How to gate a non-gated fuzz

[steak'n'roll]

Is there a pedal i could buy/build that could be used as a gate before a fuzz. I want it to open and close abruptly to create a synthy fuzz.

I know there might be some noise gate that would kinda do it but I was wondering if someone had experienced one of them for that purpose.

Thanks!

[bassman1185]

The Boss NS-2 will work like that, but it might not be quite as abrupt as what you're looking for. It is a very nice piece of equipment to have, though, especially if you've got several pedals.

[steak'n'roll]

The NS-2 is not what I am looking for. I had it but sold it because it wasn't "gated" enough. I would like something that would cut everything below a certain level (that level have to be adjustable to quite a high level)

[JohnDavisNYC]

it would probably be cheaper and easier to just buy a gated fuzz than to experiment with finding a gate that is aggressive enough to approximate that sound... a gated fuzz is a very interactive sort of pedal... it feels very different than just playing through a gate and distorting it later.

maybe if you split your signal, and fed the split into the sidechain of a gate AFTER the fuzz (i don't think there are any sidechain-able gate pedals, though) you could get close, but that all sounds like a lot more work to me than just buying another pedal...

john

[steak'n'roll]

Originally Posted by JohnDavisNYC

it would probably be cheaper and easier to just buy a gated fuzz than to experiment with finding a gate that is aggressive enough to approximate that sound...

Which gated fuzz would you recommend?

[cathal]

you could un-bias a biased fuzz to achieve the gated sound,

a famous gated sound is the zvex fuzz factory

[steak'n'roll]

Originally Posted by cathal

you could un-bias a biased fuzz to achieve the gated sound,

a famous gated sound is the zvex fuzz factory

What is a biased fuzz and how to un-bias it?

[Higgie]

The Chunk Systems Brown Dog is a Gated Fuzz. Great pedal.

[bigchiefbc]

Devi Ever makes several fuzzes that are gated, one of which is the Bit, which I have and love

[bongomania]

Originally Posted by steak'n'roll

What is a biased fuzz and how to un-bias it?

Some of the components inside a typical fuzz pedal need to have exactly the right amount of voltage at one end. Fine-tuning the circuit to achieve that perfect exact voltage is called "biasing". So you'd need to know which components those were, and what part of the circuit regulated the voltage at that point, and adjust it differently.

While I agree that the easiest answer is just to buy a gated fuzz (several mentioned in this thread, plus a search on "gated" may turn up more); I also happen to think it's a good idea for anyone who likes experimenting with audio signals to have a really good gate in the toolbox. No, it's not something you'd use everyday, or keep on your pedalboard typically, but gates can be very cool and useful. I like the Ashly SG100 best, but they're hard to find. Look for one that has control over the attack, release, and threshold.

[cuddlemonster]

I read that you can add a "100k trimpot" to get a gated sound in a big muff, will this be just a subtle gate that eliminates the hiss of the pedal, or will it sound more like that of a woolly mammoth or fuzz factory? Is there a way to just add in whatever part gates those Z.Vex pedals? Or are they biased like what was stated above?

here is what i read:
Noise gate mod: This mod will quieten the Muff while not playing, thus a noise gate. To do this, add a 100k trimpot (wired as a variable resistor) parallel to the 100k to ground of the second gain stage (R14). The trimpot can be adjusted to taste to get the max noise gate effect.

[bassbmx]

The TC Nova Dynamics has a gate feature.

[Malekko]

put a gate on it

[roflol]

Originally Posted by bongomania

Some of the components inside a typical fuzz pedal need to have exactly the right amount of voltage at one end. Fine-tuning the circuit to achieve that perfect exact voltage is called "biasing". So you'd need to know which components those were, and what part of the circuit regulated the voltage at that point, and adjust it differently.

While I agree that the easiest answer is just to buy a gated fuzz (several mentioned in this thread, plus a search on "gated" may turn up more); I also happen to think it's a good idea for anyone who likes experimenting with audio signals to have a really good gate in the toolbox. No, it's not something you'd use everyday, or keep on your pedalboard typically, but gates can be very cool and useful. I like the Ashly SG100 best, but they're hard to find. Look for one that has control over the attack, release, and threshold.

could just put a big resistor in line with the second gain stage. if you unbias a pedal it'll generally sound terrible.

[tomvelsor]

Originally Posted by Higgie

The Chunk Systems Brown Dog is a Gated Fuzz. Great pedal.

+1


only good gated bass fuzz that i can think of.

i think the wolly mammoth has a gate control on it too.

[rcubed]

I found schematics of the Woolly Mammoth and Fuzz Factory (I have no idea about the authenticity but apparently they were reversed engineered). The Mammoth has two transistors and a "pinch" pot that will change the resistance of the second transistors emitter (thus changing the bias of it). The pot is also connected back to in the input signal in series with a resistor. The Fuzz Factory has three transistors, with the "gate" control on the collector of the second transistor (second and third transistors are PNP germanium) witch also goes to the base of the third transistor.

The Big Muff is a four transistor circuit with the first doing the amplifying, the second two chopping off the tops of the signal, and the fourth amplifying the signal again (I think, correct me if I'm wrong). So you could add a trimpot in there (second or third or both stages). But you'd probably want to make it an external pot for it. I don't know if R14 is the best place to add it since it's at the base. R16 might be a better candidate.

[kiljoy]

This may sound wierd but I found that if you run 3V into a 9V od/ds pedal it turns into a crazy gated fuzz. I'm guessing that's what's meant by an unbiased fuzz?

[rcubed]

Originally Posted by kiljoy

This may sound wierd but I found that if you run 3V into a 9V od/ds pedal it turns into a crazy gated fuzz. I'm guessing that's what's meant by an unbiased fuzz?

In that case you are "starving" the circuit of voltage (voltage sagging). This is the "stability" pot on the Fuzz Factory. It's just a pot added to the plus side of the power that will change how much power goes to the biasing resistors of the transistors (among other things).

That's an easy mod to do. See the lower right corner for what you need to do: http://www.beavisaudio.com/Projects/...oneMods_V2.gif

[bongomania]

Originally Posted by bassbmx

The TC Nova Dynamics has a gate feature.

Yes, and it's the second best gate I've ever used, short of the Ashly I mentioned before.

[judas jedermann]

Zoom Ultra Fuzz and MI Audio Neo Fuzz both can deliver gated fuzz.