Build Your Own Clone Message Board

So I just completed my first build after completing the confidence boost (which worked perfectly) and I was crushed when I plugged into it and the fuzz just didn't sound right. The true bypass signal works fine, but when I turn on the fuzz it just sounds bad, especially at higher volumes. It sounds even more muddled and over-distorted when I flip the octave switch.





At least I made it look good...



Any advice as to why it may not be sounding up to par is appreciated.
Thanks.

Well that thing ain't the sweetest of sounding fuzzes at the best of times. Listening to Jimi I'm not sure how he got the sounds he did with the Octavio / Octavia.

What can be seen of the soldering looks a little suspect. Looks like you did not have enough heat to get good joints on the jack socket tags (boy do I hate that horrible melty purple wire).
You don't show the underside of the PCB so we can't comment on the rest of the soldering.

From what I can see I can't spot any components out of place. You are using a good battery that puts out 9V? Have you checked you get 9V on the PCB?

I'd suggest you take it out of the box and go over your solder joints. Use a bright light and a magnifying glass to look for suspect joints and clean the PCB up afterwards with isopropyl alcohol and an old toothbrush (you can use a new toothbrush if like)