Mini-Muffin Fuzz too quiet?

[playedincanada]

Anyone built any of these simple circuits recently?
I've got a good sound, although I've seen some say that they get more of an overdrive then a fuzz sound and that was dependent on the leakage of the germ diodes. Apparently not all 1n34a's are made equal, but I will say it's been hard to pick out where to buy the legit ones.

This however is the least of my problems. Even if I get a fuzz or overdrive sound, I find that the range on the knob of the pedal is...well pretty bad. To get anything close to unity, it has to be cranked right up. That's it. Is this my understanding? Maybe I'm just used to more modern circuits destroying my ears with the volume pot up a 1/4 of the way.

Can anyone speak to this?

 

[playedincanada]

 

[playedincanada]

 

[DGWVI]

The diodes put a limit on the output volume. Try something with a higher vf than the germaniums, Schottky or silicon will work. I'm a fan of red LEDs in this circuit

 

[fig]

+1 to reds
1N4148s as well.

 

[playedincanada]

Do you think it would bring the volume up past unity or because this is an old schematic/design it will always be a bit quieter? I mean would you say you could use a different pot value/type and get different results?

 

[DGWVI]

Do you think it would bring the volume up past unity or because this is an old schematic/design it will always be a bit quieter? I mean would you say you could use a different pot value/type and get different results?

Changing the pot value won't affect the total volume output. Been a while since I built one with anything other than LEDs, but mine get louder than my hottest pickups.
Though, I do remember even with just 1n914s it'd still give ample volume

 

[swyse]

someone correct me if I'm wrong but you're basically limiting the signal (clipping it) at whatever the forward voltage of the diodes is, so with germanium diodes for example, you're at 0.3 volts-ish depending on what yours read, which is a pretty normal guitar pickup output which makes sense why unity is basically at maximum output. if you use 1n4148s or similar you're going to be at 0.7 volts or so but with less clipping/distortion, but with twice as many volts available, which is effectively volume. As said above, the pot is a voltage divider so the ratio between the two resistors created by the potentiometer movement is what determines the output level so its the ratio and not the overall resistance.

 

[ADAOCE]

Already been said but I’ll add to the choir that the GE diodes lower the volume too much and the red or orange leds are better. There is a build report by the winter soldier that goes into detail.

 

[Feral Feline]

Put a BJT booster in front, and after, like an LPB1 — then you'd probably have enough juice to add another clipping stage...
maybe even enough oomph for a simple tone stack with a HPF and LPF on a single pot.