Breadboard headphone Ruby w/effect

[oldrocker]

I'm having an interesting issue.  I wanted a headphone amp and built in effect so I could play without waking up the house.  So I breadboarded a Ruby and hooked headphones to it and it works great.  Well then on the same breadboard I built a Fuzz Face taking the output to the input of the Ruby.  So with the guitar plugged into the breadboarded FF and the FF to the Ruby it sounds wierd.  If I plug my external stompbox FF into a 1/4" guitar jack going to the breadboarded Ruby it sounds good.  But the FF on the breadboard into the Ruby sounds like high gain hiss and the fuzz sounds crummy.  Does anyone know what I might be doing wrong.  It kind of sounds like a grounding issue but I'm not sure why.  I also tried some other breadboarded distortions and they all sound wierd except when I plug the external pedals in it sounds fine. 

[KerryF]

Well that happens to me a lot.  Breadboards are strange when it comes to certain pedals.  Some dont work at all on breadboard for some reason, and some work decently.

[ildar]

Maybe an impedance issue? Guitar cables introduce a small amount of impedance to the signal afaik, so maybe breadboarding the two without a cable between is causing an issue.
Could be wrong...

[oldrocker]

Impedance could be an issue.  I was able to get a transistor Muff Fuzz to work.  I still haven't settled on which distortion to use but hope to come up with one thats small and is an all around type of effect.

[ildar]

Try a small resistor to ground, 10ohm or so between the two circuits, and see what happens. Couldn't hurt...

[oldrocker]

After getting a successful breadboarded Ruby slash Muff Fuzz I perfed both circuits together and built a personal practice amp.  You can toggle on the Muff Fuzz or play clean.  There's also a speaker jack if I want to plug into a speaker or amp with the unit.  Volume knob is mounted on the side.  I used one of my wifes cigarette containers which even has a belt clip built in on the back.  Works great.
http://www.logmonster.com/images/full/?pic=muffin1_1159192871-422-13728.jpg
http://www.logmonster.com/images/full/?pic=muffin2_1159129966-422-13729.jpg
http://www.logmonster.com/images/full/?pic=muffin3_1159171657-422-13730.jpg

[coffyrock]

that's awesome! how does it sound? My ruby sounds nice with a strat but I wish now I had build in a switchable effect of some sort.

Love the container. How'd you get the marble effect, or was it like that?

[oldrocker]

The container was like that already.  Many smoke shops carry them.  You can get all different colors too.  There's even a divider inside that the 9 volt battery slips right into.

[Snuffy]

Do you have any pictures of the inside ..?
It looks awesome

[oldrocker]

It's kind of tight and couldn't get a great pics but here's the inside.
http://www.logmonster.com/images/full/?pic=muffin4_1159153743-422-13731.jpg