BuddytheReow
Breadboard Baker
In muff circuits all signal comes out of the collector pins and into a decoupling cap (100n usually) You layout has signal coming out of the bases
Trying to layout a muff on the breadboard
- Thread starter Nightendday86
- Start date
Nightendday86
New member
So I should just start over from scratch and try again.
BuddytheReow
Breadboard Baker
Perhaps. It’s not bad for a first attempt. I would also take a look at some of the tutorials in the test kitchen to get a sense of schematic to breadboard. The writer is pretty good
. Here are some tips:Keep things neat. They will be easier for you and us to trace for troubleshooting
Try to make the layout match the schematic in terms of flow
You can jumper across the middle channel giving you a total of 8 holes (after jumper use) to work with. This will be needed to keep a neater muff layout
You’ve also got issues on your tone stack section. It won’t work in your layout. Check out the tone control tutorial for some tips
Nightendday86
New member
I tried to be a little more neat...
BuddytheReow
Breadboard Baker
Much better! Are those 100k resistors from emitter correct? 100ohm would make more sense
Nightendday86
New member
It autofills k, thanks for catching that for me!!
mdc
Well-known member
I'd strongly suggest that instead of trying to work out the whole thing in one fell swoop, you work through the schematic stage by stage by stage and troubleshoot as you go.
The big muff is a really great choice since it's just one thing plugged into another thing plugged into another thing, so there's always an easy place to stop and make sure you haven't dropped in the wrong value resistor or you've got a dead row or a short on the breadboard.
See if you can get the input resistor to the sustain control working and move on to the first clipping stage, etc.
The big muff is a really great choice since it's just one thing plugged into another thing plugged into another thing, so there's always an easy place to stop and make sure you haven't dropped in the wrong value resistor or you've got a dead row or a short on the breadboard.
See if you can get the input resistor to the sustain control working and move on to the first clipping stage, etc.
Feral Feline
Well-known member
I feel your pain, breadboard brother.And don’t get frustrated. I spent 3 days debugging this mess. I had ONE resistor going to V+ that should have been going to ground. I had to walk away from it multiple times. I was about to tear the whole thing apart!
View attachment 24313
This is exactly what I was forced to do with my February Muff, I wasn't getting signal out of the first stage (390k instead of 390-Ohms, I'll never live that down).
@Nightendday86
Tried to find the following last night when you first posted the thread, but I was half-asleep and have no access to my computer at the moment so didn't have my bookmarks and couldn't find it online again... You'd think it would've come up with search terms such as "Breadboard layouts effects"; add my signature and searching PPCB and Talkbass (where I knew I'd previously posted it) and it still didn't come up last night; don't know why it finally popped up on radar today and not last night, I used the same damn search criteria... Grrr.
Anyway, enough whinging from me
BREADBOARD GUITAR FX
It helps if you can speak a bit of French, but is not necessary. Unfortunately there isn't a plain-jane Muff layout, though there is Dead Astronaut's Space Patrol, which is a muff with some extra switchable features (see below). Take a look at the layouts, try to get a feel for how they're being "flowed", and it'll help you with your future layouts.
There're several categories and numerous FX in each category:
Effets
- Ampli ( 2 )
- booster ( 8 )
- Chorus ( 1 )
- Compresseur ( 3 )
- delay ( 2 )
- Distortion ( 17 )
- Divers ( 1 )
- filtre ( 3 )
- Fuzz ( 22 )
- Lo-Fi ( 1 )
- Octave ( 1 )
- Oscillator ( 2 )
- Overdrive ( 20 )
- Phaser ( 1 )
- reverbe ( 1 )
- Tremolo ( 1 )
- utilitaire ( 2 )
- wah ( 1 )
Good ol' BEAVIS has some breadboarding tips:
beavis audio research
As already mentioned by BtR, there are some fantastic breadboarding resources BtR (and others) put up in the Test Kitchen.
Here's that Space Patrol Fuzz, don't let the extra switchery confuse, and you might just find his style/way of breadboarding is not for you:
Nightendday86
New member
Thank you so much for the information! those look might different from mine... I can't wait to try them out.I feel your pain, breadboard brother.
This is exactly what I was forced to do with my February Muff, I wasn't getting signal out of the first stage (390k instead of 390-Ohms, I'll never live that down).
@Nightendday86
Tried to find the following last night when you first posted the thread, but I was half-asleep and have no access to my computer at the moment so didn't have my bookmarks and couldn't find it online again... You'd think it would've come up with search terms such as "Breadboard layouts effects"; add my signature and searching PPCB and Talkbass (where I knew I'd previously posted it) and it still didn't come up last night; don't know why it finally popped up on radar today and not last night, I used the same damn search criteria... Grrr.
Anyway, enough whinging from me
BREADBOARD GUITAR FX
It helps if you can speak a bit of French, but is not necessary. Unfortunately there isn't a plain-jane Muff layout, though there is Dead Astronaut's Space Patrol, which is a muff with some extra switchable features (see below). Take a look at the layouts, try to get a feel for how they're being "flowed", and it'll help you with your future layouts.
