Boost before or after a Fuzz?

[matmosphere]

Hey guys I'm putting together my Ultra '78 and I am thinking about putting in a SHO in the same pedal. Anyone have an opinion on placement. I haven't decided on which order to do.

I'm also thinking of doing the J Mascis Volume control bypass instead of a SHO, but I can't decide. Partly because I'm not sure how to do an LED with the volume knob bypass.

[Matt]

I haven't tried that combo but from my experience I'd put the boost after.
You could always breadboard it. Both circuits have a fairly low parts count

[Muadzin]

Boost after makes it sound harder, before the fuzz it drives the fuzz harder. Take your pick of what you want the boost to do.

And am I correct in thinking that if you bypass the volume control all you have to do is wire the board output normally going to lug 3 of the volume pot to the bypass switch? In which case what's the worry about the LED?

[HamSandwich]

Hey guys I'm putting together my Ultra '78 and I am thinking about putting in a SHO in the same pedal. Anyone have an opinion on placement. I haven't decided on which order to do.

I'm also thinking of doing the J Mascis Volume control bypass instead of a SHO, but I can't decide. Partly because I'm not sure how to do an LED with the volume knob bypass.

A 3PDT toggle can be used to flip the booster before and after! Best of both worlds?

[nzCdog]

I found the SHO lifted the noise floor big time when used after an overdrive (not fuzz)
Definitely preferred it before the OD.  2c

[midwayfair]

If your boost runs on the same voltage as your fuzz, it can not give you more volume than the fuzz can.

Many fuzzes artificially limit the output voltage to be close to the expected unity of a guitar. If you want to run the fuzz above unity, your boost will boost less when you switch it on.

A fuzz also has artificially limited headroom (as that's the whole point: clipping). If you want your fuzz to add volume, it pretty much MUST go after the fuzz. If you want it to add more gain, it can go first, but then you won't really ever want the boost running without the fuzz or your volume will be difficult to manage.

[AntKnee]

Fuzz before boost. As Jon explained, the boost won't actually boost if you put it before a fuzz. IMO, it sounds too muddy and honestly, quite bad. Especially with a SHO, which is kind of dirty anyway, I would put it after.

[juansolo]

Yep muff based fuzzes clip the crap out of your signal, boosting into them is a bit futile. After however, can work quite nicely for general embiggenment.

[Muadzin]

The Animato is basically a Big Muff with a germanium treble booster in front. So I guess it depends on what kind of booster you use in front.

[JackSkellington]

A 3PDT toggle can be used to flip the booster before and after! Best of both worlds?

This could be useful to manage the circuit wiring.


I like the Fulltone Octafuzz clone in fuzz mode with a MXR MicroAmp in front, but just slightly boostod. It lose a bit of fuzziness and turn more in a distortion.