PNP transistor or NPN transistor?

[Graysonia]

Hi, all
I'm kind of a newbie with electronics but I do know some how to differentiate the two. But in this there aren't any of the common markers. If I had to guess it would be NPN from NPN Transistor Arrangement and Symbol Basic but I can't be certain. If someone more experienced could help me out that would be great.

Also, if there are any guitar pedal guys out there, does the pot control the overall fuzziness of the circuit?

Any idea is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[Feral Feline]

Nope, no guitar-pedal guys here, I think you've got the wrong forum!

I love a good mystery ...
The 3 caps show polarity, all having their negative pointed towards the transistors. So they're electrolytics or tants, I suppose, so potentially big values. *(Though I do have some electrolytics in values well within Film/MLCC range)

If you squint, it kinda looks like there's small arrow ticks at the emitters pointing at the bases, so I'm going to go crazy wild and say this circuit is sportin' PNP — but I'm still not sure about the power. Probably positive ground because that cap going to ground having its negative pole shooting back at the transistors. Hmm, but then shouldn't the input cap then have its positive pole pointing the other way?

I guess you could build it either way, positive or negative ground — depending on what you want and the components you select, and you'd need to orient those caps the correct way.


There's two pots, the one from the emitters to GND & Cap-to-GND, and the output. The one to GND would be gain and would elicit the fuzz, were there any to be elicited. The output could too, if the circuit following this one were, say, an amp or other pedal on the verge of breakup...


Don't worry, I'm just a place-holder while the real experts muster, they should be along shortly.

 

[Chuck D. Bones]

It's a shitty pic, but those appear to be PNP. If that's the case, then it's positive ground. The negative end of the Battery or power supply connects to the top of the unmarked resistors.

The bottom pot is the Fuzz control. When the wiper is at the top, the feedback approaches zero and the gain is maximum. There are many discussions on the 'net about how the Fuzz Face works, so I won't repeat them here. You might want to check out ElectroSmash for a good discussion on how this circuit works.

 

[benny_profane]

Given the polarity of the polarized caps, that seems to indicate positive ground too. As @Chuck D. Bones mentioned, there's no shortage of discussion about the Fuzz Face circuit out there.

Here's a direct link to the electrosmash page mentioned above: https://www.electrosmash.com/fuzz-face

 

[Graysonia]

That's great thank you guys is that helping me to get more info deeply of the transistor, many thanks.