i built these 2 as my first effects and i have had nothing but problems.

they both dont distort.

what problems could there be?

i get sound out of it when i play through them but not distortion

did you put the diodes in  the right way? the should be in anti parallel(one is pionting to the ground and one is pointing to the signal path).
what kind of sound are you getting? is it clean sound or wierd splatty sound?

the diodes are correct and its like a clean sound, just a little darker than usual

http://www.diystompboxes.com/pedals/debug.html
http://www.diystompboxes.com/cnews/FAQ.html

Read and reread. Repeat as necessary.

are you using a bypass that you may have mis-wired, and are you 300% sure you have your jacks worked out?
heres what happened to me on my first build, i got the tips and grounds on my jacks mixed up, so i effectively just wired the two jacks together.
could that have happened to you?

go with those links aswell

i know for a fact the jacks are right (although i will check again) and there is no bypass switch, its all direct

does _anything_ do anything ? thats sometimes a good place to start....

Play around with a meter, too.  most resistors should have voltage drops across them.  Make sure they do.  Figure out where the problem is before you try to fix it.

don't get discouraged!

how about your transistor?
which one areyou using?

i KNOW ive had at least 100 bad transistors sent to me by mistake,
do you have a multi meter?