SOLVED Marigold fuzz weirdness

[JHKcustoms]

just completed my Marigold Fuzz build and I’ve got some weirdness,

First of all my tone knob seems to work backwards, ie it’s more trebly to the left and more bassy to the right, I’m not sure if this is a thing or not but it’s odd.

The other thing is that it seems to be “ducking” kinda like a limiter when playing it,
So if I strike the strings it kinda ducks and comes back to volume wise when I let the note sustain.

I’ve got plenty of volume out of it, the fuzz pot also works normally, like I say the tone seems to operate backwards.

Been testing this on the “auditorium” test platform which by the way is so so useful!

Here’s a few gut shots

 

[PedalBuilder]

First of all my tone knob seems to work backwards, ie it’s more trebly to the left and more bassy to the right, I’m not sure if this is a thing or not but it’s odd.

This is indeed a thing. The Tone Bender Mk. III/IV family tone control is backwards compared to a Big Muff and most other drive pedals. If you want, you can swap lug 1 and lug 3 on the tone control and it will work in the opposite direction.

The other thing is that it seems to be “ducking” kinda like a limiter when playing it,
So if I strike the strings it kinda ducks and comes back to volume wise when I let the note sustain.

It’s possible that your germanium transistor might not be leaky enough. Did you measure the gain and leakage? Or the collector voltage in circuit? (It also looks like it might be counterfeit; all the OC140s that I’ve seen were glass SO-2 package devices.)

Edit: If that is a Soviet D2 or D9-type germanium diode, then you installed it backwards. On many Soviet germanium diodes the stripe marks the anode, while most other diodes use the stripe to mark the cathode.

 

[JHKcustoms]

Right on thanks,
Good to know on the tone, I thought I had really messed something up!

As for the OC140 I’m honestly not sure it was from smallbear as was the Diode.

It is indeed a Soviet D9 I was wondering if that could be flipped but I wasn’t sure and wanted to make sure before digging in and flipping it.
Here’s a better picture for confirmation of orientation.

 

[JHKcustoms]

Yep it was the diode! Instant awesome!
I’m kinda head over heels with this fuzz !
I had issues with a recent sunflower that never really got resolved so when I had issues here I was like “no more germanium transitor based fuzzes!” lol but my faith has been restored! This thing is insanely great and I would 10/10 recommend anyone build it!
Thanks for the help!!

 

[mybud]

This thing is insanely great and I would 10/10 recommend anyone build it!

Thanks for this and I hope I'm not hijacking your thread hereby but, inspired by your recommendation, I breadboarded this just now.

I couldn't agree more with your recommendation. It's certainly 'insanely great' as you say

I had to make do with substituting what's available in my parts stash, so I used (as per closeup shot below) 2N3904 for Q1, polypropylene caps (not for their inherent 'massive mojo factor' but because they fit across adjacent spaces on the breadboard unlike film caps), my last available 1N34 as the Ge diode, a 5V1 Zener (because I don't have any 4V7s), and finally a 2N1304 NPN Ge for Q3.

After sorting out a number of 'off-by-one' errors and some similar cloth-brained mistakes, it burst into life and sounds fantastic.

I'm not strictly a fuzz kind of chap, but breadboarding this took me back to my earliest forays into fuzz when I rediscovered this hobby some seven years ago now.

Big fun. Thanks again.

 

[JHKcustoms]

That’s awesome to hear!
I’m glad you had fun with it!
I’ve been wanting to bread board more and just haven’t gotten bits for it yet. I’ve been looking into the coppersound pedal bread board platforms.
I’d love to see the images from your build but for sadly they go to dead links.
Either way really fun build and I’m glad my diode misplacement lead to more good than just realizing my own mistake! lol
Cheers
-JHK

 

[mybud]

That’s awesome to hear!
I’m glad you had fun with it!
I’ve been wanting to bread board more and just haven’t gotten bits for it yet. I’ve been looking into the coppersound pedal bread board platforms.
I’d love to see the images from your build but for sadly they go to dead links.
Either way really fun build and I’m glad my diode misplacement lead to more good than just realizing my own mistake! lol
Cheers
-JHK

Thanks, JHK. I’ll see if I can edit this to fix the missing links.

Done. Please see next post.

 

[mybud]

Something went funny with the attachments in my recent post, so here’s one with the relevant pics.



Overview of Marigold breadboard.



Close up of mojo components (nudge nudge, wink wink).

 

[mybud]

Yep it was the diode! Instant awesome!
I’m kinda head over heels with this fuzz !
I had issues with a recent sunflower that never really got resolved so when I had issues here I was like “no more germanium transitor based fuzzes!” lol but my faith has been restored! This thing is insanely great and I would 10/10 recommend anyone build it!
Thanks for the help!!

If you like, you can mark the thread as solved. I believe there's a dropdown available to do this within the original post.

 

[JHKcustoms]

Oh yeah please do, I assumed it did it when I marked it on the poster that sorted it!
Thanks man

 

[mybud]

Would with pleasure but I don’t think I can because it has to be the OP. There’s a dropdown left of the heading (post title) AFAIK, where you can do this.

From @MichaelW:

The Troubleshooting forum is such an incredible resource for beginners and seasoned builders alike.
I've learned so much about pedal building and electronics in general (as a person with no electrical background except how to turn an amp on..... )

There are a number of true guru's on this forum that really put in a lot of time and effort scanning this forum to help folks out that are stuck with a problem build.

When the traffic picks up with lots of threads asking for help, it's easy for your post or question to get lost in the mix.

Please help with the "hygiene" of this forum by marking your thread as "Solved" after you're received the help you needed from these fine and super smart folks.

You can do this by going to your first original post, click on the "Edit" button. Then in the "TITLE" of the post on the left hand side there is a "Prefix" drop down menu. Select "Solved" then "Save". (see pic). This really helps with folks that still need help to get the help they need.

 

[JHKcustoms]

Got it thanks man!
Here’s the final product of my marigold build

 

[comradehoser]

Right on thanks,
Good to know on the tone, I thought I had really messed something up!

As for the OC140 I’m honestly not sure it was from smallbear as was the Diode.

It is indeed a Soviet D9 I was wondering if that could be flipped but I wasn’t sure and wanted to make sure before digging in and flipping it.
Here’s a better picture for confirmation of orientation.

Somebody once pointed out that if you have a glass diode, look at the end where the germanium pellet is--it's what the bar in the schematic symbol for diode is representing (cathode/k).

 

[Erik S]

Somebody once pointed out that if you have a glass diode, look at the end where the germanium pellet is--it's what the bar in the schematic symbol for diode is representing (cathode/k).

That is a very useful piece of information! I just wrote that on a post it note and put it in the drawer with my diodes in case I forget. Thanks!