Problem with Dallas Rangemaster and introduction

[Trolorol]

Hello, I am João I am from Portugal and I am 23 years and I am a live sound engineer. I consider myself a hobbyist in electronics and I play guitar since my teen years.

I recently discover the world of DIY stompboxes and I thought to give it a go, but I am having some problems with my first project.

I bought a lot of transistors from ebay (including OC44) and I've made the Rangemaster with the schematics from Fuzz Central with almost the same components (I was missing 2 metal film resistors so I used carbon ones no bigy for a testdrive).

Problem:
- The sound goes thru, and I can adjust the volume, but those mids frequencies doesn't distort at all, its just clean sound, I've been searching on my bff (AKA Google ) but I've come out empty.

As anyone had this problem, can someone help me figure this out ?

Thank you all in advance.

[Philippe]

the Dallas Rangemaster was designed to excite the upper frequencies...think of it as a treble-oriented overdrive.

[Trolorol]

But the problem is that isn't overdriving, is just clean signal...

[Ben Lyman]

Welcome! I'm no expert but I never thought it was supposed to get distorted, although I'm sure you could figure out a way to make it that way if you wanted.
Most people run it into an already overdriven amp (or OD pedal) but I think this guy gives a pretty good sample (20 seconds in) of what it sounds like on it's own:

[Trolorol]

Welcome! I'm no expert but I never thought it was supposed to get distorted, although I'm sure you could figure out a way to make it that way if you wanted.
Most people run it into an already overdriven amp (or OD pedal) but I think this guy gives a pretty good sample (20 seconds in) of what it sounds like on it's own:

Yeah but I was expecting something like this:

[Electric Warrior]

It's a booster, not an overdrive pedal. It can push an amp into overdrive, though.

[Ben Lyman]

Ahh yes, I see... hmm... perhaps in the JMI vid the amp is turned up just to the far edge of "clean" and the box is driving it over the top when switched on 

[Finom1]

Hello,
Is this the sound you are looking for?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFrgw49MrBw

[davent]

Are you running it into a tube amp?

[Trolorol]

Yup I know its a booster and not an overdrive or distortion pedal but the finishing results are the same, too clean and no boost and the volume thru the dallas is lower then the bypassed one so that is strange also. Regarding the treble boost, yes it kinda boost them, but its not close to some other clones and its even further from the real one.
I ran it in two amps, a Line 6 Spider 3 (75w) and a Kustom KG100HFX (100W), both on clean channel.

[Trolorol]

Plus, I did another test now with my line 6 with a very soft distortion on the amp, and it sounds the same with and without the pedal...

[Trolorol]

And assuming that is the way is supposed to act, and to be honest I can get a nice sound with an high gain on the amp, the pedal is boosting those trebles, but at the same time attenuates the volume, and that is another problem (I think?, at least on the vids it wasn't like that), if I am playing loud, when I activate it the hole thing just losses all the volume and I can't barely ear it..
I am going to keep searching and I will post here if I find an answer.

Meanwhile this is the schematic I used and followed by the letter:
http://fuzzcentral.ssguitar.com/rangemaster.php

[mth5044]

It should not be making the signal more quite, it is a booster after all. This had happened to me once when I put the transistor in backwards (I think), but your safest bet is to post a link to the schematic you used and measure the voltages on the transistor legs. What is your power supply set up?

I've never tried the range master in to a solid state amp. I imagine it will cut bass, but I doubt you will get the drive sounds from the YouTube video.

[Trolorol]

It should not be making the signal more quite, it is a booster after all. This had happened to me once when I put the transistor in backwards (I think), but your safest bet is to post a link to the schematic you used and measure the voltages on the transistor legs. What is your power supply set up?

I've never tried the range master in to a solid state amp. I imagine it will cut bass, but I doubt you will get the drive sounds from the YouTube video.

Yup the part of the sound I understand that it isn't the same without a valve amp...
But the sound attenuator issue I hope is the transistor backwards, but at the same time I am afraid of turning it, I only have 1 OC44, will it broke if I turn it around?

[anotherjim]

A common error is to have the power polarity reversed. This is a positive ground circuit with the + battery wire connected to the input jack ring contact and the - battery wire to the circuit. The result of getting it wrong can be similar to having the transistor reversed.

[Trolorol]

A common error is to have the power polarity reversed. This is a positive ground circuit with the + battery wire connected to the input jack ring contact and the - battery wire to the circuit. The result of getting it wrong can be similar to having the transistor reversed.

But in the schematic (see link in previous post) the positive lead is in the circuit and not on jack as you say, or am I wrong ?

[karbomusic]

There are two schematics there, an NPN and a PNP so which one did you build, the polarity matters between those two.

Secondly, I agree with your idea at least of smoothness/distortion whathaveyou, that's the entire point of still using Ge transistors in this circuit (at least for me it would be). See R.G.s mention of it here, see the point about 'subtle distortion added' in his article:

http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/Rangemaster/atboost.pdf

However, subtle is the important term here me thinks and that subtlety combined with pushing the input of what it is going into.

[Trolorol]

There are two schematics there, an NPN and a PNP so which one did you build, the polarity matters between those two.

Secondly, I agree with your idea at least of smoothness/distortion whathaveyou, that's the entire point of still using Ge transistors in this circuit (at least for me it would be). See R.G.s mention of it here, see the point about 'subtle distortion added' in his article:

http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/Rangemaster/atboost.pdf

However, subtle is the important term here me thinks and that subtlety combined with pushing the input of what it is going into.

It is the PNP one, I used a OC44

[karbomusic]

PNP is a positive ground circuit.

[Trolorol]

I was just writing that and I saw the warning in the reply box  , I have a -9 on the input voltage in the layout schematic, that means I have to put the ground on the -9 and the battery positive on ground ?