Question for Parallel Universe builders

[user]

I currently built the parallel universe pedal. Everything works fine except that im not getting enough amplification at the 5th pin of the LM-386. THe oscillations and gate pots work ok. When i probe around with the Cd player (at the minimum possible volume), i get the expected amplification and the 5th pin and slight distortions. But when i plug my guitar in, i hear only a faint amplification and even that only when i turn on the Oscillation switch.
I heard that this pedal was supposed to be a crazy Fuzz, so does it alone provide the Fuzz?? I did my setup like:
Guitar>>PU>>Amp
I hear no Fuzz..Am i missing something? Am i supposed to use other dist pedals before the PU to make it work properly?
And is the fuzz supposed to heard straight out of the 5th pin because thats the only thing that i thought would do the fuzz thing, because this circuit is basically nothing at all. Thanks in advance.. user!!

[MartyMart]

You may have the signal bleeding to ground some where
Get out your DMM and check all I/O and ground connections are good also check for
any solder "blobs" etc

MM

[reverberation66]

word to what he said above.  this is a crazy fuzz freakout box, it makes all kinds of sick sounds and you don't need any other effects to make it happen.  good luck.

[liakos]

i have an other problem when the oscillation in on and the pedal is bypassed there is a bleeding problem i and when you play with the frequency pot you hear a theremin-like sound but the pedal is bypassed!
any ideas??

[funkbass187]

its supposed to make the theremin like sound just by turning the freq. knob, but i think its only supposed to do that when you unplug your guitar. i'll go check mine out later and see if it does the same thing, i used a momentary button for the oscillator so i havent really had that on when bypassed.

[user]

You may have the signal bleeding to ground some where
Get out your DMM and check all I/O and ground connections are good also check for
any solder "blobs" etc

MM

I have blobs. Im building on stripboard  btw. Do blobs bleed signal? And yeah i dont have any signal at the ground contacts. The thing just doesnt seem to amplify much. ANd i dont have any guitar signal at the 3rd pin which is the input for the LM386.

[MikeH]

Mine is stupidly loud.  In fact, I'm thinking about ways to decrease the output.

[user]

Mine is stupidly loud.  In fact, I'm thinking about ways to decrease the output.

i guess youll have to replace the 5k level pot with another one with a wider range like 50k . Am i rite??

[MikeH]

I've tried everything from 1K to 100K and I still can't get it below line level.  I've tried linear and audio taper too.  I've thought about simply adding a resistor in the audio path at the output to bring down the level.  Not sure what effect that will have on the output impedence though, and if whatever effect it may have would be a bad thing.

[handwire]

try grounding the out in bypass mode, instead of the input, that may solve the oscillation bleed in bypass

[liakos]

thanx for the replies