Crazy Situation with a Fuzz, Buffer and a Whammy???????

[sevenisthenumber]

Heres whats goin on.

I have been running my True Bypassed Whammy first in my chain and then into a Bazz Fuzz and then on down the line ending with a GGG IC buffer. I noticed I still had some loss so I built another GGG IC buffer for the front of the chain. I was going to put it after the Whammy and Bazz fuzz so that my Fuzz doesnt suffer. The crazy thing is, the buffer has no effect there??? When I put the buffer first it totally fixes my loss and clarity! But when after the Whammy and fuzz it does nothing? Why would two true bypass pedals affect a buffer??
Please help?!

[sevenisthenumber]

Anyone!?

[jkokura]

That would suggest to me that the two pedals you think are true bypass may not be. Either that, or they have a different input impedance expectation than your guitar puts out. (I think that's right...)

Jacob

[sevenisthenumber]

Hmmm. I know there true bypass as I modded and built them. I am 100% sure. When a true bypass pedal is off impedance isnt affected by that pedal?

[jkokura]

I think the easy solution is to simply put the buffer where it sounds better. I'm not sure why it's doing what it's doing, but at least you know where it does sound good and that means you can deal with the weird issue.

Jacob

[sevenisthenumber]

The problem is that it sounds good in front of the fuzz but that messes the fuzz up.

[jasperoosthoek]

Could you explain it a bit more with an image what exactly sounds good and what sounds bad? I find you explanation a bit confusing. You say that it sounds good in front of the fuzz but it messes the fuzz up. Do you mean it sounds good with the fuzz turned off and then bad with the fuzz turned on?

[sevenisthenumber]

Sorry. ;-)

The buffer when placed 3rd in the chain (after the Whammy and Fuzz) has no affect at all. When it is before the whammy and fuzz it works great but then the fuzz sounds wretched. Does that make sense?

[jasperoosthoek]

So basically what you say is that:
whammy+fuzz+buffer sounds ok, but no different from only whammy+fuzz
buffer+whammy+fuzz sounds ok but the fuzz sounds bad.

I don't understand what you mean by that? If the fuzz sounds bad which part sounds good? Did you turn on the whammy cause you say that the true bypass has problems.

The only thing that would make sense is that when the whammy is turned off the buffer messes up the fuzz. Fuzz boxes are very sensitive to what you place before them. Crybaby wahs don't work normally anymore (sound like they are fully pressed down), morley wahs don't work at all (crackle type of sound) and some distortion boxes have problems (volume doesn't work anymore or the fuzz gain doesn't work).

What buffer do you use? I would like to know how buffer+fuzz sounds. It shouldn't sound different with a whammy turned off between the buffer and fuzz.

[sevenisthenumber]

Okay. Sorry for the confusion. First off: The Whammy is True Bypass and works perfectly. The Fuzz is True bypass and works perfectly. The Buffer also works perfectly. Im saying this to remove the chance that anyone may think there is a problem with those pedals.

When my line is like this guitar>whammy>fuzz>buffer there is a drastic high end loss when everything is bypassed and the fuzz works great because it is in front of the buffer.

When my line is like this guitar>buffer>whammy>fuzz there is not a signal loss and my bypassed tone sounds great but the fuzz tone sounds bad because it is after the buffer.

[jasperoosthoek]

So what you say is: The fuzz sounds bad after the buffer. What buffer do you use?

[sevenisthenumber]

Any fuzz sounds bad after a buffer. Its a GGG IC buffer

[tiges_ tendres]

Have you tried running the fuzz before the whammy?

[jasperoosthoek]

Just to be sure: Is this the bass fuzz you use? http://www.home-wrecker.com/bazz.html And this is the IC buffer: http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/projects/15-boostersrouters/74-simple-ic-buffer.

Your previous explanation is still confusing:

When my line is like this guitar>whammy>fuzz>buffer there is a drastic high end loss when everything is bypassed and the fuzz works great because it is in front of the buffer.

What do you mean by "everything"? How can the fuzz work if everything is bypassed, isn't that bypassed too? Is there still a high end loss if you take the whammy out of the chain? For about the fuzz itself? Narrow it down.
Do you mean: The Fuzz works when everything except the fuzz is bypassed but when you turn off the fuzz there is high end loss? This can only be explained by the input section of the fuzz is still connected to the signal wire draining high frequencies.

When my line is like this guitar>buffer>whammy>fuzz there is not a signal loss and my bypassed tone sounds great but the fuzz tone sounds bad because it is after the buffer.

Does your bypassed signal include the buffer? What does the whammy has to do with it?

I really want to help you but you have to be much more specific. Try to get it working without the whammy first. It does not seem to have anything to do with the problem therefore bringing it up adds to my confusion.

I'm thinking that the fuzz just doesn't want to be placed after the IC buffer. Something Fuzzes are well known for.