Help me DIYstompboxes, you're my only hope!!!

[buckwheat]

I've been trying for years to build one pedal. Just one lousy pedal. I went with the fuzzes because they are easy enough, but I've never been successful. Either all I get is buzz, or I get nothing at all. Nothing at all is what prompts me to reach out in desperation to you guys. By the law of averages I should have gotten one right by now:). Any help at all would be so appreciated!!!

I went with strip board this time because it's easier to lay out for me, and I figured any bad soldering on my part would be kept to a minimum. 

Anyways, the nitty-gritty,

Here's the schematic:



Here's the layout (It looks exactly the same in person. The only thing I changed was directly soldering pins 1 and 2 on VR-1 instead of putting a wire there.):



Here's the parts list:

R1 - 1M
R2 - 33K
R3 - 470R
R4 - 100K
R5 - 1M
R6 - 4.7K LED
VR1 - 10K Trimmer
VR2 - 1K (2K) Linear
VR3 - 500K Log
Q1 & Q2 - AC127 NPN Ge OR BC108 NPN Si
D1 - 1N4001
C1 - 2.2uf Electrolytic
C2 - 22uf Electrolytic
C3 - 0.1uf
C4 - 47uf Electrolytic
Current Draw: 4ma

Again, any help will be so...well, helpful. Thanks in advance.

[aron]

Can we see your jack wiring? If you toggle the foot switch do you hear a straight signal?

[artifus]

only had a quick scan and assuming that there are indeed track cuts under c1, r3 and c3, have you checked your transistor pin out? are they in sockets? also, is your switch the right way round? easy mistake-a-da-make-a. do you have a multimeter for continuity check and voltages?

*edit* switch wiring looks odd. you've skipped a beat. bypass (remove or short) the switch.

[alparent]

First thing I notice.....you need to cut the trace in the middle of C1, C4 and R3. 'cause now your just shorting the 2 pins together.

Welcome to the forum......and welcome to your first working pedal!

Switch looks OK to me.

Yes pictures of your actual build would be great.

[sundgist]

Are there cuts under C1, R3 and C3? Are you sure of the pinouts for your transistors?
Otherwise looks OK to me.

edit: obviously took me too long to type this....

[LucifersTrip]

welcome...a couple suggestions. since you have been trying for a long time, I would take one step back and do the traditional first step... breadboard it and get it working before committing to solder.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/700-Point-Solderless-PCB-Breadboard-SYB-120-board-/260969755580?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cc30273bc

ok...you already skipped a step and went straight to soldering. As a newbie, the best thing is to simplify it as much as possible. get down to the bare bones circuit with no extras [R1, R5 ,C4, D1 are not needed for the circuit to work. they are "improvements"]:

here's the original:


secondly, remove the 3PDT from the equation. go straight from the jacks to the board.

Now that you're down to JUST THE CIRCUIT, it will be much easier to troubleshoot.  If you can take voltage readings with a meter, that'd be a big plus.

[buckwheat]

Alrighty then.  Took me a sec to get this all together. Indeed you were all right that I did NOT cut between C1, R2, and C3. Whoops!!! I made the cuts with excitement that this would solve the problem, but I still got nuthin. I can hear a little buzz when I touch the pots if that means anything.

Where would I take voltage readings from to give you guys a good idea what going on?

@LucifersTrip -  I bought enough parts to make this thing three times, so I'm totally going to try that!!!!

Thanks to everyone for your help so far. I realllly appreciate it sooo much.

Heres some pics.

The board and what I hope is the correct transistor orientation. They are not socketed:



From Left to Right: B-C-E



What the internet told me:

[SmoothAction]

3rd pic from the bottom it looks like the tip of the jack is a black wire... I dont see a black wire running to your switch from the tip of the jack.

[tiges_ tendres]

I noticed you soldered your germanium transistors directly to the board. Did you test them for gain and leakage first?  Did you buy them from a reputable source?

Not all germanium transistors are created equally. If any!

[tiges_ tendres]

I also just noticed that it doesn't look like you have much solder on your switch wires. Is there any on there at all?

[LucifersTrip]

Where would I take voltage readings from to give you guys a good idea what going on?

from debug link above:

Now, using the original schematic as a reference for which part is which measure and list the voltage on each pin of every transistor. Just keep the black lead on ground, and touch the pointed end of the red probe to each one in turn. Report the voltages as follows:

Q1
C =
B =
E =

Q2
C=
B=
E=

...and get it working without the switch first...

[buckwheat]

Just checked the transistors:

9V Battery=9.47

Q1:
C=0.86
B=0.03
E=0.00

Q2:
C=5.56
B=0.87
E=0.74

[PRR]

1) C1 is wired backward. (Someone mixed PNP and NPN polarities.)

2) Q1 B should be ~~0.2V, not dang near zero.

Lift one leg of C1. Does Q1 B come up?

If not, check the path from VR2 through R4 to Q1 B. I suspect a bad joint or miss-wire.

[buckwheat]

Ok. I player around a little and here's what I got:

Without the C1 capacitor-
Q1:
C:9.07
B:9.36
E:9.32

Q2:
C:9.41
B:9.30
E:9.36

R4:9.37 on one pole; and 9.05 on the other

With the C1 capacitor turned around (positive heading to Q1's B):

When I did this I was able to get a clean sound out of the guitar, but I had to turn it all the way up. No fuzz. Also, the 500k pot seemed to affect the tone while the 1k did nothing. 

Q1:
C:0.87
B:0.03
E:0.00

Q2:
C:5.61
B:0.87
E:0.74

R4:0.74 on one pole; and 0.03 on the other

[artifus]

have you eliminated the switch from the equation yet?

Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth.

[buckwheat]

I bypassed the switch, going directly in and out, to and from the jacks and got the same result. I hear a clean signal if I turn the guitar and amp all the way up, and the 500k pot still seems to affect the tone.

[Morocotopo]

Ok, now eliminate the jacks. Divide and conquer.

[garcho]

Breadboard everything! Why not tweak the circuit to your taste before you solder it? Try out a super simple silicon fuzz with super cheap silicon transistors that are super common, like 2N3904, 2N2222, 2N4401, BC547, etc. Solder that together a couple two-three times. Buy sockets for your transistors, buy NEW (for you) germanium transistors from a reputable source, THEN try building a germanium fuzz. Then have a beer, sit back, and bask in glory.

[LucifersTrip]

can you double-check the vertical resistor to the left of the right transistor

i think orange, orange, black, red = 33ohms, not 33K

[lopsided]

can you double-check the vertical resistor to the left of the right transistor

i think orange, orange, black, red = 33ohms, not 33K

i think they are 5 strips resistors, so orange, orange, black, red, brown will make the 33k.