more electra questions..

[christobean]

i finally got my electra working, but i only get sound when the volume on my axe is cranked.  also there is no distortion unless i use the neck pickup.  any suggestions or ideas of what is going on??  thanks

[fixr1984]

check to make sure you have the transistor pin out correct. That was my first project and I had the tranny in backwards and had a similar problem.

[christobean]

alright will do.. is there any chance that the  resistors are messing it up? i did not use the specified values but they were pretty close

[RLBJR65]

This would be my first guess as well, the Electra Dist. is LOUD.

check to make sure you have the transistor pin out correct. That was my first project and I had the tranny in backwards and had a similar problem.

Could be the resistors if you are to far out of spec. You can usually get by with 10%.
Which resistors did you change and what values did you use?

Richard

[ildar]

This would be my first guess as well, the Electra Dist. is LOUD.
Richard

If I may put in my 2 cents, I find that the Electra is loud when using si (esp. 1n400x) diodes. When using ge or a combination of si/ge, the output is lessened.
christobean, it sounds like you're having a tranny problem. Which one did you use?

[christobean]

i used a 2N3904 tran., 2 ge diodes, and .1 uF caps.
resistors were as follows
R1=1000ohm(680ohm specified)
R2=1M5(2M2 spec.)
R3=47k(47k spec.)
and in place of the 100k pot i used a 47k resistor.

i am going to switch up the transistor pinout now to see if that fixes it
thanks for all the help so far!

[ildar]

Your 1k ohm at the emitter may be the culprit. Try a lower value. I use 330 in mine=higher output.

[christobean]

it works! i just switched the transistor pinout and it works awesome now
i will definately keep the output resistor in mind for future projects though

thanks to all

[fixr1984]

Good to hear, how do you like it. I use mine thru a marshall half stack and it just cranks. Thru a solid state amp its more fuzz than distortion but its still cool.

[junkyjunky]

glad to hear you got it up and running.

[christobean]

its pretty sweet, right now im running it through my squier bass amp with my strat and it sounds pretty good.  it has that marshally feel to it(as oposed to a smoothish fender-y tone) which is a nice switchup from y fenders/squiers.
and i cant really complain with the $2 price tag,,all salvaged parts, an altiods tin enclosure, and 2 jacks.
overall a great build

[ildar]

 
I always liked my Electra. Like a few forumites, it was my first build-I use it quite a lot.
I have toyed with the idea of sticking a (Marshall maybe?) tonestack at the end of the circuit. Maybe I'll get around to it one of these days.

[RLBJR65]

I'm not very good with the math but with that 1M5 in there you may not even be clipping the signal at all or very little. The schems I have seen show either the 2M2 or a 3M3. If you like it thats really all that counts though

Your 1k ohm at the emitter may be the culprit. Try a lower value. I use 330 in mine=higher output.

Yep a 330, 470 or 560 in there will give you more gain.

Have some fun with it now that you have it working you could try a couple of simple mods.
For OD / distorion use an spst switch on the diodes so you can turn them on or off. With them off you will have a pretty good little OD.
For adjustable distortion level stick a 1M pot wired as a variable resistor in series with the 1M5. distortion level controll.
Here is another mod to add some soft clipping too.
http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/richardo/distortion/onetrans.gif

Richard