Aion Solaris: Reaching unity with volume knob cranked

[Tuxedo3]

Hey guys, I built a Solaris (Fuzz Face) for a friend and it honestly sounds so good. Here's one question, is it normal for it to only reach unity with the volume knob totally dimed? The voltages seem low as well on the trannies. When playing through it the collector is only at -3v and the build doc says to bias it to -4.5v, but the bias pot is all the down off and will only make the voltage less when turned up. Any ideas? https://aionelectronics.com/project/solaris-fuzz-face/ the build doc

[komigenie]

U sure your R5 resistor is 1 KOhm ?

[Tuxedo3]

Really good eye, it's 11k I believe. Its because I bought the germanium transistors from smallbear and they include resistor to give them the proper voltage. But 11k compared to 1k is a huge difference...

In the build instructions it says "If using their Q2 bias resistor (R5) (which I am), keep the Bias trim pot all the way down"
Does this mean I could replace R5 with 1k and use the bias pot?

[komigenie]

Right

[midwayfair]

Smallbear gives you resistors based on their circuit numbering, not Aion's, Madbean's, or anyone else's that might have different numbering. Don't dump them on the PCB without comparing where they go on the schematic and not necessarily what the instructions say because the numbering might change. There are few enough resistors, with different enough values, to figure out what's the closest out of what you got from Smallbear to what appears on the schematic.

After you fix them, you're likely to find that the volume is still low. Read the third-to-last paragraph in the "A Peek at the Circuit" section (actually, read the whole article!):

http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/fuzzface/fffram.htm

[Tuxedo3]

Don't dump them on the PCB without comparing where they go on the schematic and not necessarily what the instructions say because the numbering might change.

I didn't.

The instructions for the Solaris literally say " They will also include a list of resistor values to use. Note that SBE's included resistor numbering is slightly different than mine: their R3 is my R2, and their R6 is my R3. (R4 and R5 are the same in both.) If using their Q2 bias resistor (R5), keep the Bias trim pot all the way down."

Here's the document I got with my transistors, notice the 11k in R5.