1Q22 challenge. Build a Fuzz Pedal - I swear this bloody thing is jynxed!

paulnb57

andy_k said:

Looks awesome, at this point, if I were you, I would drill for an LED right at the high-lit part of the eye, but you always know when a fuzz is on anyway.
Nice work.

That is exactly the plan….just waiting for the lacquer to fully harden…

paulnb57

I soldered up and installed the board, plugged in and….nothing.
Checked everything over (again) and realised Id put one of the transistor with all three legs one tag to the right of where it should be, desoldered without a croc clip heatsink and something went “pop” and I managed to scorch a couple of wires, gutted!
Assumed Id overheated a transistor so ordered some more.
Redid the joker today, with the second transistor i the correct place, plugged in and ……still nothing!
Oddly the led appears much dimmer than I expected

Oh well, Epic fail heading for the bin…should.stick to what I know….
Gutted 

Photo…

TTony

paulnb57 said:

…should.stick to what I know….

No way! 

Never try anything new = never learn anything.

You've got the enclosure done (seems like the hardest bit to me!), the pots/switch/jacks aren't likely to have been damaged.  Get a new kit of bits and fire-up the soldering iron again.

paulnb57

Thats the plan….start over…

tanihhiavlt

the enclosure is epic, wiring tagboard is difficult.

my advice get a PCB in there ( https://pigeonfx.com/collections/pcb/products/fuzz-face-iss1-pcb maybe) 

you've done most of the hard work, I've put stuff in the bin in frustration before... and some times I've gone back to projects a year or more later and seen immediately that a capacitor was the wrong way around.. so that's an option.

I'm sure if you post pics here or freestompboxes you'll get help and appreciation for that enclosure  

tanihhiavlt

I think the next build I do (probably a blue Rockett - to see if I like the sound before shelling out 150 for one.) I'll be making the shell first - it's the part I really struggle with... after fighting the PCB, the wiring, the jacks and the pots.. I usually don't take time on the holes which sometimes means I don't like using the pedal...

I've also a Katana and an ISP Decimator waiting for boxes.. the touch guitar project I had has kinda concluded...the PCB is the least stress, makes sense to get the box out the way first.

Paul did you test the circuit outside the box? I've had projects where it works on the bench but not in the enclosure

paulnb57

No I didnt test outside the box,perhaps worth a try, nothing to lose….

andy_k

I am no expert, but I cant see a ground connection to the case?
A recent Pedal show video showed them 'building' a Fuzzface, and there was a clear ground to the pedal case.
Just saying.
PS,
send it my way, on the way to the bin.

paulnb57

andy_k said:

I am no expert, but I cant see a ground connection to the case?
A recent Pedal show video showed them 'building' a Fuzzface, and there was a clear ground to the pedal case.
Just saying.
PS,
send it my way, on the way to the bin.

Assuming the case grounds thought the pots and jacks, but its worth a go….

Cookiemonster

paulnb57 said:

I soldered up and installed the board, plugged in and….nothing.
Checked everything over (again) and realised Id put one of the transistor with all three legs one tag to the right of where it should be, desoldered without a croc clip heatsink and something went “pop” and I managed to scorch a couple of wires, gutted!
Assumed Id overheated a transistor so ordered some more.
Redid the joker today, with the second transistor i the correct place, plugged in and ……still nothing!
Oddly the led appears much dimmer than I expected

Oh well, Epic fail heading for the bin…should.stick to what I know….
Gutted 

Photo…

I can have a look for you. See if I can fix it. No charge or anything just happy to get it working for you.

First thing check with a multimeter if it's getting power. 
Second check with continuity that everything's connected. All the grounds are connected etc 
 use a batter to power. Make sure it isn't a power issue. 
Check the jacks are correctly wired 
Check the orientation of the transistors.

@ICBM ;;; anything you notice here ?

Also if you send the diagram and details I can check the switch wiring for you

andy_k

Skip to 34 mins, for some interesting stuff, earth strap mentioned at 38.00
Its quite interesting anyway, at least the first half.

Cookiemonster

Sure you can get this one working. 

MtB

From what I can see (on my tablet) you appear to have the +ve and -ve both connected to the +ve of the  +9v power inlet to the pedal. Also the make sure that all of the black ground wires are connected together, with one main earth point.

Cookiemonster

MtB said:

From what I can see (on my tablet) you appear to have the +ve and -ve both connected to the +ve of the  +9v power inlet to the pedal. Also the make sure that all of the black ground wires are connected together, with one main earth point.

I couldn't zoom in that far. Did wonder if it was power.  

Cookiemonster

Cookiemonster

Check the wiring Paul the image should help

andy_k

Another Q, I know so little,  is there a resister in line with the LED? is it hidden by the heatshrink? how is the light getting out the pedal?

paulnb57

andy_k said:

Another Q, I know so little,  is there a resister in line with the LED? is it hidden by the heatshrink? how is the light getting out the pedal?

There is no resistor specified for the led and the led will eventually light up the whole inside, but I will drill a small hole through the wasp eye, so the eye glows…..if it ever works

paulnb57

So tried testing it out of the enclosure, it just buzzes, which it would I suppose at it earths through the enclosure….
Im not giving up….

While it was out of the enclosure I had a better view of everything, I found I had installed one transistor 180 degrees out, SIGH! now it works, well when I say it works, there is sound with the footswitch in both positions, but in effect “on” there is a volume drop and zero fuzz…onwards….might try reflowing all the solder joints…thoughts from grown ups?

andy_k

In the video, the guy explains that the fuzz knob bleeds off signal to ground, from Q1 to Q2, so as the knob is turned up, less signal goes to ground and more signal is fed into Q2, ie Q2 clips more = more fuzz.
He calls it an 'earth strap' in the video, how is this accomplished in your circuit?
I have built a couple of fuzzes, and luckily they both worked first time, and I still don't really understand how it all works.
I thought LEDs need a resistance to prevent them from burning out? but again, I know very little.
Sounds like you are getting closer, we'll be needing sound clips soon.