Hello,
I am trying to make a fuzz face. I accidentally bought mono jacks rather than stereo, they are housed in plastic and have 4 metal tabs. How do i wire these? I can only find information on how to wire open stereo jacks which have 3 tabs.
Thanks,
Oscar.

Do you have a DMM?, if you do, just plug a cord in one end and use the continuity checker to find what goes to what. If you don't have a meter, I'd suggest that you get one if you're gonna do this much.

Regards

RDV

Hi Oscar,

Welcome to the forums.

If your jacks are mono with four tabs, my guess is that they have an isolated switch in them. If this is the case, they are actually the best type to have for the input jack (as long as the switch closes with a plug inserted). You will need a meter or some other way of determining which connection goes where by following the current flow. I would not like to do much building without a decent meter, but you can make an easy continuity tester with a 1K resistor, an LED and a 9V battery. Just connect the LED and resistor series and connect one wire to the battery, and use the other wire from the LED/resistor and the other wire from the battery to test for continuity. You should be able to touch the wires together and get light from the LED. If no light, reverse the leads of the LED or battery and test again.

OK, now with a way to check for current flow, place one test lead on the barrel of the jack (the threaded part) and touch the other test lead to the tabs. My guess is that only one will cause the LED to light. This will be your ground. Now insert a 1/4 plug into the jack and connect one test lead to the center conductor of the plug. Test the tabs again and a different one should now light. This is your signal line. Pull the plug out and connect the wires to the remaining two tabs. If you get no light without a plug installed but you get light when the plug is inserted, you have an ideal jack. If you get light without the plug, but no light with the plug installed, your jack will pose problems. In that second case you would need to add a switch for the battery because the switch in the jack is backwards from what you need.

Assuming the light goes on when the plug is inserted, connect one of the switch tabs to the ground, and connect the other to the battery lead you want to switch power on. With a fuzzface, that would be the negative lead with an NPN style, and the positive lead with a PNP style.

If this still doesn't make sense, ask again and I'm sure it can be clarified.

Also, if you have a picture or the place you bought it from has a web site that shows the jack, it would be very helpful.

Good luck!

Take care,
-Peter

Oh yes here is a picture.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/media/largeimages/1298i1.jpg
the only problem i can see with it is that the barrel is made of plastic, can i get around this?
Also on the wiring layout diagram for the fuzz face on http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/fuzzface.html
there is a photo of something that isn't labelled and isn't on the schematic, what is this? It connects to the battery.
Thanks,
Oscar

Ahhh I thought you were talking about a different style of jack. Sorry.... I forgot about those. They're often called the "Marshall" style. Guess who uses them.

Those jacks do not have a "make" style switch so you can't switch power using the built in switch, but you can use them for output jacks or for testing without issue. You'll want the stereo version to switch the power when you can get ahold of them.

Now on the tabs.... as you insert the plug, you will see the contacts flex upward. On one side the metal will lift up and the other side is like a hinge, it will stay put and just flex a little. You want the connections on the side that stays put. The tab closest to the hole for the plug is the ground, and the other tab on that same side is the signal lead.

When you get a stereo jack of that style you will have an additional tab between the first two. That new tab will connect to your battery lead. (+ for a PNP fuzzface or - for an NPN fuzzface)

I hope that helps.

take care,
-Peter

Right ive managed to get sound now. But only without the effect. Could this be because of my jack sockets? Do i need the other type of socket to make it work?
Thanks.
Oscar

If your sound is coming through that's a sure sign your jacks are working. Remember a jack plug is nothing but a physical connection so you can make a signal get from A to B. Something's probably wrong with your circuit/wiring

ok thanks, i'll just have to work it out now.
Oscar.

The next step in debugging would be to measure the voltages between ground and the leads of the transistors. With those voltages I'm sure a solution can be found quickly.

If you have sound, as Ben says, your jacks are working.

Good luck,
-Peter