DIY Effects

[mancunianfox]

Just finished a pedal that blends an effect loop with the clean signal. It works great with my chorus and my cheapo Behringer distortion but does not work at all well with my bazz fuss or fuzz face builds. I think this is because they do not have a buffer stage and don't react well to having a buffer before it either. Any suggestions?

Thinking of a new build anyway so any suggestions for a buffered distortion or fuzz I could try are welcome.

[JackLondon]

Maybe something like this [url="http://www.musikding.de/product_info.php/info/p2193_The-Buffer---Buffer-kit.html"]http://www.musikding.de/product_info.php/i...Buffer-kit.html[/url] ! I was thinking about possibly putting one in a fuzz pedal or even as a seperate box! It's not expensive as well and you can a pcb for €4 so not bad!

[mancunianfox]

@Jack

I've made a buffer for the looper already and it works great. The problem I am having is that fuzz face type circuits work best going straight from the instrument. If there is an active circuit or a buffer before it they sound really crappy. That is why pedals like the Woolly Mammoth are notoriously bad with active basses. When I put it through the buffered effect loop the fuzz face sounds different because of the change of impedance. If I use my cheapo Behringer FZ-2 clone or my Clone Theory the looper works great because of the input and output buffers built into those circuits.

[LukeFRC]

interesting... i was playing with the SFT circuit earlier and one of the things i noticed was that it was very loud and boosted the signal a fair bit.

Now I had intended to wire the thing up

inst--> SFT ---> Big muff ----> chorus ---> out to amp

I wonder if it would make more sense to wire it up

inst--> Big muff ----> chorus ---> SFT ---> out to amp

what you think guys?

[JackLondon]

[quote name='mancunianfox' post='762252' date='Mar 2 2010, 09:01 PM']@Jack

I've made a buffer for the looper already and it works great. The problem I am having is that fuzz face type circuits work best going straight from the instrument. If there is an active circuit or a buffer before it they sound really crappy. That is why pedals like the Woolly Mammoth are notoriously bad with active basses. When I put it through the buffered effect loop the fuzz face sounds different because of the change of impedance. If I use my cheapo Behringer FZ-2 clone or my Clone Theory the looper works great because of the input and output buffers built into those circuits.[/quote]

Hmmm, interesting. I think I read somewhere on here about buffers and they were supposed to get rid of the problems with Fuzz pedals and active basses but your experience seems different! TBH I never used fuzz with my basses so I wouldn't know!

How about a fuzz pedal with a loop?

[umph]

[quote name='mancunianfox' post='762125' date='Mar 2 2010, 07:25 PM']Just finished a pedal that blends an effect loop with the clean signal. It works great with my chorus and my cheapo Behringer distortion but does not work at all well with my bazz fuss or fuzz face builds. I think this is because they do not have a buffer stage and don't react well to having a buffer before it either. Any suggestions?

Thinking of a new build anyway so any suggestions for a buffered distortion or fuzz I could try are welcome.[/quote]
have you tried eliminating the input buffer?

in reference to the power supply i'd go with seperate lm317's and isolate each power output and improve the amount of filtering would be totally overkill but would mean no worries about noisey pedals.

[dudewheresmybass]

[quote name='JackLondon' post='761655' date='Mar 2 2010, 11:23 AM']It looks fairly simple to acomplish, you can however expand on this project and put in a sound sensor as well which would react to the music being played, sort of a effect of flashing disco lights.[/quote]

this is pretty much what i'm after.

how would i supply the signal to the unit without losing my signal totally? i know i' said i'm thinking of a 'side chain' but how could i build that?

[bobbass4k]

Finally got the rest of the bits for my GGG muff ordered, assuming royal fail cooperate, I'm gonna give it a shot over the weekend, I'll let you know how it goes/how many things I set fire to

[cheddatom]

[quote name='mancunianfox' post='762252' date='Mar 2 2010, 09:01 PM']@Jack

I've made a buffer for the looper already and it works great. The problem I am having is that fuzz face type circuits work best going straight from the instrument. If there is an active circuit or a buffer before it they sound really crappy. That is why pedals like the Woolly Mammoth are notoriously bad with active basses. When I put it through the buffered effect loop the fuzz face sounds different because of the change of impedance. If I use my cheapo Behringer FZ-2 clone or my Clone Theory the looper works great because of the input and output buffers built into those circuits.[/quote]

Couldn't you just buffer the return and not the send?

[mancunianfox]

[quote name='cheddatom' post='762611' date='Mar 3 2010, 09:30 AM']Couldn't you just buffer the return and not the send?[/quote]

Tried that but that creates a new problem in that the unbuffered fuzz face or bazz fuzz signal feeds back into the clean signal and the blend stops working properly.

