Finished fuzz, but A LOT of noise..!

[windopz]

 Hi, i'm a beginner and this is my first project: a fuzz, the Tweak-o (small bear).
I finished it, but when I turn it into my amp and play the guitar, it get an incredible noise, like when you put the jack into your hand with the amp turned on.
I tried to put it into a metal box, to connect a cable from the battery's negative pole to the case but, ahhh: nothing!
The guitar sound, but the noise too much!
Please, help me!

Federico

this is the link to the schematic:
http://www.smallbearelec.com/Projects/TweakO/TweakO.htm

[smoguzbenjamin]

You usually get that sound when there's something wrong

Does it do the same when it's bypassed or not?

[windopz]

Yes: even if I bypass the fuzz the noise is present.
I controlled the schematic to search something wrong, but all its ok,I think.
The noise is similar to the ground noise, but the connection with a metallic box doesn't resolved nothing..
Do you think that my problem is a ground type problem?

[smoguzbenjamin]

Could be ground noise. Probably is, but where is it coming from?

Could be bad soldering. I sucked at soldering when I started I soldered all over the place lol. Check your wiring of the input jack, switch and output jack. That's probably your problem if the sound's there even in bypass.

[windopz]

It's a strange thing... I don't think that the problem is the soldering: yesterday a tried the fuzz at my friends home: he connected the guitar to the input fuzz with a jack, and the out fuzz to a computer type speaker using not a jack, but some little cables with two pliers mounted in the two limbs of the cable. Yesterday was the first time I saw my fuzz working!  :shock: There weren't any noises and the sound was perfect..
I can't understand it...    :x
Ok, now I'm going to mkee the 10.000.000° close inspection. Good luck to me..   :?

P.S. HELP

[Travis]

Sounds like your jacks are bad or wired incorrectly.  Are you using an external power supply, or a battery?

Signal goes to the tips, ground is at the base.  That would be the first thing that I checked.

[Peter Snowberg]

Welcome Federico,

As Travis said, if you have noise when the effect is bypassed, it is very likely that your problem is in the jack wiring. Is it possible that you might have used the wrong tabs? The other place to easily miswire things is the switch. The good news is that your actual effect circuit may work fine.

Do you have a meter? If not, it's the best tool (besides wire cutters and soldering irons) that you can get for electronics. Even a $20 meter will do you great. Anyway... if you do have one... try plugging a patch cable into the input jack and use the meter to measure resistace between the center conductor of that patch cable and various points in your wiring. You should be able to trace the signal line from the jack to the switch to the effect circuit. Do the same thing with the output jack. Chech your grounds too. At some point you will see the error.

Don't worry about it. These things happen to everybody. The more you build, the easier it will get. Remember that there are always plenty of people here that will help you through any problem you have with effects.

Take care,
-Peter

[windopz]

No, I haven't a meter, but I can get one from my uncle: I thought to buy it, and I think I will do this purchase soon.
Today I controlled all the jacks connections, but without a meter is more difficult to find the error.
However I decided to buy another perforated board and remake all the solderings from the begin, taking care to do all perfectly. All this only after the meter check..  
Thank you for the help you're giving to me, my friends: i will bring you up to date on the situation.   :wink:

P.S.= Is it important to use exclusively a stabilized power supply?Can I use a simple non-stabilized one?
I use it with a power supply: I hate batteries..!  

[ErikMiller]

I'll chime in and say that it sounds like your output jack was wired incorrectly. If your friend got it to sound good while bypassing the output jack, I'd check the connections to the jack.

As far as the power supply, the important thing is that the AC ripple be removed from the power. Stabilizing (regulating) helps with this, as does adding RC filtering.

[brett]

I hate batteries too!  They are expensive (in the long run) and they create waste.  You'll DEFINATELY need a *regulated* power supply.  Otherwise you'll get noise from ripples in your power.  Anyway, back to your main problem....  Definately re-check which tabs you are using on your output socket.  If your friend got a good sound by tapping into the effect with a couple of alligator clips, your problem must lie between where he tapped in and your output socket.  Maybe check that your cable is ok, too.  It sounds like it won't be too hard to fix.  Good luck!

[windopz]

Ok guys: today I checked the Tweak-O for the last time: I located the error and got it off!     The problem was in the output jack, you were right.
The problem now is another one( :oops: ): I don't think if this is normal...but the fuzz has a really crrrapppy sound! :evil:  When i bypass it the tone of my guitar (I'm talking about clean sound) sucks: it destroy the clean sound, it's more dark, without any emphasis. I discovered it by connecting the guitar directly to the amp, without the fuzz between.
And the distorted sound sucks too  :twisted: : no bass tones; when the tone pot is all to the left there are more bass but the distorsion go away! The dist volume is not too hight (sometime it's lower than clean sound..) and with the pot all to the right the tone don't fuzz, but crake! Is not a fuzz sound, or is an orrible fuzz sound, without bass and without volume! Bah...
I'm not shure that the circuit is been completely corrected: the sound I get from the stomp give me somewhat puzzled..
What do you think about it? Anyone tested the tweak-o project?
I don't know what else can I do...! Do you know it for me..? :?