SOLVED Nein Fuzz 3rd Attempt/Failure

[Depattern]

this is probably a lost cause since im not skilled enough to properly troubleshoot. I have a multimeter but aside from basic voltage and continuity testing, i dont really know what im doing but i wanted to give it a shot after buying the pcb and jfets 3 separate times.

i thought i accounted for the dumb obvious mistakes in my first two builds (soldering the wrong component or pad, then severely botching the desoldering - im really bad at desoldering), and i felt like i did everything according to the instructions i had here. im 95% sure i didnt use any incorrect components like 470k vs 470r, and r2 is 47k. everything is oriented properly. q2 is only soldered like that because i was trying to get ai to help me and it wanted to me swap that jfet for another one due to the weird drain voltages:


but i think the orientation is correct (d,s,g from left to right when facing the top of the pcb). and the pins are soldered on the top and bottom. I know my soldering is shotty but the continuity tests ive done dont show any obvious issues


this is what i have so far:

• Q1 D: 8.06V
• Q2 D: 8.93V
• Q3 D: 1.248V
• Q4 collector: 3.9V
• Supply: 9.41V
• All carrier orientations verified (potentially)
• All resistors measured correctly (mostly)

powers on, led comes on with the switch but no audio when engaged. i get my clean guitar signal when switch is bypassed. sometimes i hear a tiny bit of scratchiness when turning the vol in pot (much moreso in my last build attempt), but really almost completely silent. one thing im kind of unsure of is the in/out jack soldering, which should be the most basic aspect of a build like this, but i guess that since im getting the clean bypassed signal its ok? i dont even know if thats true or helpful. i was thinking maybe its something simple like the ground points arent all connected, or the jfets arent making proper contact, but i've had the same issue when i soldered the smd jfets (non-pre-soldered) directly to the pcb pretty successfully.

I don't know if this is enough info for direct troubleshooting but im wondering if anything glaring sticks out, maybe even the poor soldering? although i have reflowed almost every single point that was even slightly dull but there are some bigger blobs remaining which ive attempted to re-do a few times. the jacks and power connections especially are bad due to the twisted awg wire, but those dont seem to be the issue as far as i can tell(?)

i used film caps for the first 2, then i bought a bulk box film cap pack for this one. i had some others on order from stompbox parts but they didnt arrive in time for this one. thats what the yellow 100n (104 100v) and 10n (103 100v) are

maybe someone as unskilled shouldn't be attempting this but i would really love to give this pedal a shot and i feel that it would be so much more satisfying that just buying another pre-built fuzz, even though i may unfortunately end up with no choice. it seems like a really rewarding pedal to build: the kind of overdriven tones, the unruly gnarly timbres, the chaotic biasing.

so really, any general troubleshooting or any ideas at all that maybe you would try yourself if you werent sure why a pedal build isnt working would be very helpful. claude ai usually does not steer me wrong but its been sending me down some mind numbing rabbit holes that arent helping with these builds at all



kind of a sentimental thing, as i had the genius idea of dedicating it to my dog who passed recently. so feels extra depressing to leave it broken

 

[anevilspar7an]

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Cepheid Chorus for a friend, with higher cut hpf "bass" mode switch mod (12nf/33nf)

im not even sure i did the mod right. i left c6 empty on the pcb, then after populating the rest of the board, i took a 12nf and 33nf box film cap, twisted one leg of each together, wired that twisted leg to one c6 hole, wired the center lug of the spdt on on switch to the other c6 hole, then soldered the free leg of each film cap to the outer toggle switch legs. it may be working, but if so its very subtle. which makes sense, because its allegedly working on the wet signal only, which is ideal. but its pretty difficult to tell if i even did it right

You use a DPDT On/On for this and you omitted the wrong cap, C17 is the 33nF you mod. You put the 33nF cap on lugs 3 and 6 of the switch, the 12nF on lugs 1 and 4, and wire lugs 2 and 5 to the holes for C17.

 

[Depattern]

second Wrectifier (Triple Wreck) build, with subliminal messaging

i put too much gloss coat on this waterslide decal before building it, and so i sanded it down, and it gave it a half-ass "relic'd" patina, but it left the decal feeling very nice and smooth and the surface/texture is great. much better than when i just clear coat it. i need to find a way to sand off all of my decals without scratching off the design, especially when i hit it with the sandpaper around the edges

it did take a lot of sanding to get every shiny section off of it, but it was worth it

this is my favorite pedal ive built from here. out of the maybe 15+ (including duplicates) i've built so far. sounds so much more brutally heavy than any other saturation pedal ive owned. especially in drop c, the low end is so thick but still clear and punchy. its an unreal sounding pedal