Fuzz Face Help

[Drewmeyer]

Hello, first post on this forum! I recently attempted to build a fuzz face based off the original Dallas Arbiter Circuit (Used this companies Board and circuit: http://www.pigeonfx.com/kits.html) but after wiring it all up and turning it on I'm rewarded only with a volume drop and no fuzz effect or anything. I'm not sure what the problem is as it seems I have all the wires in the correct locations with the transistors and capacitors oriented correctly. Has anyone heard of such a problem and know a solution? I would be much obliged if I can get any info on this. Thanks!

[rousejeremy]

Any pics of the board? Top and bottom, switches and pots.

[Drewmeyer]

Yeah, here's a few pictures:




I hope you can trace all the wires, since I had to reuse the same colored wire on various occasions. Does anything look wrong from these?

[rousejeremy]

Are those Silicon transistors?

[Drewmeyer]

Yeah, sorry forgot to mention that in the OP. BC108s to be exact

[rousejeremy]

I'm pretty sure the iss 1 board is for PNP germanium transistors, which means positive ground. The + from your battery is actually ground.

[Drewmeyer]

Oh well the company boasted it could be wired up with PNP or NPN
See here:

[rousejeremy]

Your 330 ohm and 33k are backwards. 330 ohm is orange orange brown and 33k is orange orange orange

[rousejeremy]

You also need to reverse your electrolytics for NPN trannies.

[Drewmeyer]

Wow, those seem like things i should have noticed. I guess I'm not as observant as I thought! I'll make those changes and see what happens.

[rousejeremy]

I spent a month debugging a Fender Blender to find I had a 1k resistor where a 10k should have been. The red really did look orange.

[Drewmeyer]

Haha what a bummer. Glad I had some help here or I would have spent at least twice as long before I had found my mistake.

[Drewmeyer]

I'm afraid I may have massively screwed something up on the board. I've taken so many things out and put them back in and heated up so many components. A few solder pads(?) are peeling off. And anyways, now when the pedal is turned on no signal gets through at all. Looks like I'll just order another board and start over.

[rousejeremy]

What kind of switch is that btw? Are you sure it is wired correctly?

[mattjames]

according to the layout in post #6 and ur pic above it appears the transistors are in backwards too....
emitter is on the side with the tab sticking out... but I could be looking at it wrong??
You could confirm by tracing that Q1 E should go to ground and Q2 E to the 1k pot..

[LucifersTrip]

I'm afraid I may have massively screwed something up on the board. I've taken so many things out and put them back in and heated up so many components. A few solder pads(?) are peeling off. And anyways, now when the pedal is turned on no signal gets through at all. Looks like I'll just order another board and start over.

Not a bad idea since it will be cleaner....but you can jumper from good pads on the board.

if you don't have one, definitely pick up a breadboard so you can test first...$2 - $3
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SYB-120-700-Position-Tie-Point-Solderless-PCB-Breadboard-Bread-Board-Prototype-/400506518699?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item5d400c7cab

...and for troubleshooting here, best to follow the troubleshooting sticky and at least give voltages

good luck

[Drewmeyer]

according to the layout in post #6 and ur pic above it appears the transistors are in backwards too....
emitter is on the side with the tab sticking out... but I could be looking at it wrong??
You could confirm by tracing that Q1 E should go to ground and Q2 E to the 1k pot..

Oh yeah, that was my fault. I had reversed them just to test to see if somehow that would work. I since have put them back the way they are supposed to go, which results in the effect I mentioned in the OP.

[Drewmeyer]

I'm afraid I may have massively screwed something up on the board. I've taken so many things out and put them back in and heated up so many components. A few solder pads(?) are peeling off. And anyways, now when the pedal is turned on no signal gets through at all. Looks like I'll just order another board and start over.

Not a bad idea since it will be cleaner....but you can jumper from good pads on the board.

if you don't have one, definitely pick up a breadboard so you can test first...$2 - $3
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SYB-120-700-Position-Tie-Point-Solderless-PCB-Breadboard-Bread-Board-Prototype-/400506518699?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item5d400c7cab

...and for troubleshooting here, best to follow the troubleshooting sticky and at least give voltages

good luck

Oh, wow, wish I had known about that breadboard before. Also, are you talking about voltage of the transistors?

[rousejeremy]

Transistor voltages at C,B and E. Power supply too.
This is THE article to read about building Fuzz Faces. http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/fuzzface/fffram.htm

[smallbearelec]

The GEO article on the Fuzz Face explains to the decimal point How the thing works, though you may find the engineering-level detail hard to get your arms around for awhile. As you experiment some more, go back and read it again and you'll start having "light-bulb" moments, as many of us have. For some practicalities of breadboarding a Fuzz Face, try this How-To:

https://www.smallbearelec.com/HowTos/BreadboardSiFF/BreadboardSiFF.htm

I can't compete with the price of that E-Bay breadboard, but I do offer a kit of all the parts needed to set up on it. I also stock a huge variety of suitable silicon and germanium transistors at reasonable prices, many available nowhere else. Welcome to the Forum, and my Cave.

SD