Can't get my f***ing pedal working!!!

[Paul Marossy]

sorry for all the swearing on this thread! stompbox building is kinda frustrating haha!

/Richard

Yeah, it can be when you first start out. A lot of that is just because you don't really know what you are doing as a beginner. 

[Ben N]

  First of all I wouldn't recommend using it for that.

LOL & +1000!

[kirs]

2) The tone does not last that long. It kinda disapears after a short while. like a starve effect or something. how can i avoid that?

Sounds like a biasing issue.  I built this circuit with a 2N2222 and had the same issue.  Might want to play with the value of R1 until you get something that is able to hold sustain.

[DakariRichard]

Sounds like a biasing issue.  I built this circuit with a 2N2222 and had the same issue.  Might want to play with the value of R1 until you get something that is able to hold sustain.

I tried switching around on the values of R1, and it helped. I think i will order the correct transistor tho, because now i just use some ones i just had laying around!
thanks for all the help guys!

[Paul Marossy]

Sounds like a biasing issue.  I built this circuit with a 2N2222 and had the same issue.  Might want to play with the value of R1 until you get something that is able to hold sustain.

I tried switching around on the values of R1, and it helped. I think i will order the correct transistor tho, because now i just use some ones i just had laying around!
thanks for all the help guys!

Yeah that might be your problem. All transistors are NOT created equal.  

The layout linked indicates an MPSA13 transistor. An MPSA13 is a darlington transistor and it has WAY WAY WAY more gain than a BC140 does. As long as everything else is correct, that is your problem right there.

A 2N2222 will never work properly, either. A 2N5089 would get closer, but it's still not enough gain to be a substitution.

[Ben N]

I had the same complaint about my Bazz Fuss (fizzy decay), and folks here at the time told me that this was in the nature of the circuit. But when I stuck a one-transistor boost in front of it (can't remember if it was the "NPN boost" or the Big Muff input stage), it became a sustain monster. Rather like the Whisker Biscuit project at runoffgroove.com.

[DakariRichard]

cool! thanks!

but now i wonder, would there be any way of adding a pot to controll sustain? and in that case, what value should the pot have? thought this would be a cool mod, since sometimes, its nice to have sustain, and sometimes not!

and also, should the pot lugs go to where R1 goes, and thats it? in that case, i think im kinda getting the hold of this haha!
here is the schematic:
http://johannburkard.de/resources/Johann/simple-diode-clippers-and-distortion-circuits-bazz.jpg

[Ben N]

Look at any transistor Big Muff schematic, and take the circuit through the -- you guessed it -- "sustain" control. That'll do ya. I'm pretty sure that circuit is isolated as a booster on Jack Orman's page (search AMZ effects) as "Muffer" or "Muffmaster" or some such thing--just make sure it doesn't have clippers. That sustain control, or the volume control on the output of any similar booster, will operate as a sustain control when you stick it in front of a Bazz Fuss.

[Paul Marossy]

I had the same complaint about my Bazz Fuss (fizzy decay), and folks here at the time told me that this was in the nature of the circuit.

Yes, but what transistor did you use? A darlington is a very different animal than your run of the mill general purpose transistor. A low gain gen purpose tranny in this circuit will sound splatty and not have any sustain because the gain is too low.

[Ben N]

I used an MPSA13, and I suspect that my results were better than the OP's--it wasn't entirely splatty, I just found the decay unsatisfying. But sticking a boost in front really took care of that.

BTW, that circuit went through several permutations. They didn't all have the Darlington, did they? OTOH, sticking a non-Darlington tranny in the Darlington version of the circuit is bound to come up short.

[Paul Marossy]

I used an MPSA13, and I suspect that my results were better than the OP's--it wasn't entirely splatty, I just found the decay unsatisfying. But sticking a boost in front really took care of that.

Oh, I see, your case is different. I see where you're coming from.

BTW, that circuit went through several permutations. They didn't all have the Darlington, did they? OTOH, sticking a non-Darlington tranny in the Darlington version of the circuit is bound to come up short.

Yeah, that's what I am getting at, you can't put a regular gen purpose transistor in it and expect to work correctly, which it sounds like is the OP's problem and one other person that mentioned a 2N2222.