Fuzz-into-mixing-desk sound?

[fuzzmonger]

Hi there,
I've been wondering for a while; how does one go about replicating the sound of a fuzz plugged straight into the mixing desk? That raspy tone that's thin and ice-picky, has long, smooth sustain and a huge, intense scoopiness all at the same time. Think Summer Breeze by the Isleys, Revolution by the Beatles, some Edwyn Collins stuff etc.

I figure it's an impedance thing - maybe putting a gain stage with a super-high input impedance (like an SHO) after a superfuzz or fuzzrite would do the trick (need to crack out the breadboard and test that idea) but if someone knows the actually theory behind that sound and could give me some pointers, I'd love to hear it 

Cheers,
-Fuzzmonger

[defaced]

A mixing desk and speakers have a flat frequency response while a guitar amp and speaker are anything but flat.  So you really need to ditch the guitar rig and get a stereo or other Hi-Fi amplifier/speaker.  You might be able to do a quick check with the Aux in on a home stereo.  Keep the fuzz level down and increase it slowly so you don't turn the stereo speakers inside out. 

[artifus]

A mixing desk and speakers have a flat frequency response...

they also have eq...

... Revolution by the Beatles...

http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/recording-the-beatles/976

http://recordingthebeatles.com/RS106-FilterExcerpt.pdf

[fuzzmonger]

So that particular sound was fuzz>preamp>preamp>desk? I mean, there are plenty of fuzzes with four or more gain stages that don't get that kind of fizz-buzz. Maybe there was some phase cancellation going on by daisy-chaining devices like that (similar to the Fuzzrite and FY-2 architectures, which do get damn close to that sound).

-Fuzzmonger

[artifus]

not sure i saw fuzz or any kind of pedals mentioned in the article, just guitar amp and studio gear. not saying none were used, just going on what is written from the 30/40 year old memories of the interviewed engineers. bear in mind how basic the gear was at the time, stepped gain pre amps, switched eq/filters, lots of compression/limiting with heavy filtering, etc

[defaced]

A mixing desk and speakers have a flat frequency response...

they also have eq...

Not really sure what your point is.  By default a mixing desk does not provide the very non-linear and limited frequency response of a guitar amplifier/speaker.  

[artifus]

i guess my point was that despite the fact that a mixing desk, amp, monitor and control room may be described as having a 'flat' frequency response that they also often have the tools to approximate the very non-linear and limited frequency response of a guitar amplifier/speaker on a direct inject guitar signal to some degree.

[induction]

But it doesn't go the other way around.  You can't get the same frequency response out of a guitar amp that you can get out of a mixing desk.  The hi-fi amplifier sounds like a good idea to me.