Fuzz Face help needed - are my trannies knackered or what?

[petemoore]

   how using Polyester caps to decouple the power supply, rather than electrolytics, could have any influence on the sound...
  The reason I see teeny little caps paralleled to large electrolytics in some circumstances is that electrolytics don't necessarily handle very high frequencies well.
  Electro's have the worst track record for usable life, I've had enough troubles with them that I know about, and probably many others I didn't or don't know about [like probably what's failing in the RCA Victor right now}...anything else I can use wherever I can is a choice that has 'Ad and Disad' vantages.

[mac]

I just replaced the 22uF and 2.2uF elect for poly caps. Not the cap used to decouple the power supply.


mac

[DuncanM]

I just replaced the 22uF and 2.2uF elect for poly caps. Not the cap used to decouple the power supply.

OK, that's fair enough - the 2.2uF is a definitely prime candidate, I probably would leave the 22uF but if you say it makes a worthwhile difference, I'll have to try it... I think I have some big polyesters in a box somewhere. 
Sorry if I came on too strong, I was mainly concerned with the neg. ground issue.

[lovric]

of course FF will clean up since a buffer has less than unity gain. impedance conversion that buffer does will allow for more highs into FF.

TS9 in front of FF works because supplies are decoupled. it's good that you actually tried all the combinations.

as you said, int he NG conversion the battery's resistance is between emiter and NG. also, true what you said about where guitar pickup is placed. mine never worked good with NG. and, battery will really last a long time in FF, so saving it is IMO a good reason for the NG conversion.

search the board for R.G.'s comments on FF with NG. they're all against and he deposits his experience along with it. he said at geofex, but reiterated it much stronger here.

unless you have already done it, go check analogalchemy's FF math helper.

in the end, your taste is the highest judge. i'll recomend that you stick with PG and unless http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/diagrams/ezface_blend_cap.jpg does it for you, make a version of TS9 input buffer with Si PNP transistor and have  entire engine on one battery. and it'll allow even for SPST switch.

[DuncanM]

of course FF will clean up since a buffer has less than unity gain. impedance conversion that buffer does will allow for more highs into FF.

TS9 in front of FF works because supplies are decoupled. it's good that you actually tried all the combinations.

as you said, in the NG conversion the battery's resistance is between emiter and NG. also, true what you said about where guitar pickup is placed. mine never worked good with NG. and, battery will really last a long time in FF, so saving it is IMO a good reason for the NG conversion.

search the board for R.G.'s comments on FF with NG. they're all against and he deposits his experience along with it. he said at geofex, but reiterated it much stronger here.

unless you have already done it, go check analogalchemy's FF math helper.

in the end, your taste is the highest judge. i'll recomend that you stick with PG and unless http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/diagrams/ezface_blend_cap.jpg does it for you, make a version of TS9 input buffer with Si PNP transistor and have  entire engine on one battery. and it'll allow even for SPST switch.

Thanks - yes I tried a couple of schemes to alter the input, AND I tried making a PNP emitter follower like the TS9 input. Nothing worked completely to my satisfaction but I SHOULD give it another chance, I guess.

I'll have to start a new thread with diagrams to explain my thoughts as to why Neg. Ground can produce oscillations in the FF. I did study RG's comments but didn't find a detailed explanation.

[lovric]

i feel that you are closer to an explanation or at least to point out the factors which could cause trouble in NG variation of FF .

battery in new position does give new ways for signal to feed back into circuit. maybe the new position of the guitar pickup in the circuit has its side-effects too. unfortunately i neither have the needed knowledge nor experience to answer.

R.G. mentioned that it's hard to trace all the feedbacks in circuit that cause unwanted oscillations and noise, let alone in PNP-NG setup. but, still i wanted to contribute my hyperinflated two cents.

my attempt with NPN FF supplied with positive voltage on emitters and negative ground oscillated wildly with the big polarized cap across supply, and oscillated grossly without it. i should have said that it didn't work at all. i reverted everything to the authentic version -> PG.

i made a mistake in the previous msg. i meant to say modding the FF for NG to save a battery is not worth it since the battery will already last for a long time in ordinary/authentic version.

the PNP buffer should work with the normal-original version of FF where the ground is positive. not with the flipped supply. i apologize for commenting since i haven't tried adding the buffer myself, just wanted to be more precise on what i had in mind.