorted out" the circuit.

The first task in finding out what's wrong with something is to figure out how to make the failure happen. If it stays failed all the time, that's one thing. If it only fails when you do X to it, then looking at what happens before X and after X gives you a really strong indication of what and where something changed.

Hears a reading for you normal with fuzz circuit out zero when it is in because as I previously said it is shorted out.

Very clever. What exactly is shorted? The fuzz control? One of the caps? The transistor? ALL of the parts? The power at the AC wall socket? The battery?

i have it breadboarded EXACTLY like this.

Yep. You probably think you did. I can't tell you how many times people stated something like that in ALL CAPS JUST TO SHOW HOW VERY SERIOUS THEY ARE and later either never replied or quietly noted that they found a connection mistake.

The subtlety hidden behind that dead, dry, laborious process - and yes, I know it is that - is that the slogging through the process forces you to measure and notice things that you simply cannot otherwise see because of the human failure of situational blindness. Look at anything too often and you (the plural you, all of us) start taking shortcuts and not noticing things because you're certain they're right.

Here's a great link: http://forum.thefreedictionary.com/postst24147_There-s-none-so-blind-as-they-that-won-t-see-.aspx

Take a deep breath, get all un-offended, and give us something to help you with.

Or not. Won't ruin my day.

[aron]

From the debugging link above - it's gotta be one of these:

Simple Debugging

So you make your circuit and connect it up and.... nothing. Here are a few suggestions for debugging your circuit.
Read R.G. Keen's GEO debugging page and do what he says! :-) Check out GEO's Guitar Effect FAQ too, maybe it's a frequently asked question.
Check all connections that go to ground or power. Look carefully and make sure that all points that are supposed to go to ground really do.
Make sure that all points that are supposed to receive power really are getting power by looking at the connections and by measuring with a voltmeter. Connect the black lead of the voltmeter to ground of your circuit and touch the connection with the red lead of the voltmeter.
Carefully trace through the schematic and follow your circuit. Pay careful attention to places where multiple components connect to a singe wire.
If your circuit has transistors, measure the voltage coming from the power supply to the transistor and make sure that it is getting power. Check all transistors for reasonable voltage levels (volts not millivolts or other small value). If you're lucky, the schematic or docs will tell you a range of voltages that the transistors should be getting.
Check the orientation of the transistor or IC, triple check to make sure that the transistor or IC has the right pins in the right places.
Check the orientation of your electrolytic capacitors if the circuit contains them...
Triple check your resistor values throughout your circuit.
If your circuit uses an IC, measure the pin that gets Vcc(+) and make sure it's getting power. Make sure the IC is grounded.
With the circuit going, measure the voltage at the battery terminal and make sure there is ~9 volts. If there are zero volts, it's possible you have a short in the circuit.
If you are testing the board in the enclosure and it worked while it was out of the box, look for any place the enclosure or a pot might be touching the board or a wire and grounding out the circuit.
If your pedal is excessively humming - a loud hum. It's probably DC on the output of the pedal. Check the last DC blocking capacitor. This is usually the last capacitor connected to a transistor/op amp in the circuit. DC at the output can also cause a loud POP when switching pressing the footswitch.
Once you are satisfied that your components are getting power, make an Audio Probe (see below) and trace through the circuit.

[phizone]

Here's my W.A.G. In the linked document, breadboard section, the left ground rail isn't jumpered to the right ground rail. This prevents the emitter of Q1 from being grounded, so if it was indeed built exactly as pictured it won't work.

[nocentelli]

Apparently it only stops working when he "brings in" the fuzz pot: if Q1 emitter was not grounded, surely it wouldn't work at all?

[phizone]

Apparently it only stops working when he "brings in" the fuzz pot: if Q1 emitter was not grounded, surely it wouldn't work at all?

That's what I thought he meant when I read the first post, but after re-reading it (and the later posts) I thought perhaps he meant it only worked when bypassed, but was misunderstanding/describing the problem poorly. But, yes when I tested it, if you pull the ground on Q1 it doesn't work at all. That was just my best guess (without data) as it would be easy to overlook.

[SmoothAction]

Look at all this help your getting    I love this forum. There are some top notch people on here, I would listen to every word they have to say.

[chromesphere]

Make sure you have the power polarity to the circuit the right way around.

I gotta say, im impressed with the responses in this thread.  DIYSB forum members taking their time to help someone with an ambigious problem that refuses to provide voltages...and yet everyone still tries to help them.  +1 to the stompbox community.

Better watch out though RG...you might be labelled a troll next

Paul

[Tony Forestiere]

Read and follow "What to do when it doesn't work", making measurements before and after it "shorts out".

You know, Paul, you are right! R.G. WAS the troll that suggested the debugging sticky in the first response. Damn him; he got Greg into trouble with our gracious and helpful new member. Fore-shame, Greg. Bad troll.  
Wonderful job to everyone who attempted to assist. It just shows the stuff this community is made of. Will we see the necessary voltages? (popcorn emoticon). I was curious from a troubleshooting prospective, but lost interest after the very nasty comments of the OP. Hopefully he will take a couple of deep cleansing breaths and come back with the needed information to assist him.
*edit* or not. 

[Lurco]

I hate to say it, but isn`t Beavis`input cap (C1) polarized the wrong way `round in both the schematic and the breadboard layout? http://www.beavisaudio.com/bboard/projects/bbp_FuzzFace_Rev1_1.pdf.
Shouldn`t the minuspole point towards the input of the circuit instead of to the base of Q1 in this positive supply (NPN) circuit?
If so, are R.G.`s drawings http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/fuzzface/fftech5.gif, http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/fuzzface/fftech6.gif, http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/fuzzface/fftech4.gif wrong as well?
Does this mis-polarization (if so, and although it just may concern less than 1 volt) have any effect on any leakage of Q1, and does a mispolarization (?) at this point have any effect on the issues people have encountered in the past, when converting their circuits from socalled negative to positive ground and vice versa?

[fuzzymuff]

I noticed the 2.2uf electro positive side is connected to the input tip.  Since its a NPN, shouldn't it be reversed, negative if the 2.2uf connected to the input tip?

[duck_arse]

I think everyone has missed the bleeding obvious, the breadboard is faulty.

has anyone sighted the OPer recently?

[Lurco]

bump?