Thunderchief a tad "Spitty"

[LP Hovercraft]

Sounds like it should per the ROG sample-IE killer VH, even Cobainesque Crunch.  One anomaly-when muted or barely muted it gates and even spits-I can's really tell if this effects the sustain.  My Brassblaster did this too.  I have biased all four J201's at 4.33V.  I'm wondering if this is normal or do I possibly have a bad JFET?

[B Tremblay]

What are you using for a power source?

[LP Hovercraft]

A new nine volt Energizer alkaline battery (9.4V) .  I do have the 100mF electro in place on the power rail, too.

[B Tremblay]

Try adding a 0.1uF cap across the rails in addition to the existing 100uF cap.

Can you provide more information about what makes the gated/spitty sound come and go?

[LP Hovercraft]

It happens only at extremely low dynamics (ie-not playing, but running fingertips along strings-type levels.  Definitely not a huge problem and in fact the "gating" action keeps the box dead quiet under that threshold.  I'm just wondering if this type of thing is indicative of an oversoldered FET?

OT:  BTW you guys ROCK!!  I built a Supreaux for my rhythm guitarist.  He told me that his Gibson SG finally sounds like a Gibson SG.

[B Tremblay]

Is there any way you could record a clip of this happening?

Does it happen with other guitars?  Does it change depending on the guitar's volume/tone knob settings?

I'm glad your bandmate likes the Supreaux - it's one of my favorites as well.

[LP Hovercraft]

I'll try to record one but I don't have the necessary equip.  The spitting goes away when rolling back the highs on the guitar, but not the vol.  I'm not really concerned about the sound of it, more of a reliability issue as far as the JFETs are concerned.  Thanks for all your help!