fuzz signal gets "muted" when running into a FET based OD...

[mordechai]

I built a Mosfet based OD (2 mosfet stages pushing a jfet), which sounds very nice on its own, but I'm having trouble when I put a fuzz face in front of it.  When the OD's drive setting is anywhere but at 100%, some notes on the fuzz signal sound...muted, or quashed and dull, lacking the bloom or sizzle that other notes have.  When I turn the OD's gain all the way up this isn't a problem, but I think the OD sounds best at about 2 o'clock on the drive setting, and this gives me trouble with the fuzz.

The fuzz sounds fine on its own going into a tube amp.  It's only when the OD is on, and at less than 100%, that the signal gets dull/compressed/muted on certain notes.  Is this just the nature of the beast when running a fuzz into a solid-state overdrive?  or is there something I can do about this by tweaking my OD circuit.

[pinkjimiphoton]

sounds like an impedance mismatch. try a high z buffer between them?

[mordechai]

Well, the first stage of the OD is a mosfet stage similar to the SHO with 1M resistors rather than 10M.  Would upping the 1M's to something higher (2.2M or even more) be advisable here?

Come to think of it, I experienced a similar problem a few years ago when I ran a Fuzz Face into the ZVex Box of Rock, which also has a SHO-type first stage using 1M's...so maybe that's the trouble spot?

[pinkjimiphoton]

you could certainly try. or add a buffer between them. as long as the fuzz isn't buffered, it'll still react close to the same, but it will be isolated from the other circuit by the high impedance of the buffer, if i understand it right.

i was having a problem with a similar kind of circuit (funny!! great minds.. lol)  using two mosfets in a fuzz/overdrive circuit.
i noticed when i turned my guitar down, it was picking up a lot of weird noise and stuff, and that it seemed really crummy sounding.
added a simple opamp buffer, and MAN, what a difference.

check my thread about the suzy q, the schem for the buffer i added is in the thread. it's not a whole lot of parts, there's simpler ones even than that.

good luck bro.. rock on!