Ge PNP Fuzzface Strange Issue

[Blaisebaileythinagain]

Hey guys
I'm new here and pretty clueless, but have just finished a rather simple Ge PNP fuzz face build following the schematic on Geofex 'technology of the fuzz face' article, using AC128 transistors.
The circuit won't pass signal with the battery connected, but after I remove it, it seems to pass the fuzzed signal with somewhat of a gated / starved voltage sound (without any power supply connected).

If I hit the strings harder the output volume / amount of fuzz increases somewhat.

Perhaps the transistors are in fact NPN and it is a simple matter of reversing the two polarized caps?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

[GibsonGM]

Hi Blaise,

welcome to the forum!  It can be intimidating at first, hang in there.  If it won't pass sound with battery connected, then we need to debug... A few things could be going on...can you post a pic of your build, from the top and also from the bottom?     

Some more info is needed:

Did you breadboard this first, to see if you could make it work, or did you just solder it up?  Is it on a footswitch yet?
Do you have a meter and know how to use it?
Where did you get the transistors? AC128s are PNP...

Polarized caps will pass sound if in backwards, but it's not good for them and eventually they will probably fail.  Let's start with the transistor pinout and see what you've built - it is an easy circuit for the experienced to trace!

pic pic pic pic