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Boss Hyper Fuzz help?

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9/11/1999 10:51 PM
TPC	Boss Hyper Fuzz help? Hi The distortion on the fuzz 2 mode of this somewhat cheezy pedal isn't bad at all through my Fender tube amps, but the sound really turns to noise if you play non-power chords or arpeggioed notes. So... my question is, might anyone have an idea as to how I could smooth this thing out so when I play a open G it actually sounds like a open G and not mush? Re, Tom

9/12/1999 1:34 AM
nic	Tom, I have a hayper fuzz... And no it doesn't really sound great with anything other than 5th's. I'd say it's just the nature of the design. I don't have a schematic on hand but it is chocked full of stuff. Almost not worth the headache, so I just don't use mine. However, the boost setting could be VERY useful. nic

9/13/1999 4:28 PM

The problem would seem to lie in the harmonic overtones created by the distortion/clipping section. As you start to play more than one note togeher at a time, the harmonic overtones (created by the distortion) of each note are added to the final sound. The problem is that harmonics above the third do not mesh musically as well as those harmonics which are created above the fifth, this is why your open G chords (or any full chords for that matter) sound mushy and bad; because the harmonics created over each individual note in the chord are conflicting musically with each other.

Fixing this is the essence of all distortion mods. It is a search to find the right combination of components to produce the right overtones and create a harmonically "sweet" distortion. This is why Eric Johnson has techs searching for the "right" fuzz face. Some units are built with components that sound good together, others aren't. The problem lies in the fact that electrical components aren't manufactured for their "musical" properties, they are built to do the job they were intended to do, without regard for what they sound like through an electrical guitar rig.

So, without a schematic I'm stabbing in the dark here, but I am guessing that the Boss Hyper Fuzz is a diode clipping type of distortion. It is in the diodes that the clipping/distortion takes place; switching diode types or adding more or different diodes will change the characteristic of your distortion, again it will be a search for the right combination. Adding a cap across the diodes will serve to "soften" the distortion but I doubt it will change the harmonic characteristics (Jack Ormon has a great article on this on the AMZ web page).

Check out R.G., Aron and Jack's web pages for tons more info on this subject.

Sorry about the length of this reponse,

Jay Doyle

9/14/1999 12:18 AM
TPC	Thanks guys for the input.

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