Fuzz Face and Spring reverb question

[diamonddogs]

Hi, I've got 2 technical questions I was hoping you could help me with:

First problem: Fuzz Face sounds like crap in chain with other effects.
I've built a silicon fuzz face clone, the one on GGG, its a very easy build and its sound pretty cool, but this is my problem: When I hook it up in my board after ANY effect it just sounds like crap, the gain seems to be stuck at max, the drive knob seems to do very little and the effect sounds very trashy and poor. I've tried connecting it in different place in the chain, but it only sounds good when its the very first effect (even before the tuner) or when connected by itself.
I'm guessing this is a known issue, I just don't know how to solve it, any help would be much appreciated, thanks!
(if you need info or the schematic of my build here it is: http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/content/view/101/26/ its the silicon one if I remember correctly)

Second problem: Spring Reverb feedback
I have a fender Princeton amp which is a few years old with a spring reverb unit in it. When I turn the reverb knob all the way to the max I get a feedback tone. I've seen this before on another fender amp. Is there anyway to fix it?
The amp also has momentary disconnections (can't hear anything for a few seconds, but the amp stays on), could this have anything to do with it?


Thanks for kind help

[CynicalMan]

Check out this thread for the fuzz question:
www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=85743.msg717175#msg717175

[jasperoosthoek]

To your first question: someone asked exactly the same thing the day before yesterday: http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=85743.0

That's very common for fuzz circuits. You either install a buffer in the FF or place it somewhere where it works. But what do you mean by gain and drive knob? A FF has only one fuzz knob, which you could call gain or drive, not two (and a volume of course which is not the same as it doesn't alter the sound). I cannot imagine it changes the way volume works on the fuzz.
If it sounds bad before a tuner than probably your tuner is not true bypass or doesn't kill the sound when on. My FF lives happily in the chain after a TC Electronics Polytune and even a Colorsound Tonebender.
The FF generally gets most of its particular sound from interaction with the guitar pickup due to its low input impedance. Normal effects just 'copy' what you put in, change it a bit and output it. A fuzz is very sensitive to what you hook up before it.