Cutlass buffer bypass
- Thread starter Slein
- Start date
Astrofreq
Well-known member
I haven’t tried that, but I’ve sent my Cutlass through all sorts of fuzz with no issues. What fuzz are you using and what is happening?
Last edited:
DrKev
Moderator
Yup, buffers and some fuzz pedals don't get along. The buffer is on a circuit board with the pots and silent circuit so there is no way to bypass only the buffer.
You could in principle add a switch to bypass the pots/circuit board and go straight from the output of the selector switch to the jack, but you'd have no volume and tone pot and you may have difficulty finding a good position for the additional switch.
You could try removing the stock pots/circuit board assembly and replacing it with standard pots for volume and tone (250kΩ for SSS model, 500kΩ for the HSS model). You'd lose the silent circuit but you'd have no buffer. At least one forum member has already done that and they happily reported that pickups sound just as good!
You could in principle add a switch to bypass the pots/circuit board and go straight from the output of the selector switch to the jack, but you'd have no volume and tone pot and you may have difficulty finding a good position for the additional switch.
You could try removing the stock pots/circuit board assembly and replacing it with standard pots for volume and tone (250kΩ for SSS model, 500kΩ for the HSS model). You'd lose the silent circuit but you'd have no buffer. At least one forum member has already done that and they happily reported that pickups sound just as good!
tbonesullivan
Well-known member
I think with the Fuzz Face based pedals, the guitar volume control pretty much becomes part of the fuzz circuit. With a buffered pedal in front of it, doesn't really work well. However, honestly it's a flaw in the design of the fuzz pedal. Other fuzz pedals like the Big Muff have an internal buffer to avoid problems like this.
I don't want to think what kind of issues you'd have trying to plug a guitar like the Steve Morse into a Fuzz Face, given how it interacts with the onboard guitar circuitry. Guitars with multiple volume controls also have issues.
I don't want to think what kind of issues you'd have trying to plug a guitar like the Steve Morse into a Fuzz Face, given how it interacts with the onboard guitar circuitry. Guitars with multiple volume controls also have issues.
m4ssi
Well-known member
I have mad professor royal overdrive and the fire red fuzz, and Mad professor suggests to use both pedals without buffer.
DrKev
Moderator
Yes. That's important because our guitar tone is shaped by a combination of the pickups, pots, cable capacitance and the input impedance of the first device the guitar sees. Those two pedals (like many vintage pedals) have a low input impedance, which effectively is a high frequency tone suck, removing the pickups resonant peak and high frequencies, just like rolling down a tone control part way. That's an important part of how the circuit does it's thing. That's also why low input impedence pedals don't work well after buffered pedals with a high input impedence.
Of course most amplifiers have a high input impedance. The difference in tone when plugging into non-true bypass vintage pedals and plugging straight into an amplifier is very noticeable. This is part of the reason why pedal manufactureres gradually moved towards designs with a similar high input impedance (and true bypass if the low input impedence buffer was required). The Cutlass buffer circuit is designed to act as if you had a cable and plugged into a high impedence buffer, retaining the required tone of the guitar no matter what cable length of input impedence you plug into. Very useful. Except with vintage-style fuzz pedals that don't anticipate full frequency spectrum of the guitar.
Of course most amplifiers have a high input impedance. The difference in tone when plugging into non-true bypass vintage pedals and plugging straight into an amplifier is very noticeable. This is part of the reason why pedal manufactureres gradually moved towards designs with a similar high input impedance (and true bypass if the low input impedence buffer was required). The Cutlass buffer circuit is designed to act as if you had a cable and plugged into a high impedence buffer, retaining the required tone of the guitar no matter what cable length of input impedence you plug into. Very useful. Except with vintage-style fuzz pedals that don't anticipate full frequency spectrum of the guitar.
I know this is a late reply to this thread, but people exploring now may find this useful. Brian Wampler talks about basically using a GE-7 (or similar EQ pedal) to sort of simulate the tone loss of not having buffer in the below link. Seems to work pretty good, though I need to test more before I can say its the same as not using one:
Cheers!
Cheers!
