Help with Mini-booster

[John]

I built a mini booster. it sounds good  but seems to be overdriving very easly. More of a input overload. With the boost almost all the way down, if I hit the strings kinda hard it distorts, a little harsh. What could be the problem? Thanks- John

[squidsquad]

Wish I could help.  I have the opposite problem...mine is too clean!
But I'm running a strat into a twin.  Maybe you have hot humbuckers?

[walters]

1.) Depends on what pickups your using Low , High impendance
             Active or Passive ?


        2.) The output of a Pickup can make a Big difference
             for loading the Input of the circuit

[Khas Evets]

John - What's your set up? Are you using hot pickups? What type of amp? In my experience, the mini-booster pushes my amp pretty hard around the middle settings, but not at lower settings.

[amz-fx]

I built a mini booster. it sounds good  but seems to be overdriving very easly. More of a input overload. With the boost almost all the way down, if I hit the strings kinda hard it distorts, a little harsh. What could be the problem? Thanks- John

Remove the capacitor in parallel with the source resistor to reduce gain. This will reduce distortion on strong inputs.

regards, Jack

[davebungo]

Have you checked the DC bias conditions i.e. the voltages as shown in the AMZ article just in case there is a circuit fault or you need to adjust something?

[John]

Where on the web site are the voltages or can you tell me wha voltages I'm looking for. I am using 2n5457.- John

[petemoore]

Q1 Drain / Q2 Source connection should be about 1/2 supply voltage.
 I'll have to go back reread 'mod your own mu amp' at geo...but if IRC///

[John]

Supply 8.22v , transistor connection 4.9v . I removed the 10uf. That did hepl my problem. The overall output volume/ presence of the pedal was reduced. I'm still getting distortion. Something is happing in the front end,I'm going to go back and check all my resistor values. Could it be a bad transistor?

[petemoore]

The bottom trransistors source must be higher Voltage than the gate.
 Looks like the Q1D/Q2S voltage reading is a little high.
 The mini booster does distort a little bit