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When building say a fuzz face using SI transistors does the hfe of Q1 and Q2 matter like when using germanium? When using germanium I've read Q1 hfe should be + - 75 % of Q2 but does that matter when using SI transistors ? Or is that why there are trimmer pots in most SI fuzz faces to get collector of Q2 to proper voltage ?

"Silicon transistors aren't "lossy" like germanium ones, so you just have to simulate the leakage in some way"
I've seen this kind of wordage on many sites when talking about using SI in circuits designed for germanium. I've put together a few PCBs RM, FF and TB from tayda and used SI in all w/out issue except the TB, with help on this forum got it going. In simple terms what does the above statement mean? Do the PCBs I've mentioned above have some kind of simulated leakage in the circuit ? How do you simulate leakage in a circuit?

Sorry if this is a dumb question but having trouble with a tonebender build. I'm putting together a TB on a PCB and have socketed the transistors and using 2n3904 and can't get more than farty noises out of it. The question I have is they recommend hfe for Q1, Q2 and Q3 when using germanium transistor's but is that still the case when using SI transistors? I can get it to bias to the correct voltages but no sound unless strum real hard and it sounds farty and fades out real quick.

As above, can I use a 10 uf in place of 2.2 the schematic calls for ? will be same 16v.
If not how come?

First build on a solderless breadboard. Put together a SHO from a schematic I found on the internet. Works fine but is noisy. Is that normal for a breadboard build ? Is the SHO a noisy boost ? I don't want to solder it onto the Veroboard I have if I should maybe change out a component or adjust the build somehow. Thanks in advance

I just finished a les luis build I took my time doing over the last couple weeks, forgot to check before boxing it though. I could play through it but once turned on lost sound. Unboxed it and used test prob with iPod and my test box, it has an in and an out along with 4 alligator clips. In, Out, Hot and a Ground, I've used many times before to test before boxing but forgot this time,ugh. Ran the probe through the entire circuit and have a clear signal coming through on the out of the PCB. Plugged guitar in and nothing. Plugged iPOD back into the in and played around with it. Found a few things that I've never run into before while doing this.
Only have sound when volume pot is turned all the way off, move it up slightly and sound lost. removed pot and checked it, its good.
Music coming through is not clear, that might be normal I'm not sure.
Started wiggling wires around and the ground clip from test box to ground from PCB came off and had a huge increase in volume, that seems like it might be something but I don't know enough to know what.
I went through all solder connections and re heated them. All else looks good. Does anybody have any ideas??

Just finished up a pig butt build and got it boxed up, my cleanest build to date. Only 1 issue, the LED is always on. When pedal is engage the LED is bright and when disengaged the LED is still on, it's dim but it's still on. It's wired up just like the project page shows. Thinking about just wiring it off the board and see but In the mean time does any body have any ideas ?

got this thing all put together took my time soldering and making sure had good connections, went to test out and nothing, notta.
I have a little test rig with clips and a power supply that I've used a dozen times when building other pedals. removed the clip from the ground wire off PC and theres guitar sound but zero pedal effect, no volume change or tone  hooked back up no guitar just hum from amp. Checked voltage from both IC, nothing close to what is stated for the 4558, DMM on 20 DC V most all pins .70 and pin 8 was highest at 1.2v
checked all connections again  all looks good gonna put together a probe tomorrow and go through but not sure what ill find with that
Anybody have any suggestions or thoughts ?

 Was reading a guys project build and he mentioned that he used all spec tested caps and resistors and premium ICs, transistors..
Got me thinking as I was ordering caps and resistors I don't already have to build a new OP fuzz pedal. I have always ordered from Tayda for all my builds minus a couple matched transistors for a Smoothie. I grabbed a pack of 1m resistors, had 5 left over, highest read .818 and lowest of the 5 was .723  those don't seem to be 1m resistors to me, especially since they are advertised as 1%, had similar results with the rest of the stuff I have  only 1 resistor I tested was actually what it said it was.
What kind of affect if any will having... IDK, 22 or 30 resistors in a build that aren't exactly what they say they are. Is that why they sell them in packs of 10 so you can pick out the 1s that are closest to spec ??

