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Dwarfcraft fuzz VS active electronics :/

JeffreyMcJunior

JeffreyMcJunior

Aug 28, 2013
73
163
Detroit, MI
#1
Scored a Dwarfcraft "hair of the dog" fuzz the other day and I'm stoked on how raw & ballsy it sounds. However the 18v active preamp in my bass must be too hot for the noise gate in this pedal.. no matter how high I set the gate, there's still lots of feedback as soon as I stop playing. Think boss metal zone levels of noise.

I've got a fuzzrocious demon king and the gate/boost is dead silent. So I know a proper gate setting is achievable. I've only used it at one rehearsal so far, so there are plenty more tweaks (trim pot, eq, etc) I can make to reduce noise. I've emailed dwarfcraft and they informed me it's somewhat common with active basses and there's nothing they can really do, which kinda sucks.

Does my fellow TB community have any suggestion for a muff-type fuzz (preferably with a clean blend) that pairs well with hot active electronics??
 
#4
Swimming Bird said:
What happens if you turn down your bass volume or unboost the EQ?
Click to expand...

I haven't exhausted every single option as far as troubleshooting yet. More time will be spent doing so at next rehearsal. But with the eq flat & the volume rolled back a 1/4 turn there is still feedback.

At home on a 15w combo with a passive jazz the noise gate works fine. As much as it seems like the electronics on my bass are the culprit, it's not present when using other pedals with noise gates. I've got the demon king and a darkglass duality on the board and they're both extremely quiet. Just wondering what makes them different.

The more I think about it, I'm pretty bummed out by Dwarfcraft's response being "unfortunately there isn't much we can do about it"..

While I don't have the slightest clue about the delicate inner workings of effects pedal circuitry, at least two other manufacturers have gotten it right.
 
#5
JeffreyMcJunior said:
I haven't exhausted every single option as far as troubleshooting yet. More time will be spent doing so at next rehearsal. But with the eq flat & the volume rolled back a 1/4 turn there is still feedback.

At home on a 15w combo with a passive jazz the noise gate works fine. As much as it seems like the electronics on my bass are the culprit, it's not present when using other pedals with noise gates. I've got the demon king and a darkglass duality on the board and they're both extremely quiet. Just wondering what makes them different.

The more I think about it, I'm pretty bummed out by Dwarfcraft's response being "unfortunately there isn't much we can do about it"..

While I don't have the slightest clue about the delicate inner workings of effects pedal circuitry, at least two other manufacturers have gotten it right.
Click to expand...

Some things are just made that way that the settings will give high gain / feedback.. or just not work well with an active bass. I have had many a pedal not work with my active basses ( usually fuzz ) in that they overload and sound squashed in a bad way... sometimes that's just the way it goes.
 
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#6
Just a side note...your electronics being 18v have nothing to do with the output. It would have the same output at 9v, and even bypassed more than likely. The 18v just gives you extra headroom, allowing for lots of bass and mids boosting, and gives you extra battery life.

However, I've had various pedals that didn't like the impedance presented by active electronics, so I've since kicked those pedals to the curb.

My Source Audio Aftershock works flawlessly with actives, and of course has a Muff as well as a gate and clean blend.
 
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#7
mmbongo said:
Just a side note...your electronics being 18v have nothing to do with the output. It would have the same output at 9v, and even bypassed more than likely. The 18v just gives you extra headroom, allowing for lots of bass and mids boosting, and gives you extra battery life.

However, I've had various pedals that didn't like the impedance presented by active electronics, so I've since kicked those pedals to the curb.

My Source Audio Aftershock works flawlessly with actives, and of course has a Muff as well as a gate and clean blend.
Click to expand...

Yep aftershock is good to me for working with my active ibanez... same with my cog 66 mini and damnation audio mbd-1... not muffs but mastotron fuzz also has a input control knob that works well with actives and hot basses.

Most Devi ever dont like my actives, which is a pity as the Hyperion can sound "muffy" and could be cool.
 
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#8
It's not dwarftcrafts fault. They can't test every single pedal they make with every single bass.

Also, most of their pedals create feedback. They make very noisy, grungy effects on purpose.

Noise gates mute your signal, I don't think the gated aspect has anything to do with it.
 
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#10
Seriously. Look at the Source Audio Aftershock. Dirt of all kinds . High quality models. Ability to stack or parallel effects internally, separate EQs, stereo . clean blend.programmable presets. And a noisegate.
I use active and passive basses and have encountered odd behaviour with many dirt pedals when an active bass is used. rolling back the volume on the bass if onboard eq is boosted, was mostly ok if eq left flat (but pre volume rolled back helped)
As to fixing your situation. A true noise gate may be the answer. Isp, MXR noise clamp, TC electronics Sentry, EHX.
Choose one that has a loop built in and switchable buffer operation. (like the TC)
Good luck.
 
Last edited:
#11
JeffreyMcJunior said:
Scored a Dwarfcraft "hair of the dog" fuzz the other day and I'm stoked on how raw & ballsy it sounds. However the 18v active preamp in my bass must be too hot for the noise gate in this pedal.. no matter how high I set the gate, there's still lots of feedback as soon as I stop playing. Think boss metal zone levels of noise.
Click to expand...

I have no suggestions, I just wanted to empathize. One of my favorite basses is fairly hot, and every so often I've bought pedals that don't work well with it. It's frustrating. Good luck.
 
#12
JonnyAngle said:
It's not dwarftcrafts fault. They can't test every single pedal they make with every single bass.
Click to expand...

Testing "every single bass" is unnecessary. All they'd need to do is test one hot active (including EQ boosting) as well as the usual passives and milder actives.

Some manufacturers obviously don't do this, or perhaps they don't want to deal with the entire possible range of output levels. I get it, electronics design is challenging enough without having to cover every bass (pun intended). But some manufacturers can do it: I have a nice collection of pedals that work great with my hottest active.
 

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