SOLVED Six String Stinger sounds terrible

[bhcarpenter]

So, to be honest here, this is my 16th or so build, and it’s the first one where I tried it out and thought, “That just flat out sounds bad.” Not sure what’s up, but the overdrive is very unpleasant - when you turn it up far enough to get overdrive it just kind of farts out. Not musical at all.

Am I just not “getting” this pedal, or is something wrong? My JFETs are from Mouser, so they should be legit.

 

[Leftovernoise]

Have you compared it to audio of the pedal it's based on?

 

[music6000]

So, to be honest here, this is my 16th or so build, and it’s the first one where I tried it out and thought, “That just flat out sounds bad.” Not sure what’s up, but the overdrive is very unpleasant - when you turn it up far enough to get overdrive it just kind of farts out. Not musical at all.

Am I just not “getting” this pedal, or is something wrong? My JFETs are from Mouser, so they should be legit.

Clean the Flux of the PCB Board!!!, If that doesn't work,
Pull out all your J201's & Tin ( thin film of Solder ) with your Soldering Iron on all the legs just in the length of the socket, Just do 1 leg of each transistor at a time until you have turned around & soldered all 3 legs of everyone, Randomly put them back in the Sockets & press firmly.
Hopefully this will sort out your issue, I am not a fan of Transistors in Sockets!

I have built this pedal & it's a Great sounding overdrive !

 

[bhcarpenter]

Have you compared it to audio of the pedal it's based on?

Hrm. Yeah just watched some YouTube videos. The general EQ sounds similar, but the clipping on mine just sounds way worse. I’ll try music6000’s suggestions.

 

[bhcarpenter]

Clean the Flux of the PCB Board!!!, If that doesn't work,
Pull out all your J201's & Tin ( thin film of Solder ) with your Soldering Iron on all the legs just in the length of the socket, Just do 1 leg of each transistor at a time until you have turned around & soldered all 3 legs of everyone, Randomly put them back in the Sockets & press firmly.
Hopefully this will sort out your issue, I am not a fan of Transistors in Sockets!

I have built this pedal & it's a Great sounding overdrive !

Ok! I think it’s working as designed now. It sounded much better after swapping out one of the JFETs, and even better after I removed the sockets and soldered them in. The difference there really surprised me!
I’m still hearing just a touch of crackling buzziness that eventually fades out, but you have to be really listening for it.

I think there may have been some user error involved as well. I didn’t realize how much the filter and drive controls are interactive. Also it seems to be a lot sweeter at drive settings of around noon or less.

Still not really my thing, but it’s cool. Maybe better playing would help.

 

[tcpoint]

Ok! I think it’s working as designed now. It sounded much better after swapping out one of the JFETs, and even better after I removed the sockets and soldered them in. The difference there really surprised me!
I’m still hearing just a touch of crackling buzziness that eventually fades out, but you have to be really listening for it.

I think there may have been some user error involved as well. I didn’t realize how much the filter and drive controls are interactive. Also it seems to be a lot sweeter at drive settings of around noon or less.

Still not really my thing, but it’s cool. Maybe better playing would help.

Never been my thing, either. I can almost like it but not quite. I made a few value changes and it's a lot closer to making a place on my board. It might even make the cut. Change the JFETs to J113 (MPF102 probably would work, as well), R8 and R14 to 560R, R15 and R16 to 33K. C11 to 3n9 and C12 to 10n. I haven't an a/b, yet. Note: I changed the tone control values to the same as a Violet Ram's head. (There's probably a lot of room for play, there).

 

[zgrav]

also -- FYI -- you can solder the transistors into the sockets to avoid removing the sockets and then soldering the transistors into the PCB

 

[bhcarpenter]

also -- FYI -- you can solder the transistors into the sockets to avoid removing the sockets and then soldering the transistors into the PCB

Aha! I’ll remember that for next time. Do you just flow the solder in from the component side?

 

[Barry]

Aha! I’ll remember that for next time. Do you just flow the solder in from the component side?

Yep