2 questions on Austin Treble Blaster build

[Philo99]

I'm building this from the GEO effects instructions.

I got a transistor from Small Bear Electronics, which states to use a 56K (vice 68K stock) resistor and a 4.7 K for the bias circuit.

The build works, but the effects output is quite low (e.g. less than the unboosted signal).   It is trebley, though.

Two questions:

1) pinout on the 2BS77 transistor: I assumed that the pin marked with the arrow was the emitter and that the base was the middle pin. Did I get this wrong?

2) the voltage on the collector is 7.92 V (was 8.0 with the 56K resistor).  It should be about 7.0 volts.  This seems a likely cause of the low output; presumably I can compensate by reducing the size of the 4.7 K resistor to get the bias in the correct range.  Sound right?

Thanks for any help!

Phil

[petemoore]

what is the battery for supply measureing voltage wise?
 It seems the collector is probably too close to supply, which would lessen output, especially if the battery is 9V or less.

[Philo99]

Looks like I should try reducing the 4.7K resistor to get the collector voltage in the right range.

[petemoore]

You could clip a pot [alligator clips at ends of potwires] or tack a pot on or use a trimpot there....that way you can dial your way into good bias condition...then remove the pots connection to the circtuit without disturbing the shaft position, measure the resistance that got good bias, and replace it with a fixed resistor.
 I'm a long time fan of trimpots replacing resistors on collector/drains

[Philo99]

In the interest of answering the question for future readers...

1) I had the 2sb77 transistor wired backwards.  The triangle indicated the collector leg; the middle leg was the base.

2) I had miswired the bias resistors as well.

Fixed these things, and it works great now.  I may experiment with some mods to allow a full range boost (e.g. bigger input cap) and may also add an LED.  I wound up using a 5K trim pot in line with a 1K resistor to give some bias adjustability.  Have voltages from 6.4-6.9 on the collector leg--nice tones.

[petemoore]

I often wish I could have said something 'before'.
 beCause 3906's are relatively easy to come by, and if you're building a 'tweeky' [first time, breadboard, or with sockets/trims] Rm or Ge booster, you can probably get some kind of 'noramal' [maybe not optimal but for initial testing of polarity etc.] bias on it.
 Then after burning or not burning it up, and yer getting bias, Then ya put the  Rare Ge [with correct pinout] in thar...I don't know what it takes exactly to fry a transistor, they do Seem to work, I think I noticed Hiss after some reverse hookups, base in the middle.