Fuzz Face with wireless

[misterwhizzy]

Any way this can work as intended? I haven't tried it. I just don't want to buy a pedal that I can't use, but I really like some of the Fuzz Face tones.

[jeremy]

ive never had one work "properly" when using a wireless or active pups. they will work, but usually dont sound as good and they dont clean up the right way. part of the magic of a ff for me, is all the tonal shades from clean to full on fuzz available with just your volume knob. never got that with a wireless or active pups

[idsnowdog]

Supposedly they are finicky and only like being first in the signal chain.

[GuitarStv]

The fuzzface circuit is a happy accident. It actually uses the physical connection to the pickups in the guitar through your cable in normal operation. . . . and this leads to some of the cool things you can do with them (the volume cleanup trick). If you replace the guitar with a wireless unit (or a buffered pedal), you will get a different response and the circuit cannot behave as expected.

[eclecticsynergy]

Yah, they like to interact directly with your pickups.
Fuzzface loses a lot when used with a buffer, and wireless is likely to affect it similarly.

Many modern fuzz circuits are designed to perform well when isolated.
Anything that can play nicely with buffers should do pretty well with a wireless system.
You might not get the full spectrum of wonderful cleanup, but at least you won't have thin harshness.

[PFDarkside]

What does “work as expected” mean? (It’s rhetorical )

As other have said, all fuzz faces (germanium and silicon) behave differently when placed first in line vs after a low impedance output like a buffer or engaged pedal. It’s not necessarily bad, but it’s different. (Note the Eric Johnson’s tour board has his Fuzz Face after a buffer, surprising!)

There are solutions to help with the brighter tone, things like the Analogman Sunface have a trim lot inside to add some impedance to the input which helps. There are also fuzzes like the 65 Amps Color Face and Greg Koch signature pedal (I learned about both from Frank Falbo a long time ago) that address it as well. This will make the treble response closer to a direct connection, but you’ll lose the cleanup no matter what.

[Erlend_G]

The fuzzface circuit is a happy accident. It actually uses the physical connection to the pickups in the guitar through your cable in normal operation. . . . and this leads to some of the cool things you can do with them (the volume cleanup trick). If you replace the guitar with a wireless unit (or a buffered pedal), you will get a different response and the circuit cannot behave as expected.

nothing sounds like a fuzzface .

My EHX "allied overdrive" does something similar-. i.e. it cleans up to the point, where it's just adding harmonics and brightness.

I tried connecting my EHX "octavix" second in chain, after a mixer. Made it COMPLETELY spluttery and wierd . . hehe.

-E