My booster ain't boosting!

[smoguzbenjamin]

I built the thing, took me about 1 1/2 hours, and when I was finished, it buzzed like hell. After 10 minutes I found out that it was a cold solder joint, so I redid all the soldering... phew.

Now here's the fun part. I can hear myself play, sure, fine. But it doesn't boost. No boost whatsoever. Not even a change in tone. I tried plugging my guitar directly into m amp, and then compared it to the booster's signal. No difference.

Could this be because my battery is almost dead (I know this for a fact), or is it something I screwed up. I double-checked the circuit, but everything is in place as it should. Is the thing not working right because of the battery?

Or is it me being an ass?

[aron]

Could this be because my battery is almost dead (I know this for a fact), or is it something I screwed up. I double-checked the circuit, but everything is in place as it should. Is the thing not working right because of the battery?

You should use a good battery.

Does the drive pot do anything? If not, then suspect your switch wiring.

If it does something, then change the battery.

[smoguzbenjamin]

I'm not using a switch, it's hard-wired. Turning the pot has no effect whatsoever, either...  :? I just re-checked the circuit, everything seems fine. Could it be that my pot's a dud?

[aron]

The only thing I could even imagine it could be is that you have a solder blob/short with the base and collector.

This would pass the signal directly to the output without amplifying.

If you have a digital camera, send a picture of the front and back of the board if possible.

[smoguzbenjamin]

I checked the base and the emitter for shorts, nothing there, but I redid the soldering just in case.

I used a 2N2222 transistor, and in the philips datasheet, it says that the collector is connected to the case. Could this have anything to do with it? Or could I have just swapped the transistor around the wrong way?
I'd like to try a different tranny to see if it makes a difference. What other transistor could I use, except for the 2N5088 and 2N2222?

This shows once again that I have a lot to learn  :twisted:

[smoguzbenjamin]

I tried with a fresh battery. No difference.  :cry:  This is mildly discouraging... I think I'll de solder the wole thing and breadboard it, but I don't have any desoldering braid right now.

[Kleber AG]

Hi,

I think you have the transistor pins wrong connected, as I remember I've done that too and it sounded like this (no boost at all)

If you have one Digital Mult-Meter with HFE meter it could be useful to find out the transistor pinouts easy, just start to change the pins at the meters sockets until you get some normal range of hfe, then read the sockets pins
well it's nice for hard to indentify transistors, that have the numbers weared out...

Hope it makes some sense...  

Kleber AG

[smoguzbenjamin]

I looked up the datasheet, and wired it up like that. I'm gonna desolder the transistor and put it in the other way around, see if that works

PS: I'm gonna jump through the roof if this thing works after that And maybe stomp myself for not thinking I might have reversed the tranny  :mrgreen:

[smoguzbenjamin]

Aaaah fubar! I turned the tranny around, No difference. BUT when i disconnected the battery, I realised that the signal was still getting through. This isn't the idea, is it?

[smoguzbenjamin]

After a lot of frustration, I've decided to use my 2nd piece of perf, buy all the parts again, use the other bits as spares, and start again. I didn't follow the pic tutorial, because the computer is far away from my soldering iron, and I wasn't gonna print out 18 pages of colour pics with an inkjet.

I'm gonna rebuy all the parts today, and redo the project folloing aron's photoessay. I need to bring back a whining regulated powersupply anyway

Thanks for the help, guys!

[aron]

It really is acting like the base is shorted to the collector.

Did you use your meter on continuity mode to test it?

Put the black on the base  and the red on the collector and buzz the circuit.

Did you socket the transistor?

[smoguzbenjamin]

No, I didn't socket the transistor, and I don't have a multimeter  :oops: . I'm getting one tomorrow though...

I rebuilt the circuit today, all that's left to do is the off-board wiring, and I'll be set. I built the thing according to the photoessay this time, not by myself. I think I was overconfident about where to put parts  :roll:

Thanks for the help. Hell if I get the other booster working I'll give it as a b-day gift to one of my friends.  :twisted:

[aron]

Ahhh, OK, yes, a multimeter is a must for this hobby. Even the most simple digital one will help.

Good Luck!

[mountianjustice]

reverse the voltage and see what happens i had the same issue when i did mine i played with reversing the trans with no change but when i reversed the voltage wow!! huge volume increase and awesome distortion using a T1806 germanium transistor

[ASchmalex]

I built an lpb1 type boost today and had the reversed voltage issue, works like a charm now.
This is the schematic I used. Seemed to be fairly easy for me.