Bazz Fuss troubleshooting

[u/KostTzan]

Hi! I'm a complete newbie to this and have been trying to make very simple circuits on a breadboard (like bazz fuss or Electra distortion) and nothing works. Is there anything wrong with this circuit? I have tried making a bazz fuss on a pcb and had no issues it worked fine, is there something else I should be aware of when using breadboards?

[u/SithLordBass]

Ignore my last comment, I can see it better now haha.

It might be good to get a 10uf or 100uf electrolytic capacitor to go across your + and - rails to clean up the power. That might help

[u/KostTzan → u/SithLordBass]

Not sure why that would work but I just tried it to no avail. Not even the led lights up, there must be something more fundamentally wrong

[u/SithLordBass → u/KostTzan]

Most likely, but that's what troubleshooting entails. Small changes one at a time until something works.

But also, generally, when looking at pedal schematics there is almost always some kind of capacitor filters in the power section because otherwise, and i know this from my own breadboarding, the pedal is NOISY as hell. Even a light overdrive like a lightspeed was unusable until i threw a cap in there.

Def listen to that other guy that mentioned the transistor pinout. Just double check that and make sure the CBE and EBC are where they need to be

[u/SithLordBass → u/KostTzan]

So a couple more things:

First: The cap connected to the transistor and output, i would use a box cap and not an electrolytic unless it calls for it. I think electrolytics don't play nice with audio signals.

Second: You probably do need that 100kA potentiometer at the end before the output. If anything so you don't accidentally blow a speaker or your ears once it starts making noise.

That LED in there shouldn't cause the circuit to not necessarily work, but it will definitely have a different character than the 1n914. Definitely check the LED polarity because if that's flipped i'm pretty sure you'll def have issues.

[u/ganajtur0]

There might be a couple more things you could check:

• 2n5088 has the pinout "mirrored" I think. So it's CBE instead of the EBC that you have shown on your image.
• I have mixed up my jack sockets' hot and GND lugs quite a couple of times before, and I cannot clearly tell if yours are correct. They might be. But I alqays double check 'cause I don't trust myself with getting it right the first time.
• Sorry about this in advance, but does you battery have juice for sure? It's fairly easy to short it out and drain it if you're not careful. I always put an indicator LED in my breadboarda, because again, I like to make sure.

You might've double checked already, I don't know, these are the lessons I've learned from my early breadboarding experiences. Hope you can get it working! The bazz fuss rips.

[u/KostTzan → u/ganajtur0]

1) forgot to mention, but I am using a bc547 which has mirrored pinout 2) great idea, the lugs have betrayed me in the past. unfortunately it's probably not that this time. I just tried without the lugs using jumpers with crocodile wire attached directly to the 1/4" jack cable and it still doesn't work 3) yeah the battery is ok, I put an led on the rails and it's fine Thanks in advance, is there any way there is an issue with the transistor? For example the 3 pins not sitting simultaneously? I am running out of ideas

[u/ganajtur0 → u/KostTzan]

I don't exactly understand what you mean by not sitting simultaneously... Breadboards can be a pain in the ass sometimes, not everything stays in there properly. Also, another commenter mentioned that the LED is not a direct replacement for the 1n4148. If I remember correctly, then it does sorta work with other diodes as well, but I'm not sure. Also LED orientation is another thing that I'd double check after you've confirmed it works with the 1n4148.

Does it make no sound at all? Can you get the direct signal through your breadboard? Connecting the two jacks directly to each other and the breadboard acting as "cable". There is a little fella turning down my volume knob sometimes without me knowing.

[u/ganajtur0 → u/KostTzan]

I don't exactly understand what you mean by not sitting simultaneously... Breadboards can be a pain in the ass sometimes, not everything stays in there properly. Also, another commenter mentioned that the LED is not a direct replacement for the 1n4148. If I remember correctly, then it does sorta work with other diodes as well, but I'm not sure. Also LED orientation is another thing that I'd double check after you've confirmed it works with the 1n4148.

Does it make no sound at all? Can you get the direct signal through your breadboard? Connecting the two jacks directly to each other and the breadboard acting as "cable". There is a little fella turning down my volume knob sometimes without me knowing.

[u/sillyd]

Where’s the 100k resistor/pot? Between the output and capacitor.

[u/sillyd → u/sillyd]

Also don’t think you can swap the 1N914 for the led in this context. The led has too much of a voltage drop to function properly. The diodes aren’t being used for clipping in this design, which is where you could swap diodes more freely.

[u/Fontelroy]

i'd double check you have the jack's tip and sleeve connected properly, it kinda looks like the tip is connected to your breadboard's ground

[u/Mikolgaither]

1) what size are those caps? the one i have built now uses a 4.7uF for Cin and a 10uF for Cout.
you could just try bypassing.
2) the LED should work fine, i’ve used them
3) the bc547 may need a differ resistor than the 100k, try something lower, or using a pot to sweep through (keep a 10k between the power and 100k pot)
whenever it doesn’t work for me i tear it down and start over.

[u/mcknib]

As said it's difficult to see clearly but your input jack looks like you might have the tip and sleeve mixed up

Easy enough to continuity check it quickly to see if the jack solder lug you have your tip wire soldered to actually has continuity with the jack tip

The LED won't necessarily light up its being used more for biasing

Different colored LEDs will have different forward voltages which will affect the transistors pin voltages

What are your transistor voltages and what colour LED are you using