[JackLondon]

[quote name='dudewheresmybass' post='762446' date='Mar 3 2010, 12:32 AM']this is pretty much what i'm after.

how would i supply the signal to the unit without losing my signal totally? i know i' said i'm thinking of a 'side chain' but how could i build that?[/quote]

What about this ?

[attachment=43936:IMG_0140.JPG]

It uses a microphone to send signal through the circuit, has a filter for low and high pass and 2 potentiometers to adjust the sensitivity.

[cheddatom]

If you put a buffer on the clean signal, but after the send, it should work. So you have input, split into clean and send, then buffer the clean after the send, and buffer the return, and blend the two.

[mancunianfox]

[quote name='cheddatom' post='762738' date='Mar 3 2010, 11:06 AM']If you put a buffer on the clean signal, but after the send, it should work. So you have input, split into clean and send, then buffer the clean after the send, and buffer the return, and blend the two.[/quote]

Erm, thats what I have done. I haven't been trying to do a passive blend.

So far I have built two circuits to get this to work. One that buffers the clean signal and the send (B.Blender) and one that just buffers the clean signal (Minimal Blender). Both work with other pedals but neither works properly with the fuzz face.

On the minimal blender (just the clean is buffered) the blend knob pretty much stops working with the fuzz face. All that happens is that the blend knob rolls off some of the fuzz but there is no clean signal. If I put my a buffered pedal in the loop before the fuzz face the blend works properly but then I have the same problem of the fuzz face behaving differently due to the impedance change.

I am thinking that these simple circuits that do not like any active circuitry between them and the guitars output are just not good candidates for my effect loop.

[cheddatom]

[quote name='mancunianfox' post='762782' date='Mar 3 2010, 11:43 AM']Erm, thats what I have done. I haven't been trying to do a passive blend.

So far I have built two circuits to get this to work. One that buffers the clean signal and the send (B.Blender) and one that just buffers the clean signal (Minimal Blender). Both work with other pedals but neither works properly with the fuzz face.[/quote]

I'm on about one that buffers the clean signal and the [b]return[/b]. So, the fuzz face sees a passive signal, but the clean signal is buffered after the split, and the return from the pedal is buffered.

[mancunianfox]

I'm with you now. That sounds like a workable suggestion. I'll give that a go. Thanks

Edited March 3, 2010 by mancunianfox

[cheddatom]

If it works, post your diagram for us! I could do with the same box.

[Currrls]

very interested in this buffer debate seen as i use a fuzz all the time.

im using a american fender jazz with an [url="http://www.audereaudio.com/JZ3.htm"]Audere JZ3[/url] preamp. the fuzz im using is a bass blowtorch.

do you think using a buffer would improve the sound of the blowtorch much? secondly, would it affect the tone of my other pedals, a bass micro synth, small stone and bddi21?

thanks alot

Edited March 4, 2010 by Currrls

[cheddatom]

I think the MXR is fine with active or passive basses, but not sure. I doubt you'd notice a difference.

Edited March 4, 2010 by cheddatom

[Currrls]

[quote name='cheddatom' post='763625' date='Mar 4 2010, 08:11 AM']I think the MXR is fine with active or passive basses, but not sure. I doubt you'd notice a difference.[/quote]
brilliant, thanks for that

[LukeFRC]

sooo... I bought the circuit board from tonepad for the small clone and stuck everyhting on (populated the board?)
wired it up to test. tip to in, out to tip, ground to sleave of in, link to sleave of out.... (that right yeah?)

and it works... but not right. something is sucking a lot of the volume and bottom end out, and there is a lot of hiss.
There is a micro pentometer on the board which you set to find the effect. The volume issue is unchanged by this but the hiss goes if the effect is off.
two problems i think.

I'm going to sit down and check everything tomorrow, does anyone have any advice of where to look?

[JackLondon]

Have you looked at build reports on tonepad? Lots of people seem to have different issues!

[LukeFRC]

yes, lots of people saying what a great build it is and how they managed first time....

Thing is it works, just with the buzz which would make me think it could only be one or two components. I had the same problem with the SFT and found it was just one cap grounding in too early... testing time i think!

[LukeFRC]

ahh the wee gap may have something to do with it... and the 33nF not 33pf at the entry too... off to maplin....

[JackLondon]

Let me know how you get on Luke, I'm still waiting for my parts that should arrive any day!

On another note does anyone know where I can find a good pcb layout or vero layout for 3-5 band eq and a passive DI box?

[LukeFRC]

well the new caps went in and the whole thing stopped working and now more or less sounds it's pulsing...... something's gone wrong.... but figure it's me rather than the parts....