Slow Gear not gating.

[rousejeremy]

I just built a Slow Gear using Cathexis' layout. When I'm not playing I can hear the amp buzzing. I though this was supposed to gate the sound until playing?
Anyway, when I hit a note I can hear the initial pick attack, then the guitar goes silent. It's working backwards. I know someone else had this same issue in an earlier thread and it was mentioned to put a compressor or distortion before it. I tried and got the same results.

[oldrocker]

Well I can't help with the buzzing so you might have a build issue there. (Possible grounding, solder bridge)  Did you use any component substitutions?  That is critical with this build.  Did you find the right Zenor diode?  A 5.1 volt will work that's what I used but I believe it calls for a 5.6 volt.  I used 5952's for the FETs and 4401's for the bi-polars.  I couldn't get others to work for me at all.  Setting the 10K trim and adjusting the pots to find the strongest swell or sweet spot is tricky. My 10K trim had to be full one way or the other I can't remember.  Anywhere in between and it wouldn't work.  It may be different with yours.   Notice in the photo below the little white dots with the knobs pointing at them.  You'll need to do something similar since mine will only work when they are in those positions.  So there's a bit of tweaking involved to get the Slow Gear to work.  Don't give up, you'll get it with a little persistance.  It is IMHO one of the more touchy circuits to get working.

[cpnyc23]

i have to agree with oldrocker... it took me a long time to get my slow gear working the way it should.   for me however, the controls can be the same but it might sound different one day to the next. not so much a sweet spot as a sweet range.

that said, i think its probably about time to break out the meter and check your voltages.

-chris

[Gila_Crisis]

i built my Slow Gear with all the mods posted on GGG:
        NEW              OLD
C2:   1uF EL   -->   0.022uf
C6:   0.47uf NP --> 0.47uf EL
R14: 1k       -->      470
R16: 3.9k     -->     390
TR1: 25k      -->    10k

plus i changed the attack pot from 20k to 50k (more attack time), C6 form 470nF to 680nF (a bit more decay), the trim with a 100k one and i added a 3PDT switch with a 2SK30 on one side and a 2N5457 on the other (change the "feeling", the 5457 is a bit more smooth, but the SK30 works best for me).
it works really fine!