BYOC tonebender mkII fuzz, 2008 version with Philips OC75 germanium transistors

[axeslinger013]

That was built wrong...

[caseycollis]

The germanium transistors are very temperature sensitive. That's the sound they produce when they get too hot.

[yobhsiFehT]

Ouch! Bias that thing, brother! :S:D

[JimijaymesGuitarist]

Thats how my broken rocktron booster sounded lol

[stratmaniac]

1) Bias it, i think there's a trimpot for the third trannie. Just tinker about with it until you think it sounds good. Don't listen to people saying it must be exactlt 4,5 volts, i think they usually sound best around 5 volts or even more.

2) if you haven't used transistor sockets you may have cooked the transistors. And that means that the trannies are now junk. I hope you used sockets...

[cpkelley]

Is there a bias trim pot in this? You might have to bias it correctly to get rid of the buzz....I have the byoc fuzz face clone and it has that.

[ckyvick666]

there is a wiring problem on the fuzz pot or a problem with the transistors. were you able to bias the transistor to 4.5v?

[Ombrenuit]

actually I like the crackle sound! that's why I want to build one lol

[belgion75]

Yeah , Lemon and palmz are right. I just finished building a byoc fuzz (first time DIY) and had the same thing... for 5 minutes.... until I adjusted the bias trim.... so..... bias that..... yeah...

[bopplayer]

Sounds like i'm getting a hair cut.

[RetoxBrooklyn]

did you have a heat sink between your soldering iron and the transistor when you were soldering them onto the board? it sounds like one of them might have gotten over heated and went bad. you might have to replace one or more of them. it definitely shouldn't sound like that.

[zgr9]

i dont think its supposed to sound like that

[rsl84416]

agreed

[palmz51]

that is definately a bias problem. turn the bias trimpot while playing to find a spot that gets rid of the squelching sound but still has some sustain without the gating effect and the notes getting cut off at the end. if that doesnt do it try a different transistor in Q3, like switch Q1 and Q2.

[LemonInYourEye]

Yeah, mine definitely doesn't do that crackling thing. You might want to check the bias trimpot. Other than that I"d probably bet it was the transistors.

[LemonInYourEye]

I'm not sure what the problem is. I'm building one of these right now, and when its done I'll tell you if mine sounds the same. :)