Tonebender with sputtery/gates fuzz

[Synchrony Pedalworks]

I was making a Guitarpcb Pump'd up Tonebender, v4. I am able to get fuzz, but it is sputtery/gated and at a lower volume. Below are my voltages for the IC and germanium transistors. I am worried that I blew two transistors (Q1 and 2). My father, who is a EE, walked me through the process to test the transistors with a volt meter, comparing the resistance of the B to each C and E. I am confused how the pedal can potentially have two blown transistors and still work, creating fuzz (yet bad fuzz). The transistors were matched for Q1 and Q2. Q 3 has the highest hFe. To test, I swapped out all the transistorss with a 2n3906 (PNP) transistors, but I still received poor fuzz.

Do these symptoms appear consistent with blow transistors or could the problem be elsewhere? To me, it sounds like a biasing issue. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks for your time. -Andrew

Power supply: 8.85 V
IC 1: 8.66 2: 4.59 3: 0 4: -3.97 5: -8.51 6: 2.53 7: 1.43 8: 8.66

Q1 B: -0.01 C: -8.43 E: 0

Q2 B: -0.16 C: -8.43 E: 0

Q3 B: -5.04 C: -0.44 E: -0.32

 

[HamishR]

I see you have a couple of Russian transistors there. Make sure you have the correct legs in the correct positions. Guitar PCB's board is set up for and EBC pinout, but I think a lot of the Russians are something like ECB. That could explain the odd voltages. In particular, the Q2 collector should be less than -0.50v, and the Q3 collector should be at least -5v (and historical ones could be up to -8v due to leaky transistors).

Every Russian transistor I have is CBE. If looking from underneath with the pins making a V shape (B being the point at the bottom of the V) they are C-B-E. I've never had a Russian transistor in a different configuration, although it is of course possible that they exist!