The Fuzz face has broken me!!!

[jflam]

I'm tired, angry, and sick of this damn thing.  I've tried everything, I don't know what is wrong with this stupid f*!@ing effect.  All the connections are right.  I've put a trimpot on Q2's collector.  MY TRANNY'S ARE CORRECT.  I CALLED THE PLACE A BOUGHT THEM FROM AND I LOOKED IT UP ON THE INTERNET.

I get a clear signal from it and the volume works, but i have no fuzz.  

If anyone has any useful advice, I'm all ears.  This is my first effect and other than throwing it on the ground and smashing it to bits, I don't know what to do.

[smoguzbenjamin]

First of all, don't get frustrated Now you are positively sure that all your connections are OK? Have you also thought about cold solder joints? Just remelt all your solder joints, sometimes this is the problem

20% of pedal-building is voodoo, sometimes it doesn't work the first time, but then when you re-build it it suddenly works

Take your time, don't get mad or frustrated because that isn't gonna help. Just calmy take your time and check everything thrice.

Good luck! Once the first effect works, you're hooked

[jflam]

I'm sure all of the connections are right.  I've checked them over 50 times.  I will remelt all the solder connections though.

Thank you and i will post later with my results.

[AL]

It's ok it happens.  It happens quite frequently actually.  Just keep plugging away at it - I know you're probably tired of hearing that but IT WILL work.  Step away from it for a few days - that way you'll get a fresh perspective on it.  I once spent 2 weeks troubleshooting a Fuzz Face and finally realized (after several rebuilds) that I left a ground off.  Keep at it.

AL

[jsleep]

Yeah, don't get bummed out,  Fuzz Face is a difficult circuit.  It looks decievingly simple, but it's not.  I _hate_ working with germanium transistors, they are just too unperdictible.  You can't even measure the hFE with a lot of the inexpensive hFE meter functions.  IMHO, most of the time, generally speaking, transistor based circuits are more difficult than IC based circuits.  Due to biasing and such.  I _know your frustration.

Number one cause of problems with Fuzz Face:  Transistors, either not positioned right or not performing.

Move on to another project, and come back to it after a "cool down" period of time ;-)

JD

[BillyJ]

Well first thing is learn to walk away from it when it pisses you off.
That is key to making it happen. My first buoild I stayed up all night and was so pissed off that I couldn't get it to work.....I mean PISSED!!!
It take a few tries.
Take a look at some of these pages.
http://www.geofex.com/fxdebug/newfx.htm
http://www.geofex.com/fxdebug/fxdebug.htm
There is a link to debugging at the top of the page here too.
Just remeber you need a cool head to make these things work. A hammer will not fix it  :wink:
Walk away and come back when you feel up to it again....Don't worry it will still be broken unfortunately LOL!  But you'll get better at it as time goes on.
Hopefully someone here can give you some advice on ythat particular circuit. I haven't built one yet.
There is also this thing that says that when you do have everything correctly placed that the effect will work. It must, it has to, it has no choice. As long as the schematic is correct and you have done it properly than it simply has to work. What I am saying in a nutshell is something must be wrong so try to not be so sure that everything is wired up correctly as that could keep you from solving the probelm.
The place you bought them from and the internet can be misleading.
Datasheets and pinout can vary from maker to maker. So while you ,may have a particualr part number different manufacturers may all make them different.
Well sorry I am not much help in terms of making it work..Anyone else lend a hand??

[1wahfreak]

I understand how you feel. I was just building a Tonebender this weekend. I was certain that everything was correct. I checked everything 10 times and still it sounded like crap. I kept measuring the voltage at Q3 at was only getting .060v. I kept trying to bias the resistor trying to bring it into range but nothing worked. I finally flipped over the board a closely looked at the solder points when I saw that when I had previously desoldered a resistor, I only soldered one leg back on. Duh!! I know it's frustrating. I guess the lesson is never ignore the obvious. Sometimes I have to put it down for a day or 2 so I can get a better perspective on it. The other stupid thing I always forget to do is inset a plug into the jack when I measure. I soon as I measure and get no voltage, I immediately freak out and get all mad about it.    
Don't give up. You'll fugure it out and it will all be worth it. Check your voltages at each leg of the transistors and post them here. You'll get it up an running in no time!!

[smoguzbenjamin]

Exactly. I have an acoustifier pedal on a breadboard, and I can't seem to get the treble boost working right. So I put it down and concentrated on finishing up some FX that were almost complete except for offboard wiring.  :x I hate offboard wiring because I almost always sustain a burn of some sort, and it generally goes wrong anyway. But to the point: Don't fret, Ge transistors are a pain in the ass and you'll probably get it going anyway If not, try a simple boost like the LPB2 at www.generalguitargadgets.com. I personally prefer the LPB because it doesn't fuzz when it's gain is maxed out. But that's personal taste. :roll: Just relax and remember that you're doing this for your own pleasure.

[smoguzbenjamin]

double post

[ErikMiller]

What construction technique are you using? PCB? Perf?

The big things that get me are transistor pinouts and the connections from the board to the I/O (jacks, pots, switches).

[petemoore]

I know it's defeatist and you want all your time you've already invested to show results...I had FF's go up in smoke after working for a minute and at least another that I never did get going. I start new build after a while.
 For less and more experienced builders I recommend looking at each node, and connections to it and testing each resistor with a DMM before installing and soldering it, You've got the FF blues, I remem pretty much about how that goes, [I used to get slammin madd]ya just have to keep trying different approaches till ya get it.

[dan]

sense i'm to am having problems with my fuze face (first project too)-i'll ask here. i remember this being asked somewhere in another post but i couldn't find it.

at first no sound came out, but i found that when the fuzz nob is adjusted all the way to the left and the valume all the way to the right, a weak signal comes out. i guess you could say it's fuzzy, but hard to tell; not a good sound. what should i do?

[brett]

No fuzz from a fuzzface is probably not as rare as you think.  You're probably upset because you thought it was very simple and it should have worked.  Well, from my perspective, with about only 50% of boxes firing up on first attempt, I reckon it's a miracle that most of these things do eventually work.  Even if you ignore the possibility of broken wires and bad switches, etc, a fuzzface has about 10 critical parts, each of which can malfunction in multiple ways.  Anyway, enough of that.

Having a guess at what might solve your technical problem, I'd start looking at the fuzz potentiometer and the bypass cap (22uF).  This is because it seems that you are getting signal through, but not fuzzed.  Besides getting decent gain from the transistors, the fuzz comes from the pot and the capacitor.  If you have a DMM, check that there's a small, difference in voltage between the middle lug of the fuzz pot and the end lugs, when the pot is turned to about half way.  If the voltage is the same as one end, or is zero, you've got a bad pot.  More likely, there's a problem with the cap.  There's usually a white stipe on the side indicating negative.  If you are building a PNP positive to earth ff (probably the most common type), make sure this wire (next to the white stipe) is connected to the middle lug of the pot.  The other end goes to + 9V (ground).  If you are building another type of ff, check the voltage on the middle lug, and the voltage at earth, and orient the capacitor appropriately.  This is only a guess, but you never know....

Good luck!

[Mike Nichting]

Hey don't feel bad....again~!!  I have smashed a couple circuits by foot before I installed them in a box~!!! :lol:

  Maybe try another circuit as JD suggested.

Best of luck,
Mike N.

[Marcos - Munky]

This happened and happens with all here. I built lots of circuits that didn't worked. I suggest to you to try another effect, like the Joe Davisson's Easy Drive and PET (the tremolo one), or the Bazz Fuss/Buzz Box (check Runoffgroove.com).

[smoguzbenjamin]

There are soooo many easy builds out there, that are great fun My second build was the EA tremolo, after building the PNP boost in the beginners forum. It took some debugging at first but once it worked, I was happy! Definately do the EA tremolo if you like tremolo effects.

[Brian Marshall]

you dont have active picups do you.

or a bufferd pedal in front of it?

brian

[Luke]

hi,
another question is 'where did you get the transistors from?' I know some places (farnells in Australia for example) sell germanium transistors that arnt matched for the FF circiut. If you bought the transistors from Small Bear Electronics they are tested and WILL work, so at least you can be assured that the transitors are correct.
Stay with it man!
Cheers,
Luke

[jflam]

I got them from the Electronic Goldmine...have a lot of good stuff for cheap.  I don't know if they're matched..hell, i don't even know what that means

[petemoore]

did you indicate transistor type?
  Whatever it is can't be that bad
 A ff can be made fairly easily and cheaply
 Dont let 1 get you hard.
  I've gotten these ckts going in like 40 min.
  but I ten to take an hour,
  run the DMM on every resistor.
  take your time and plan all connections at every NODE [I work form left to right]
  if youdecide not to trim pot Q2's collector resistor, at least socket there.
  Then check all ground connections.
  Try the ckt BEfore any switches or jacks are applied [use test clips or wrap input and output 'hots' stripped connection wires] around the tips of the in/out plugs]
  Don't go for high gain transistors with a regular FF..go for the low gainer in Q1
   If you have insurmountable problems, study every possible way to apply your DMM to the ckt [DMM manual?] and read GEO tech of the FF
  I got a stack of FF's [don't ask how many, there to choose from in the scrap pile, [the ones I probably started another ckt soon after [another ff]] for postage on them I'll gladly send you more than one...to debug ... lol
  With Miss Piggy out of the closet now, I'm about ready to carefull wire me a batch of sockets in the latest [and what's beginning to look like one of the greatest] FF breakthroughs ever...one of the first things I ever thought of as far as modding way back in the 'beginning' [me being the 'two motors in one car's gotta be better' type]. I quite happy someone's's found and established that this is indeed a great iconcept!!!