Assembled a clone og Black Arts Toneworks Ritual - sounds weird!

[hymsk]

Hi there!

New to building stompboxes, but tried to assemble a Ritual clone from a kit. When I was done and ready to test out, it sounded weird. I had a original ritual before, so I know it shouldn't sound like this, and it also has a fall out in the sound. I made a small video here where you can hear the stomp box:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4XkXNlzd58

Any idea where to start with the troubleshooting? Are the transistors bad? Is there a short?

[TejfolvonDanone]

Could you post the DC bias voltages of the transistors? With only the sound i bet none of us can really help.

[LightSoundGeometry]

its pinching and gated ..you are not properly biased or have the wrong transistors on the circuit.

[hymsk]

Thanks for the reply.

Sorry for the missing info, but I will try to give it.

Here's the schematic:


Here's what components I used:


Here are pictures of the circuit:



Hope that helps in getting closer to a solution?

[induction]

Hope that helps in getting closer to a solution?

It helps a little bit, but what we really need is the DC voltages on the legs of the transistors.

[hymsk]

I don't think I can see the DC voltages on the transistors? Or di I measure that with a multimeter or something else?

[thermionix]

So it's a (Si NPN) Fuzz Face.  R4 is my first suspicion, but can't say without the voltages.

Yes, you read the DC voltages (to ground) with a multimeter.

[ElectricDruid]

+1 Agree. The DC biasing is way out, or perhaps one of the transistors is not in correctly?

The next step is measuring the voltages to try and locate the problem.

HTH,
Tom

[LightSoundGeometry]

unless you have tested a circuit out ona breadboard and confirmed the device is working properly, you should always use pin sockets that way you can swap the trannies in and out until you get a working circuit.

if anything, you can polish up your component desoldering skills and redo the pcb board with some sockets, but like the others mentioned you need to measure the coltages on the transistor legs with the DMM using the red probe on the legs and the black probe on ground.

[duck_arse]

I can't see which of your resistors is/is supposed to be the 820R. can you indicate which it is, and also measure the value w/ your multimeter?

[Cozybuilder]

The thing sounds like it has a bad connection, maybe a ground is loose. If it were mine, I'd be certain of solder joints etc first.

[MissingFingers]

Was this issue resolved? I have the same kit and just tested it and had the same problem.

[Gus]

First are you sure it is a good copy of the fuzz?
Maybe someone traced it wrong and it has wrong component values. 
Who sells the kit ? did you ask them for support?

I just did a DC sim of the circuit posted in reply 3
Sims at 1.8VDC and 5.7VDC(R1 150k) What do you measure in circuit with a battery that is close to 9VDC?
The LT spice 2n2222 model often sims very close to a build

With a one knob circuit like this you don't want to adjust R4 you want to adjust R1
Most of the resistors in a FF like circuit affect the bias. You need to know what does what

The web fix of a trim at a collector or drain is not what I would do

Looking at the pictures I would check every resistor value
Look for solder bridges
Check the DC voltages

I then simmed this with 100K for R1 and got voltages I like in one knob fuzz like this