Vulcan Rat Creation

[jfrabat]

PS: No, I did not get the PM!

Oh wow, sorry you didn't get it a couple days ago. Anyway, I hope that solves it for you, keep us posted. I sent you a test PM just now to see if you get that one.
Good luck!

No worries.  Thanks for taking the time to check my (poor) work!  And I did get the second one.

[jfrabat]

Ben, you are a GENIUS!  My pedal is working once again!  I just got to check the volume pot, which is not working 100%, but everything else is working just fine!

Quick question, though; I put the LED for the diode, but it does not light up when in use.  I read somewhere that it is normal for a clipping LED NOT to light up; is that so?

[Ben Lyman]

Mine lights up when I hit the strings and fades out when the notes fade out. Maybe crank the gain knobby up and also the guitar volume just to make sure you get enough signal to light the LED. it also must have some diode(s) going opposite direction, so make sure you got those too

[jfrabat]

I do; I got 2 diodes oposite plus the LED.  Maybe my LED is backwards and thus does not light up?  The cathode is connected to the circuit's ground...  Or maybe the LED is not bright enough?Gain and guitar were all the way up. 

[bluebunny]

You shouldn't necessarily expect a clipping LED to light up.

[rankot]

2 germaniums in series and one BAT46 on the reverse direction.

I don't think those are Germanium diodes, they more look like unbranded Schottky type.

[jfrabat]

I chenged the diodes; I got one BAT and I dont remwmbwr what the other was.

[highwater]

I once breadboarded a Distortion+ clone with radioshack LEDs for clipping diodes... if I remember correctly, I couldn't see the LEDs light-up unless the room was dark.

Not the same thing, of course, but if an opamp with 10k in series only barely lit the LEDs, a bipolar transistor with a 10k collector resistor certainly can't do any better.

Long story short, don't worry about *that* unless you don't like the way it sounds... or at-least if it still sounds the same with different diodes.

[jfrabat]

You probably experience a significant Volume drop between S1 open & closed mode - if so, a better arrangement with a series resistor at S1-Off mode should result in no need for Volume pot adjustment...

Antonis, can you expand on this; I am experiencing a significant volume drop with S1, but I want to understand how I would wire that series resistor you mentioned...