Fuzz Factory clone issue

[theWicked]

I built a Fuzz Factory clone, true to the original as far as I know. Turned out awesome but I've had an intermittent problem with it. Right now the problem is here and not going away. The pedal works fine with my guitar at full volume. If I back my guitars volume off even the slightest bit the pedal stops working and doesn't do anything. I turn it back up to full and the pedal kicks back on. Anybody experience this with a pedal before?

[therecordingart]

Just a shot in the dark, but maybe check the resistors at input stage of the pedal? I'm on a kick with load loss calculations, and the only assumption I can come up with is that impedance of the input of the pedal is such that only your strongest of signals from your guitar make it in, but as you dial back the volume knob there is just too much signal loss from the impedance relationship between the guitar and pedal.

A complete guess from a noob so take it with a grain of salt.

[jkokura]

The settings of the Fuzz Factory are pretty interesting. Is it possible that it has something to do with the way you have the knobs set? Try it in a fairly stock fuzz face sound with the volume up to unity, the Gate and Comp at '0' and the Stab to '10'. Set gain to taste. If that sounds pretty normal as you turn the volume down and cleans up a bit, your FF is fine. IF it doesn't work in that setting, then it's a problem in the circuit.

What'd you build it on? Where'd you get the schem? Did you modify it or change any values?

jacob

[nick d]

                      I'm in the process of building one of these using the Madbean schemo , just wait waiting to get a few bits . I've heard
                      some demos of the Z*** V** version , very variable impressions , various comments from  - " totally amazing " to " virtually uncontrollable " -
                     so I thought I'd have a shot . Be interesting to compare the results . What schemo , Ge trannys etc. are you using ?

[therecordingart]

                      I'm in the process of building one of these using the Madbean schemo , just wait waiting to get a few bits . I've heard
                      some demos of the Z*** V** version , very variable impressions , various comments from  - " totally amazing " to " virtually uncontrollable " -
                     so I thought I'd have a shot . Be interesting to compare the results . What schemo , Ge trannys etc. are you using ?

I've built the same one. It has a few usable sweet spots and a bunch of different noise maker options outside of that. Unlike the Uglyface which is just a noise maker.

[nick d]

                     I'll let you know how I get on . Did UglyFace , lots of silly fun , made wierd sqeaky noises just before it died !.

[theWicked]

The schematic was drawn by M.C. I can't remember where I found it. I used the "All American" matched pair transistors from Small Bear. I figured out what was up and kinda feel like an ass. It was just the sensitivity to the guitar volume knob. Between 9 and 10 there was a huge ramp up in distortion and gain. That being said you can dial in a bunch of different sounds just from the guitar volume knob. All is well now. Awesome pedal.

I had a trophy shop do the engraving. The old man asked me if it was a doomsday device.

[Hides-His-Eyes]

How much did he charge, it looks great

[blooze_man]

I'm glad you didn't use the white washer on that cool box 

[nick d]

                           Got this sort of working - I've used an assortment of pnp Ges , ended up with 2 OC 81 , with
                            less than ideal gains . On some settings , I get a good if extreme fuzz , so basically its a runner ,
                            a bit more work on hfe selection needed , I think . I've have another shot at it when I get fed up
                             with playing with my new valve amp !

[theWicked]

How much did he charge, it looks great

Less than 10 bucks. It wasn't freehand either. He had a machine that traced big metal letters and it scratched them into the metal with a diamond tip.

[deadastronaut]

How much did he charge, it looks great

Less than 10 bucks. It wasn't freehand either. He had a machine that traced big metal letters and it scratched them into the metal with a diamond tip.

that looks cool,  great idea!.....nice one, ..

[theWicked]

I'm gonna open this back up instead of starting a new thread. It has to do with this pedal.I'm pretty sure the chassis ground and circuit ground are the same on my build. Should that be so? The pedal makes noise that goes away when you touch it, just like my guitar strings on my poorly shielded guitar. Thoughts?