Hi, I just made a fuzz face and it worked great. I made some modifications on a capacitor I tried a 10 down from a 22 and then a 100. I think this might of blew the circuit out. Now it just sounds like a mess or nothing at all. I replaced all of the parts, checked the connections but still nothing. I managed to get sound out of it but clear even with the fuzz pot turned all the way up. I know it worked once so it has to again doing everything the same . . . . right? Please help

Did you change the cap back to the original? First check your soldering joints then make sure all your grounds are grounded.. Fuzz Faces are simple circuits so detecting the problem should be fairly easy.

another thing did you make your own pcb?

which fuzz face variant did you build?

Yup. I changed the cap back. I built the classic or basic fuzz face. and yea I made my own board

copper clad or other? Use a meter and check for continuity through out!

yea it has copper on it. Check the board you mean? I bought it at radio shack but soldered it together. I even made an audio output tester with a cable and a capacitor to see where the signal stops but there is nothing or a horrible crackle in most places. I have replaced ll the parts and double checked the location of everything.

So you don't have traces just the little copper circles? If so I hate this boards. I've done some projects on them but you can get lost quick. I like what moderator Brian did with his Marshall Guv'nor clone.
Took a piece of clear cd sleeve plastic printed the circuit board on clear packaging tape, made the holes then point to point soldered. You can see through the board making it easy for prototyping and hardeer to get lost on the board.

Check and make sure you don't have a circuit short where a copper trace is touching something it shoudn't or your eyes don't go crossed after starring at it for hours. been there!

thanks alot ofor your help. I'm gonna try the clear circuit board. and have any of you guys ever seen a zvex octane III schematic. It has so much control its not even funny. The black keys use it alot. http://www.zvex.com/octane3.html thats the link to it. Even in the video link on it ive heard it sound a lot better. thanks again!

I heard them before and they sound good. You can build one alot cheaper.. The word Boutique adds to the costs

Finding the schematic is the hard part unless you buy one or know someone that has one, them copy the circuit.



[Edited on 8/23/2006 by brian]

For those who haven,t worked with germanium transistors or diodes:You can easily damage them if you accidentally apply too much heat when you solder them to your circuitboard.common practice is to use some kind of metal clip attached to the lead of the transistor (or diode) while you are soldering (a crocodile or hairclip will do just fine).(Yesterday a friend of mine called me after he had wrecked his old fuzzbox by forgetting how heat sensitive these devices are.)