Rangemaster/Buffer switching

[wavley]

Ok, I'm sure somebody has solved this before but I'm not turning up anything from a search.  (I need to refine my search term ability I guess, I'm either going wide or narrow)

I want a buffer at the beginning of my chain, I also want a rangemaster.  I want them to be in the same box to save space.  I don't want to make a parts order right now and I'm pretty sure I'm out of suitable transformers for the Jack Orman pickup sim thing (this works brilliantly in my fuzz face).  I don't have any MOSFETs currently on hand.  Rangemasters don't like buffers.  An always on buffer after the rangemaster sounds like it might be a bad idea because I'm guessing it will be prone to clipping.  I only want to use one footswitch. 

Can I just use one of those blue guys to switch between the buffer and rangemaster?

[slacker]

Yeah that should work fine. Wire the switch like this picture



range master between 1 and 4 then instead of jumpering 3 and 6 stick the buffer in there. The other poles can be used for a LED.

[wavley]

Awesome, I thought I had seen that somewhere before, but just couldn't find it.

Thanks a million sir.

[DougH]

Yes, it's kind of like a loop switcher if you think about it. In fact, I used to use a loop switcher for a similar purpose. I had the rangemaster all by itself in one loop, and an overdrive and some modulation/delay stuff in the other. I used the pure unadulterated rangemaster sound for the more upbeat numbers and all the "fancy" stuff in the other loop for the ballads. So I had the "rock out" and "wimp out" loops. 

Incidentally, the switch wiring that slacker is showing is how I wired my loop switcher, with the additional poles used for 2 LED indicators.

[darron]

last i heard rangemasters LIKE buffers afterwards.


the germanium transistor will clip well before the silicon (fet?) buffer aftwerwards would... does whatever you are driving next clip from use of the buffer? buffer after the rangemaster should help out a bit with sound, and is nicely placed because of the loading by the circuit.

buffer before the rangemaster like you said can be a bad idea. the frequency response will be completely wrong...

[DougH]

last i heard rangemasters LIKE buffers afterwards.

Mine didn't, but I had some issues with the amp input stage at the time too. I need to try that again and see if it works.