I am building the simplest possible distortion effect pedal i could find. ( https://www.instructables.com/id/Make-an-easy-guitar-distortion-pedal-STEP-BY-STEP/ ).

Question 1 - many people who built this, say to replace the resistor between the base and collector of the transistor, with a 1M instead of 100k. What would happen, if i add a 1M pot as a variable resistor, instead of the 100k? or maybe in series with the 100k, to maintain the original resistance when the pot is turned down to 0.

Question 2 - What if instead of one NPN transistor, i do two darlington coupled NPN transistors,? Connecting the collectors together, and the emmiter of the first transistor, with the base of the second one. Would that add gain/volume/distortion? All of the above?

I'm using 100uf input cap, 100k pot instead of third resistor, for volume. And a 1k pot between the cap/diodes/vol - for distortion control.
I'm new to putting my theoretical knowledge into practice, but i have built a basic guitar amp before, so i'm starting to have some practical experience.
Thanks for the help, any advice is appreciated.

 

Hello,

That schematic is far from complete.
Where is the powersupply?
Where does the emittor of the transistor connect?

Perhaps this page will give you a better circuit:
https://www.wamplerpedals.com/blog/...ow-to-design-a-basic-overdrive-pedal-circuit/

Bertus

 

Hello, yes, that's not a complete standart schematic of the circuit, i took it from the middle of an instructional, since this image had the best definition, and had the parts im talking about
I included the link to the instructions.
Thanks for the link, i'll probably use that schematic instead

 

You did not say which transistor you are using. Their pins are different.