guidelines to avoid power supply oscillation

[fuzzy645]

So I have had a couple of overdrive and fuzz builds where I experienced what I believe to be is power supply oscillation.

Example symptoms have included hearing a thump (or sometimes intermittent hiss with thump) if the battery moves, or if you tap the battery with your finger, or if certain wires move or are tapped with your finger.

To solve the problem any time that I have encountered it, it always seems the fix is to move the wires around a bit, so I am learning that wire layout seems to be very important.  Eventually I seem to get "lucky" and find the sweet spot where to move the wires, but it would be great if I could learn some common layout mistakes to avoid.

I know every circuit is different, but I'm wondering if there are some general "rules of thumb" regarding component layout that I should follow such as always keeping power wires away from signal, or using wire in certain part of a circuit, etc...   Any general advise is appreciated.

[PRR]

When tapping makes thumps, I'd be thinking "poor joints".

I apologize if all your joints are perfect.

[fuzzy645]

Thanks Paul.  I will look out for bad joints too then.

[armdnrdy]

If you move wires around and "noise" seems to diminish in a "high gain" overdrive or fuzz circuit, I would look to shielding the input and output wires.

This is a very common issue.