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25V is enough for everything pedal related.

Ceramic are the lowest values, 1pf - 1000pf.
the next range of values is 1n-1uf, and here you got many choices.

you got the Mylar Greenies, which are polyester.
you got Wima and Panasonic ECQ, which are polypropelene.

the next set of values is 1uf - whateverUF (in pedals, usually 1uf-2200uf).

these are electrolytics, and they range in being Tantalum and Aluminum.

Tantalum is more "mojo" but more prone to die before the aluminum.
aluminum is better, and you can also get a bipolar version.

in electrolytics, the orientation is very important.

Tantalum will explode in your face if you get them wrong.
Aluminum will get mad/burn, and bipolar is the best choice if you are a beginner I reckon, since you never get the orientation wrong.

with ceramics, you usually get a 50v rating.

with polyester/poly, you can get anything from 50v-630v, YOU MUST CHECK THE PHYSICAL SIZE OF THE CAPACITOR TO KNOW IT FITS (usually 5mm lead spacing).

with electrolytics, usually 16v is enough for most applications (unless it's a 18v pedal), i'd get 25v just to have the "security".

just note that sometimes the 25v can be physically too big.

you will get some stuff wrong at first, but life is all about learning. you will evantually know this stuff by heart.

this here is a very handy chart for value conversion.

http://www.justradios.com/uFnFpF.html

so to sum up

1pf - 1000pf (1n) - ceramic
1n - 1000n (1uf) - polyester/polypropelene
1uf-2200uf - electorlyic family - tantalum and aluminum

great demos, got the engineers thumb on my bench here, will probably do that and the OS now.

the r5 mod is interesting, will try it later this week

not really useful for optical comps, i've tried it on several builds i did, they all have very very very small range of compression.

the best use for it is switching in amps (soldano, mesa etc)

After trying to get my wah to sweep a little better (the wah seemed to sweep almost instantly between bass and treble, very very sensitive to the touch), I tried various mods to make it sound better and make almost every position useable.

1.Changed C4 to 22n polyester cap (tried orange drops 715p in this position, it started oscillating in some settings, and 15n osscilates like hell with any cap i tried with some settings).

2. added the freq pot (the wah sounded too boomy to my ears without it.

3. added a pot for R4 (1k pot paralleled to 560ohm almost), so i can adjust the gain.

4. peak pot on the outside (makes some unusable settings, usable)

5. ICAR pot (Area 51).

6. Changed C1 to 22nf.

now the wah sweeps like it should (IMO) and sounds awesome in any setting.

I can do a demo, but only on friday and then i will post a build report and some pics.

please delete this thread, moving my total sum of mods to the mods thread.

i changed c1 to 22n, and actually added the freq pot and c6, it sounds better now to my ears.

the freq pot let's you do "woo-woo" as well as wah-wah, quite cool.

using an icar pot, but it seems the sweep with the pedal is very small, any way to make it bigger ?

came across this while searching for whipple on youtube.

I'm using a custom made inductor, but it seems the whipple demos are closer to the wah jakefuzz built.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnjSgWUllrk

that is the sound i'm after, any idea how can i get remotely close with the weener ?

maybe you can check what other Germaniums fit the bill (i guess any npn that fits a fuzz-face ?)

but the lnds you can't replace.

the ics i think you can, cause they both accept up to 18v, and i think the 2134a is just a better version of that 2604

I actually have a half built etched openhaus. Haven't gotten around to ordering the ge transistors. Do you know if they are pnp? Or if not can I jerry rig it so I can use pnp?

they are npn, 2n1306, I built that beast, really hard to find, gotta order at least a few to check for proper HFe.

opnehaus has a more fuzzy sound (uses a fuzz face circuit inside, the ICs are op amp wrappers) and the triple wreck i guess would be more modern sounding.

hope everything works out Brian.

My guess would be more gain with the BC549C, using the B version it would be like turning the knob from 10 to 8, C would start @ 10, B would start @ 7.5-8.

I remember reading someplace, that the transistors averaging 600 hfe is what you should use on muff type pedals.

yeah, hehe

when i finished my SLO clone amp, she just said "cool"

to me it was like finding pirates hidden gold

so i just leave the freq trimmer out ?

as a standalone OD, i don't like it either, but its real magic is when you use it on a really nice distortion pedal, or a really good cranked amp.