There're several categories and numerous FX in each category:
Effets
- Ampli ( 2 )
- booster ( 8 )
- Chorus ( 1 )
- Compresseur ( 3 )
- delay ( 2 )
- Distortion ( 17 )
- Divers ( 1 )
- filtre ( 3 )
- Fuzz ( 22 )
- Lo-Fi ( 1 )
- Octave ( 1 )
- Oscillator ( 2 )
- Overdrive ( 20 )
- Phaser ( 1 )
- reverbe ( 1 )
- Tremolo ( 1 )
- utilitaire ( 2 )
- wah ( 1 )
Good ol' BEAVIS has some breadboarding tips:
beavis audio research
As already mentioned by BtR, there are some fantastic breadboarding resources BtR (and others) put up in the Test Kitchen.
Here's that Space Patrol Fuzz, don't let the extra switchery confuse, and you might just find his style/way of breadboarding is not for you:
Feral Feline
Well-known member
It looks neater, but I think you've introduced some errors in the tidying up. Each clipping stages' caps 1uF and 470pF are parallel to each other, which gives you 1.00047uF, but the schematic doesn't have those caps parallel each other.I tried to be a little more neat...
Those 1uF are meant to be 0.1uF (100n) and should be only attached to respective bases and non-power side of the clipping diodes.
Easy solution, FIRST CLIPPING STAGE: extend the left side of the diodes two spots over to the left (keep the right side of diodes as they are) and move the "1uF" caps over two spaces — that'll connect one end of the cap to the diodes and the other to the base.
A little bit more involved shuffling things around for the second clipping stage, but I'm sure you can sort that out, maybe move the 10k onto an angle to free up space...
Last edited:
Nightendday86
New member
I think this should fix that?It looks neater, but I think you've introduced some errors in the tidying up. Each clipping stages' caps 1uF and 470pF are parallel to each other, which gives you 1.00047uF, but the schematic doesn't have those caps parallel each other.
Those 1uF are meant to be 0.1uF (100n) and should be only attached to respective bases and non-power side of the clipping diodes.
Easy solution, FIRST CLIPPING STAGE: extend the left side of the diodes two spots over to the left (keep the right side of diodes as they are) and move the "1uF" caps over two spaces — that'll connect one end of the cap to the diodes and the other to the base.
A little bit more involved shuffling things around for the second clipping stage, but I'm sure you can sort that out, maybe move the 10k onto an angle to free up space...
Coda
Well-known member
I breadboarded a BMP this afternoon (V6, minus the tone bypass…I’m outa switches). Anywho, it did require some troubleshooting. Turns out I forgot two resistors (most importantly, the resistor to base at Q4). Go through with a fine-tooth comb, and then don’t stop combing till it works…
BuddytheReow
Breadboard Baker
Q2 diodes should go collector to base. You can also remove the red jumper going into q3. Oh wait, I see what you did. Extend the 1u cap there one more column to the left. You’re really close…
BuddytheReow
Breadboard Baker
Piggybacking on what others have said, build this in stages rather than all at once. It’s a great way to solidify the learning and building processes
Nightendday86
New member
alright this is my last try tonight... 
Nightendday86
New member
I've already found what I think are errors, I'm tired, I'll go over it in the morning
Feral Feline
Well-known member
The first clipping stage is still paralleling C6 & C12 for 1.00047uF;
The second clipping stage’s C7 has been shorted by the jumper above it.
My brain gets pretty foggy when it needs sleep; get a good rest and maybe check out Fig’s Anatomy of A Breadboard thread when you’ve a clear head.
The second clipping stage’s C7 has been shorted by the jumper above it.
My brain gets pretty foggy when it needs sleep; get a good rest and maybe check out Fig’s Anatomy of A Breadboard thread when you’ve a clear head.
BuddytheReow
Breadboard Baker
This will help too
forum.pedalpcb.com
TUTORIAL - Breadboarding Tips and Tricks
@Harry Klippton this one’s for you! Not really a tutorial, but I wanted to share a few tips and tricks I've learned in my breadboarding journey. First things first. Light up a diode! One of the very first things you should do is light up a LED. It accomplished 2 things: you've verified that...
forum.pedalpcb.com
Sorry for necro post. But I was looking for hints like this so I was glad I found it. Although in the pic above some stuff seems disconnected. For instance the 2nd component from the left, 1uf, it's just connected to input resistor and then to ground via another resistor. It doesn't go into first stage.
Anyway, I think it's a good idea to breadboard the muff because of the different versions. I don't have much experience with breadboards, so I wasn't sure if the whole thing would fit, but it actually fit quite nicely.
This is in preparation for building the Fuzz Muffin. I'm really glad I breadboarded this, because I started with the Mask Us and I don't really like it. I think if I hadn't breadboarded this I'd have soldered up my Fuzz Muffin like the Mask Us and would've been a bit disappointed
But who knows, maybe I won't like any of the them. I never use a fuzz, they always sound too vintage for my taste. I just wanted to do a Big Muff because it's such a classic and I never even played one before.
Anyway, I think it's a good idea to breadboard the muff because of the different versions. I don't have much experience with breadboards, so I wasn't sure if the whole thing would fit, but it actually fit quite nicely.
This is in preparation for building the Fuzz Muffin. I'm really glad I breadboarded this, because I started with the Mask Us and I don't really like it. I think if I hadn't breadboarded this I'd have soldered up my Fuzz Muffin like the Mask Us and would've been a bit disappointed
But who knows, maybe I won't like any of the them. I never use a fuzz, they always sound too vintage for my taste. I just wanted to do a Big Muff because it's such a classic and I never even played one before.
