[Solved] Propolis Fuzz: Minimal effect / buzzing (not the good kind)

[Swami]

Hi All,

First off, thanks for this forum. Just started to build some pedals for my son and I to use and it has been a really fun learning experience. I am definitely a newbie so this is probably a basic problem but am not turning up anything obvious from searching.

I have two problems, with videos of each below:

1) when I use this with the 9v DC output of my Joyo power supply 2 I get buzzing in the effect and bypass modes, with slightly different buzzing sounds in each.

2) when I use this with a 9v battery input I don't have buzzing but don't really get an effect

I used a volt meter to confirm voltage for both the battery and the power supply (both 9v), although I'm not sure how to test of the supply is AC. I don't think so, it says DC and works with all my other pedals. I made an audio probe and tested my way through all the components on the board (helped me solve a previous problem) but am not finding any bad connections at the moment, just not much effect!

Wrong component choices? Wired wrong? An embarrassingly basic mistake? Photos of the build below.
Thanks!

 

[Robert]

It looks like your 1/4" jacks might be wired backwards.

The sleeves connect to the pads at the top of the PCB, the tips should connect to the 3PDT footswitch.

 

[Swami]

Thanks! That solves the buzzing problem when it's plugged in, but it still has minimal effect. When plugged in, it sounds like the video with the 9v battery, clear on bypass and the effect is a quieter muffled dirty sound.

 

[Swami]

Current update, trying to eliminate potential problems:
- My disk capacitors were really big and rated for ~600V. It sounded like that was too much, so I got smaller 50V ones.
- I swapped the 2N2222 transistors for another set that someone else on here used just in case they were an issue.

The bypass works, the effect doesn't. I made an audio probe and tested each component and wrote which I hear (check) and which I don't hear (X) on the diagram below. I'm not good enough at reading this to know what the issue is, any ideas? Updated photos too.

 

[Coda]

I would try reflowing almost all of the solder joints, and cleaning the pcb. You may have a cold joint in there somewhere…

 

[carlinb17]

Are you sure if your 2n2222 pinout? It looks like they might need to be reversed

 

[Swami]

RE Reflowing: I just reflowed my joints twice and am still getting the same symptoms, so seems like that isn't the issue...

RE my 2n2222, I wasn't sure which direction those should go - I have them with the flat side toward the bottom side of the board (away from the power supply). I wasn't sure how to tell from the diagram about which direction, but assuming that with the flat side down the left is the emitter, the center is the base, and the right is the collector, that seems to line up correctly with the diagram below? For instance, the Q1 emitter connects to R5, the Q1 base to C1, etc.

I also did this based on the photo in danbieranowski's thread here. I previously used different transistors (the round kind with the tabs) and lined them up with the tabs on the PCB but that wasn't working either.

New question: I noticed that one of my diodes is 1000V. Is that a potential problem? Seems like a high voltage for a pedal, not sure if that would be an issue.

 

[Coda]

RE Reflowing: I just reflowed my joints twice and am still getting the same symptoms, so seems like that isn't the issue...

RE my 2n2222, I wasn't sure which direction those should go - I have them with the flat side toward the bottom side of the board (away from the power supply). I wasn't sure how to tell from the diagram about which direction, but assuming that with the flat side down the left is the emitter, the center is the base, and the right is the collector, that seems to line up correctly with the diagram below? For instance, the Q1 emitter connects to R5, the Q1 base to C1, etc.

I also did this based on the photo in danbieranowski's thread here. I previously used different transistors (the round kind with the tabs) and lined them up with the tabs on the PCB but that wasn't working either.

New question: I noticed that one of my diodes is 1000V. Is that a potential problem? Seems like a high voltage for a pedal, not sure if that would be an issue.
View attachment 18399

That voltage rating shouldn’t affect anything…unless you put 1001 volts through it. Are those new transistors 2n2222A?…

 

[Swami]

These are the transistors I used: PN2222A PN2222 Transistor NPN 40 Volts 1A from Tayda.

I used those because they seemed to work in Danbieranowskis build and I thought I might have installed the other 2n2222s wrong.

 

[Coda]

Pn2222 are the reversed pinout of 2n2222. Flip them around (flat side facing jacks).

 

[Coda]

Updates?...

 

[Swami]

Sorry to be slow to respond here, I was waiting for some parts to arrive and they took a while. First, I tried to flip the PN2222s. No luck. So then I decided to go back to the round 2n2222s that others are using because I was trying to eliminate variables. That ended up working.

I originally had those on the board but was getting minimal effect. I changed both those and the C2, C3, C9, and C10 capacitors that were really high voltage at the same time. So, the net difference was the capacitors, which I'm guessing was the problem. I think my takeaway here is that I should only change one thing at a time when I'm troubleshooting, otherwise it's hard to isolate what impact the change is having on my build.

I really appreciate the help on this, thank you! Now that it's working, this pedal sounds really incredible. There is a lot going on tonewise with it!

Here's how it sounds: