Too much crackle in my Fuzz!

[Dagger77]

I recently built a NPN germanium MKII type fuzz. Its my first and it came out good. Almost.
it sounds great, but it has a random ugly "crackle" sometimes that comes out way in front of the sweet fuzz.
I'm not turning the pots, just playing. I tried turning my guitar output down, added a diode to protect the transistors, cant figure it out.
is it "saturation" or a blown transistor???
Its not constant, but happens enough to really grind my teeth.
any ideas appreciated.

[GibsonGM]

Ouch.  Can you post a recording of the ugly stuff?  Can you "make" it happen by doing anything specific?

All that comes to mind is a loose wire/part, or cold solder joint - something that's making an intermittent short or breaking contact.   Could be an old or bad cap (possibly).  Something not grounded that should be (sometimes that kinda thing happens when you 'ground' your output jack to the chassis of the pedal, then it works loose and....bzzzzz) <that's a big suspect in things like this.

Have you tried physically moving things, tapping on the board with a pencil eraser, etc.?

If it's really random, then it's not likely to be a blown transistor or anything. So it should be something you can track down!!

Double-check all your connections against the schematic - builder error is like 98% of the problems we all face!

[scott_v]

Ok i'm at an intermediate level of this stuff but this is another take on what maybe going on...

I have an original Vox Tone Bender (w/ germanium transistors) that will do something quite similar to how you describe only when the fuzz knob is cranked... at the time i had a brand spankin' new 9V battery in it (to me it oddly measured 10.08V on a multimeter), i changed the battery to a more drained 7-8 volt battery and the "splattery/crackily/fizz/ crunch" disappeared on the same fuzz settings (between 4-5 o'clock) not sure what maybe going on, so i'm guessing myself.  its a possible solution because its a fuzz and alot of these type of units  prefer a battery that has a slightly lower voltage (to simulate voltage sag) or "dying" so to speak to obtain a better fuzz tone. maybe the transistors are too high gain? or misbiased? maybe the the bias resistor needs to be changed? are other thoughts...  but, yes i'd first double check all connections and solder points.