Mangler NPN - Dark Sounding

[msengele]

Hello all,

I have just completed a Mangler build and all went pretty well except it sounds a little dark or like it has too much bass. i used the BC109c NPN transistors and ensured that the polarized parts have been rotated. I did catch my self when I put in the 2u2 cap and had to desolder, turn it around and solder it back in.

If i damaged the 2u2 cap could that cause the pedal to sound dark or bassy? everything else appears good.

Thanks,
Mike

[stecykmi]

seems unlikely to me... make sure C3 is actually 10n and not larger.

[msengele]

it says it is a .01uf which should be a 10nf, but i will replace it just in case there is an issue with it. I have a few more of them. Will let you know tomorrow.

thanks

[msengele]

hello all, I swapped out the 10n cap and there was no change. Any other suggestions or ideas.

Thanks,
Mike

[stecykmi]

what kind of guitar are you using? sometimes humbuckers can make some circuits sound really dark. try changing c3 to something smaller, maybe 4.7nF?

[pryde]

You may want to try some different transistors (you did socket them right?) There are a number of common ones that would work like 2n5088, 2n5089, 2n3904, 2n2222 that should work.

If it still sounds very dark then you know it is not the transistors but related to cap values, etc in the circuit.

[madbean]

I would actually switch out in the input cap. Reduce it to 1uF or 470n, even. It makes a huge difference, IMO.

I had a FF once that used a pot to blend between 100n and 3u3. At 3u3, it is really, really intense.

[jimilee]

I would just be crank it to 11 and rock the crap out if it!

[msengele]

I verified the transistors pinout is correct. Does the input cap have to be polarized? the 1uf and 470n caps i can find are not.

[madbean]

No, the input cap does not have to be polarized. You can almost always sub non-polar caps for polarized ones. The trick with polarized caps is that the + side needs to go the highest voltage source. With non-polarized it doesn't matter.

[msengele]

thank you, I am going to try to replace it tomorrow.