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Taming fizzy fuzz - a cunning plan


Beer of the Bass
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I only use two pedals with my band (not counting a tuner), and one of them is a Univox Superfuzz clone which sounds great through my own amp but has evil high end fizz through a PA or any cab with a tweeter. With limited soundcheck time, sound guys will either just leave the unbearable fizz in the FOH sound, or cut so much treble that my clean signal has no definition. One solution to this would be to insist on a mic for my cab, but at most of the gigs I do that isn't a sensible option. A full amp simulator like a Sansamp might work, but I had the Behringer BDI121 for a while and really didn't get on with the core tone of it at all.
In a minor brainwave I decided that all I really need is a box with a steep lowpass filter set at somewhere around 3-4KHz in order to cut the highs to something close to the response I'd get from a tweeterless cab but not mess with anything below that. Being DIY inclined, I looked at designs for guitar cab simulators. Most of these have the high end response I'm looking for, but also simulate the bass roll-off and mid scoop of a typical guitar cab, which I don't want. So what I'm going to try is basing my circuit on the Runoffgroove Condor circuit ([url="http://www.runoffgroove.com/condor.html"]http://www.runoffgroove.com/condor.html[/url]), but taking out the bridged-T and highpass filters to leave just the input buffer and lowpass filter. If I put this in a box with a parallel link on the input, I should be able to send a full-range signal to the backline and a lowpassed signal to the PA via a DI box.
I'll post back when I've tried this out...

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I use 6x10 and tweeter, a of which makes the fuzz fizz more and I try eq that out, drop out mid to 9, boost the low mids to 3, keep the low bass, high mids and highs at twelve. Still feels fairly good in the mix with moog key board in the band too which takes the real low frequency space anyway. Let us now how this goes, sounds cool, :)

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Sounds cool, make it adjustable though if you can! Other alternative pedals with a built in high end roll off I know of are the Tonehammer (with AGS engaged), Diamond Compressor (controlled by a jumper inside the pedal), and the Markbass Super Booster (using the VLE control).

I always ended up using a VT Bass set as flat as possible with low gain when running fuzz through a PA.

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[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1389210471' post='2331479']
Sounds cool, make it adjustable though if you can! Other alternative pedals with a built in high end roll off I know of are the Tonehammer (with AGS engaged), Diamond Compressor (controlled by a jumper inside the pedal), and the Markbass Super Booster (using the VLE control).

I always ended up using a VT Bass set as flat as possible with low gain when running fuzz through a PA.
[/quote]
Adjusting the frequency would be a challenge with this filter topology, as it would involve changing four resistances simultaneously. A 4 pole, 3 way rotary switch would work though. I think I'll try the circuit on a breadboard to find the values I like best and then build it with no controls in the smallest box I can stuff it in.

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sounds a brilliant - i'm very interested how you get on.

i've fancied building a rack unit with a preamp/speaker sim in for a while.


i never liked the sansamp either, got an ebs microamp and have used that great effect live for DIing fuzzy and overdriven basses.

Edited by ahpook
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Very interesting plan, Beer.

For identical reasons to yours, I have considered a very similar scheme involving the RunOffGroove Condor cab sim, but was thinking of enabling the three different filter stages (low rolloff / mid scoop / high rolloff) to be switched in or out individually. However, my electronics skills are weak - would this require additional buffering stages?

Also, although this may not suit your needs, Poodle's Pedal Parts supply a kit for the ROG Condor - [url="http://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/Cab_Sim_ROG_Condor/p847124_11037461.aspx"]details here[/url]. Not sure whether this would be a helpful base on which to make further modifications.

In an alternative attempt to address the same problem, I've been experimenting quite succesfully with a Mooer cab sim/DI, about which I've written a Basschat post [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/226592-review-mooer-speaker-sim-di-a-great-little-problem-solver/page__pid__2331803"]here[/url].

I'll be interested to hear how your experiments come along...

Edited by paulbuzz
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[quote name='Left Foot' timestamp='1389206751' post='2331400']
I use 6x10 and tweeter, a of which makes the fuzz fizz more and I try eq that out, drop out mid to 9, boost the low mids to 3, keep the low bass, high mids and highs at twelve. Still feels fairly good in the mix with moog key board in the band too which takes the real low frequency space anyway. Let us now how this goes, sounds cool, :)
[/quote]


pfff , must have been on stupid source that day, ^ mids are in mix for sure, ?!?.

so what say you beer?

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