Buffer before fuzz, retain volume knob "clean up"

[earthtonesaudio]

You know how you have to put the fuzz directly after the guitar, with no effects in between, in order to adjust the gain with the guitar volume knob?  Wouldn't it be cool if you could put the fuzz somewhere other than first, but still have the ability to clean it up with the guitar's volume knob?  I think that would be just awesome.

I have a couple ideas on how to do it, with different pro's and con's to each approach.


Simple electronically, but specialized:
Use a stereo jack on the guitar, and a dual-ganged pot for the volume knob.  One side is (Pickup-1/2 dual-ganged volume knob-buffer-output jack tip), the other half of the volume knob is wired as a variable resistor between output jack's ring and sleeve.  A stereo cord or splitter would send the guitar signal wherever, but the variable resistor would go to a control circuit (LED/LDR combo or something) to adjust a resistance in series with the input to the fuzz.

Complex electronically, but universal:
An external buffer box, with input/output and another pair of jacks, would send an oscillator signal into the guitar, so that the volume knob affected either the frequency or amplitude of the oscillator.  This would in turn adjust a resistor located between the send and return jacks of the box.  That way, you just plug the guitar in the input, the next pedal in the line into the output, and then the other pair of jacks would basically go before the fuzz.


Just some generic ideas (specifics omitted for brevity) that might be useful to somebody.

[.Mike]

Please correct me if I'm wrong. Isn't the AMZ Guitar Pickup Simulation meant to do this?

http://www.muzique.com/lab/pickups.htm

I have all the parts to build one, but I won't be getting to it for quite a while. Maybe someone else has some experience with this.



Mike

[earthtonesaudio]

The AMZ pickup simulator is meant to restore the tone after a buffer; what I'm talking about is meant to restore the interactivity between guitar and fuzz.  Different aspects of the same problem.  Actually, it would not be a bad idea to incorporate the AMZ pickup simulator into the thing.  Hmm...

[earthtonesaudio]

A rough outline of the oscillator-based concept:



All resistors on the second op-amp are equal (difference amplifier).

[earthtonesaudio]

I just started working on this in earnest.  The biggest challenge so far, apart from the stated design goal, is keeping the "sense" circuitry from being confused by the guitar's audio output.  Also, there is no "standard" configuration of electronics inside a given guitar, so if I end up with a working prototype it would still likely need modification to work with someone else's guitar.
Fun stuff!