tonebender 3knob gated sound

[bagudan]

HI. Just built a 3 knob tonebender, and it works, but sounds gated. Low output when i strike a chord, then it gets louder as the chord fades out. I used matched tansistors from smallbear, but they where matched for a mkII version. Is this an important issue, or do I just need to find the right resistor to get Q3 to bias right?

My voltages are:
Q1
c= - 2,7
b= -1,6
e= -1,6

Q2
c= -2,7
b=-1,6
e=-1,5

Q3
c= -2,3
b = - 63mv
e= 0
Thanks in advance;)

[bagudan]

I was thinking transistor orientation
q1 is a 2sb77 from smallbear
the only marking I see is a small triangle on the side, I assumed it pointed towards the collector, but could be it points at the emitter?
Anyone knows of the pinout of this transistor?

[slim_blues_boy]

the easiest way to figured out most of transistor pinout in metal can is to look the transistor with pinouts facing to you, you'll see that 3 pinout will form a triangle, when it form a isosceles triangle, the base would be the one at the top, the collector would be on the right, and emiter on the left, you got what I mean?
look at this pic (sorry for crappy pic)

[bagudan]

Thanks, the picture made perfect sense, and my transistors are orientated correct according to your drawing.
Read in another post, that the  q3 doesn´t have to be biased to 4,5 volts, like a FF, but mine still sounds gated and funny???

[mac]

Try increasing Q1,2 collector voltage to 4.0 - 4.5v. I prefer 4.0v.
As for Q3, you´ll get a little less of 4.5v at the junction of the two 10k since there is some current going to Q3 via the 18k. The 2.3v is fine. BUt you can replace the two 10k with a 20k pot and find the best voltage, or replace the 18k with a trimmer.

mac

[bagudan]

Thanks for the reply
I´ll try to increase the voltages. This involves decreasing the value of the 10k resistor, that goes to the collectors of q1 & 2 , right?

[bagudan]

Installed trimmers instead of fixed resistors q1 and 2 collctors now reads -4,0v, and I could get q3´s collector as far as -3,9 volts( maybe I need a larger trimmer value to reach -4,5(used 20k))....sounds great now,
thanks