I'm such a newbie, so please help me

The diodes have white stripes on one side. Does that mean, that that is the direction they lead the electicity?

and with the transistor. They have a flat side and the round half side. So if I look at them from behind(so that I see the flat side) is the right side the Emitter?

Please help  :oops:

DaKurt

The diode will have a band on it's anode, the 'negative' side of the diode.

A transistor can have many pinouts, look on google for "+<enter your transistor number here> +datasheet"

Your diode question is almost a trick question because the real flow of power comes from the negative and goes to the positive, but the band on the diode points toward the negative terminal. The side with the band is also called the cathode. (sorry Ben, you get that one reversed. )

Just remember that the banded side points to ground in most cases.

When it comes to transistors, there is no standard. The best way to find out about your parts is to enter the part number and the word datasheet into a search engine like Google. If you can identify the maker of the transistor, so much the better. The same part number put out by different makers may have different pinouts.

Take care,
-Peter

ok thank's, now I know how the transistor has to be connected, but with the diode. Could you please watch that schematic: http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Library/1355/electra.gif
(copy & paste / the link doesn't work) and tell me how to put the two diodes...?
the first diode, has an arrow up, but the ground is below? so put the white stripe up (because of the arrow) or down (as you said, because it shows to the ground) ?

:shock: Ooops. Anode, Cathode, Thingymijib, bow why do I always mix them up?

The direction of the arrow show in which way to point the diode. Think of the cathode ( ) as the 'front' of the diode and place the diode accordingly.

This is why I said "in most cases" above.

The diodes in that circuit are called a "clipping pair", or you could say they are in a "reversed parallel" wiring.

The capacitor between the transistor and the diodes actually makes it so that when there is no signal, there will be no voltage appearing at the "tops" of the diodes, on the wire going to the output pot. When the signal is passing through, some of the time the tops of the diodes will be positive and sometimes they will be negative. I know this can be confusing at first, so until you have an oscilliscope to see for yourself, you will just have to trust me.

To install the diodes, add the 1N34 so that the band is pointing toward the wire going to the output pot, and install the 1N4001 so that the band is pointing to the ground connection.

The band on the diode body is like the line in the schematic symbol that the  arrow in the symbol points to.

I hope that helps,
-Peter

Peter, were you referring to the fact that a guitar signal is AC or am I missing a vital piece of information? :?

Quote from: smoguzbenjaminPeter, were you referring to the fact that a guitar signal is AC or am I missing a vital piece of information? :?

That is exactly correct.

The blocking capacitor removes the DC, leaving you with an AC signal that is centered around ground potential.

-Peter

OK :mrgreen: I'm not dumb after all :mrgreen: