Treble booster, fuzz and Strymon Lex

[335fuzzdelay]

Hi! I recently bouth a Strymon Lex (great pedal by the way) and have had problems using it with my Throbak Strange Master treble booster and fuzz (a Ge/Si fuzz face clone).

When I place the treble booster after fuzz I get a great dirty tone. But when I turn the Strymon Lex on (it is after them) it sounds muffled and the volume drops. When I place treble booster before fuzz it doesn't happen, but the noise is unbearable.

Is there a way to make them work well together?

Thanks

 

[DavidH]

It's an input inpedance and input headroom thing, the treble booster needs to see the front end of the amp for sure. Do you have an FX loop on your amp the Lex could go in?

There are buffers such as this that can help with impedance issues: http://www.bargeconcepts.com/glzbv.html However i have no idea if that would work in this particular case. Anyone?

''As a Signal Buffer: The GZL-1 and BV-1 use very low noise, audio grade Burr-Brown non-inverting buffers to insure transparent sound across the entire audible spectrum. With all signals buffered, you have a lower impedance signal driving the devices after the GLZor BV, as well as high impedance inputs to insure that a clear signal passes to the output.

As a passive signal emulator: The GLZ’s variable impedance control alters the resistive output of the buffering stage, to make the output signal appear more like a passive signal. This is particularly useful for bassists and guitarists with active pickups that want to send a 'passive-looking' signal to vintage effects that may not respond well to buffers.''

You could run the Strymon first, into this which will present an appropriate ouput inpedance (which you can twiddle with ) to your fuzz and Treble booster- it should work, in theory.

 

[335fuzzdelay]

Unfortunately I use an amp without a loop. I tried switch between the Lex and my Eventide Time Factor (buffered) with the treble booster just before them, but it didn't help.

 

[2061X]

I'm not too familiar with the Lex. My rig contains amongst others a Uni Vibe-clone, a Sunface (fuzzface), a Rangemaster-style booster (Beano Boost) and a delay. This is also the order how I use them (guitar - Uni Vibe - Fuzz - Rangemaster - delay - amp). Perhaps that order might be worth a try.

In general, a fuzzface and/or a Rangemaster don't 'like' having buffers in front of them. Good luck!

 

[DavidH]

Yes indeed, have you tried just placing the Lex first? Lex-Fuzz-TB-Amp. I tend to go modulation before dirt since i don't have any fx loops on any of my amps.

If i'm using modulation it'll tend to go: comp, wah, modulation, fuzz, boost, amp. It all depends though, don't be afraid to mess with the order, that's why i never fix anything to a board, it stifles creativity for one. Fixed signal chain=bad.

Having a pedal on in front of a fuzz is the same as a buffer in front of it, it's about the output impedance of what comes before that the fuzz's input sees. It might change the texture of the fuzz, it might stop it cleaning up in quite the same way (as might a high input impedance of a pedal after a fuzz) but it doesn't mean you shouldn't run it in that order-it might be the best solution, you might like how the fuzz sounds when you kick the modulation in. Wah into fuzz is a common thing, and a common mod for wahs is to fit a buffer that presents a more passive pickup like output inpedance to the fuzz input-similar idea to that barge concepts device.

 

[AXXA]

I also use a treble boost, and it can be hard to get it to play nice with other effects sometimes.

I would try putting the Lex first.