Bazz Fuzz help

[Shaggy]

well, i thrashed my other fuzz project and i took a bazz fuzz schematic from the internet

i got it working, i gives a really synt like fuzzyness

but(yes there is a but), i has no sustain at all, when the output of my guitar goes below a sertain point the tone just dies, you hear nothing, if you strum to soft you will hear nothing, if you try pick you have to do it with force or you will hear nothing

(the caps are 10uf)

help?

[lovekraft]

Just a guess, but check the polarity on the diode. Keep in mind that the circuit has decay/gating built into it. Also make sure you're using a fairly hot transistor, like a 2N3904 or a 2N5088/89, since a lower gain unit might well cause problems. Both Christian and Gary ended up using a MPSA13 (mega gain!) for their final build, and Gary says "With non-darlington transistors, ...the note decay is quicker...", so that could be what you're experiencing. It's not an overdrive style fuzz, and you're never going to get long, singing sustain out of it, but you may be able to get it working better.

[ansil]

the 13 is the way to go on this thing i built one for a friend and it sound extremely crazy now. with much better control.

[Shaggy]

2 transistors in series will work to?(different transistors)

[lovekraft]

Well, not strictly in series - a darlington is wired with the collectors together and the first emitter wired to the second base, with the first base and the second emitter wired into the circuit. There's an example on this page (along with a bunch of info on the circuit in general):

Bazz Fuss Fun

You might also find some help on this page:

Blatty or Gated sound (from the Geofex Guitar Effects Debugging Page).

[Shaggy]

i soldered the transistor quite wrong, i assumed the middle pin was emitter, i was the base, so i resoldered it, it works but the bass side is much louder, and the signal drops from clipping quite soon, i have to force to get a fuzzy sound

[lovekraft]

Sounds like you need a higher gain transistor - which one are you using? Try a 2N5089 or a MPSA13 if you have access to them, or do the homebrew darlington trick shown on the Bazz Fuss Fun page.