Sorry I'm sure this has been asked a 100 times.
If a build sheet asks for a 10uf Electrolytic Cap 16v min can I use a 100v or even a 250v instead?
I know caps hold or store energy and would the larger volt rated caps affect the pedal sound ?

I'm playing my new build through a mesa combo. the amp has a little hum to it with no signal, (when not playing strings muted)  which it always has, but now when I switch on the smoothie pedal the hum has the rise and fall of the pedal. is that normal or is there maybe a ground issue?

Just finished a smoothie build, set trim pot and rocked it before I boxed it all worked good, (having said that I did all that into the front of the amp).  Quite happy because there is usually an issue for me at that point. installed the 4 screws holding the bottom of the box on and put it after my chorus pedal in the fx loop warmed up amp and... NOTHING ! WTF !. Removed smoothie from the loop and I got sound again. Tried again making sure all hooked up, and again nothing. Put it back in front of the amp and there it is, works like a charm. Not sure what to make of this. I've only built an OD (green Bean)and a couple distortion pedals(slow loris, and a mangler), which all work but all going into front of amp, not sure in a pedal what the difference would be. I'm completely stumped. anybody have any ideas

I have had/built this pedal for a couple years, about a month ago I took it to a jam and it didnt work pulled it out to have a look at it today. Still doesn't work. I put together a test probe looking for a problem. not that good at reading schematics. I get tone up to R3, but R4 and beyond are all silent.
If anybody wants to look at the schematic and maybe offer some advice that would be great
Thanks
Scot

I have already ordered the PC board for the grapevine build and in the process of ordering parts from Tayda but there are 2 caps unavailable I believe off top of my head the 2 I cant get are a couple 50n and 33n, they do have caps close in value  I think 47n and 56n and 27n and 36n I think, from what I've read its ok to go up but not down. if that's the case what if any difference will it make to the sound ? any ?
thanks
Scot

I guess I should have asked this a couple days back but thought I'd better before boxing this thing up. As I went through all the components at one point the sound went from a tone( I used my ipod with a tone generator app instead of strumming) too a feed back kinda squeal coming out of the caps, and was affected by the feedback pot. So a couple things is that normal or should it just be a tone not affected by the pots, 2nd what position should the pots be in ? All on or off ? The pedal has 3 pots. Delay feedback and level
Sorry I posted this with my previous question but think it might of gotten overlooked
I was previously having problem with the feedback pot not working but after going through it seemed to work, but am curious about noise coming through as stated above

have finally finished putting together this Zero point, and have a couple issues. first the repeats are fuzzy, 2nd the feed back pot does nothing. I have checked all connects w/ a magnifying glass and all seem to be good. I had also ordered a A50k pot as well as the B50k, because of the comments about the B50 in the feed back position on this forum. I cant get either one to do anything. any suggestions would be very grateful. I have also traced back all components I could from the schematic and the all appear to be ok
Thanks again

This thing is killing me ! I originally had this all boxed up then discovered I had pots in backwards on the board. it all worked put 10 was all the way left and zero all the way left on all the pots. So I removed and re installed them all the way they are supposed to be, plugged in and played through pedal but then turn on pedal and silence. Through much examining discovered that when I would strum guitar all the LEDs that are used as diodes would light up. so I pulled out of the box stripped it down to a 9v battery and an in and out , plugged in and same results, cranked up amp and can hear very faint guitar coming through. I just checked the pots with OHM tester and they are all still good and in all 5 are in proper placement on the PCB. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Am curios about orientation. I just completed a plexi clone build and it apears that all my pots are reversed, as in all the way left is zero and left is 10.

While I'm waiting on the parts for my zero point DD I've started another project and again wound up with wrong cap, diagram calls for a 330 pf cap. I received 10 33 pf caps instead but do have some 220 pf caps around. Can I use those ? If so what difference will the lower value cap have. Just out of curiosity can I use say a 220 and a 120  run in parallel to get the 330 ? Sorry I'm new to this kinda stuff but have defiantly caught the bug

Need a little help w/ a zero point DD build. mostly finished last night and went to rock it before i box it, as they say, and as soon as I plugged in guitar cables pedsal started... not sure. My first thoughts were it was osculating, amp wasnt even on but could hear the pedal making the noise. After reading through the forum  maybe its clipping and i need to change out 1 of the pots to a A50k? any help would be great
Thanks
Scot