big muff pi minus fuzz stages?

[taang]

So I discovered the Whisker Biscuit the other day (http://home-wrecker.com/whisker.html) and I started wondering: if the Whisker Biscuit is just a Big Muff with a Bazz Fuss as the fuzz stage, what would it be without any clipping stages?

I've read that the two outer transistors are buffers, but I'm far too green in electronics to know exactly what they do (and how the effect the sound).

If I took out the two clipping stages and the tone stack of a Big Muff, what would the sound end up being like?

(sorry, I don't have parts to test this right now. I'm trying to figure out/guess which project(s) I can mess around with the most with the least amount of parts)

Thanks

[bluelang]

Slightly louder and without clipping (distortion) than just plugging straight in.

Here's a cool explanation of buffers, altho it's talking about opamps..

http://www.eecs.tufts.edu/~dsculley/tutorial/opamps/opamps5.html

[John Lyons]

The big muff has boosters but no buffers.
Take out the clipping stages and you'll have a booster with a tone control.
Loud boost, slight if any fuzz...

JOhn

[taang]

so theoretically i can start putting random junk inside the boosters and make a (fairly) unique pedal?

[blueduck577]

this kind of looks like a big muff - bazz fuss hybrid. as others have said, if you take out the clipping stages of a big muff, you've got a booster with a tone control  

edit: i am an idiot, it says right there: :The Whisker Biscuit is a hybrid of the Bazz Fuss and the Big Muff Pi." facepalm

[R.G.]

so theoretically i can start putting random junk inside the boosters and make a (fairly) unique pedal?

You betcha! I like the sound of vintage toasters and eggbeaters in there.

[taang]

would digital toasters work? or blenders?

all seriousness aside, if I were looking to put a Buzz Box (two cascaded Bazz Fusses) as the clipping stage, and have each of them, along with the tone stack, bypassable... would simply having the two boosters work fine? would there be huge volume drop/increase if I suddenly switched off everything inside the boosters?


thanks guys