Forum rules
The DIY forum is for personal projects (things that are not for sale, not in production), info sharing, peer to peer assistance. No backdoor spamming (DIY posts that are actually advertisements for your business). No clones of in-production pedals. If you have concerns or questions, feel free to PM admin. Thanks so much!
I've posted some calls for help about my noisy Fuzz Face Clone recently but might not have been very explanatory so this is my last attempt at resolving the problem.
Thanks in advance to anybody who can offer any tips or trouble shooting advice.
The problem is with interference noise but should be pretty apparent from the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc6W0Gac4kQ
This is the diagram I worked from (all cred to Aron Nelson). I'm sure that the error is mine not his.
You have C3 in reverse of what the layout calls for, I dunno if that's cause your problem or not though. I would remove the masking tape as well it may be causing some issues. You can add a small cap between the collector and base of Q2 to filter out high end noise and keep it from oscillating. I don't have a specific value to recommend as I would personally just start with like a 47pF and experiment from there until I was happy with it.
Dr Satan wrote:You have C3 in reverse of what the layout calls for, I dunno if that's cause your problem or not though. I would remove the masking tape as well it may be causing some issues. You can add a small cap between the collector and base of Q2 to filter out high end noise and keep it from oscillating. I don't have a specific value to recommend as I would personally just start with like a 47pF and experiment from there until I was happy with it.
Well spotted Dr Satan!!
I was so set on it being a wiring problem that I completely missed the upside down capacitor.
I'm pretty sure that would be the issue.
I'll see if I can squeeze a small pf cap in for Q2. It'll be a tight fit but should be do-able.
Thanks heaps for the tip off. I was pretty bummed that the 2nd build didn't work but can probably fix both now.
Thanks again. May the Tone Gods be shining over all your future pedal building endeavors.
masking tape can definitely cause issues too. at work we only use special anti-static masking tape for temporarily holding parts together. exposed glue on regular tape throws electromagnetic fields all over the place